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J. T. Blatty
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Snapshots Sent Home: From Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine-A Memoir Paperback – Feb. 20 2024

by Jt Blatty (Author)
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Like many post-9/11 combat veterans, JT Blatty struggled to regain her sense of purpose in the first years returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2018, a chance encounter brought her to Ukraine, drawn in by the familiarity of war and those who serve in wars. Over five years, JT captured the oral history and portraits of a tribe of revolutionaries, the Donbas volunteer soldiers. As she embedded with them on the front line in bunkers and forests, and in Kyiv flats, JT's story began to blend with theirs in a universal bond of combat veterans. The love of a soldier and an entire veteran community compelled her to stay as a new war began.

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  1. Print length
    178 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Elva Resa Publishing LLC
  4. Publication date
    Feb. 20 2024
  5. Dimensions
    22.86 x 15.24 x 1.07 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1934617814
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1934617816
  8. See all details
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Product description

Review

" ... a sweeping and illuminating account ... powerful, engaging narrative ... kaleidoscopic portrait of her experiences, and those of the people she meets and grows close with along the way. ... Blatty shares her and their stories with immediacy, honesty, and depth. ... a sense of place and people that is usually only arrived at by being there; the men and women who people this book are richly and vividly drawn, like characters in a good novel. ... challenging, revelatory, and important ... This book is a rare and moving testament to the ties that bind those who experience war and its ongoing, lasting effects."-Alexa Dilworth, former publishing director, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University


"Through a series of dispatches, across several frontlines ... Blatty weaves a wholly unique and timely account of life during wartime on Ukraine's eastern front. ... Under the blanket of slow terror ... Blatty finds love on the other end of her camera lens, and perhaps, part of herself. ..."-James McGrath, former bureau chief, Gamma Presse


"Blatty's unparalleled memoir gives readers a glimpse of ... the universal truths of war and conflict ..."-Robert P. Ottone, author, The Vile Thing We Created and The Triangle


"... an intimate, finely-written memoir about the truths and realities shared by soldiers everywhere. ... Blatty ruminates about the nature of comradeship, patriotism, longing, loss, life and death; memory and love. ... this devastatingly moving book ... should be read by anyone who cares about what we do on history's battlefields, and about how we process what we have done afterwards. ... will stay on in readers' minds for a long time to come."-Jon Lee Anderson, staff writer, The New Yorker; author of Che Guevara and The Fall of Baghdad

About the Author

JT Blatty graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point and served six years as an active duty US Army officer. She deployed with the first troops into Afghanistan following 9/11 and into Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. After completing her US military service, JT pursued photography and writing as a career. Her work has been published in numerous national and regional publications.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Elva Resa Publishing LLC (Feb. 20 2024)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 178 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1934617814
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1934617816
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 268 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 22.86 x 15.24 x 1.07 cm
  • Customer Reviews:

About the author

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J. T. Blatty

J. T. Blatty

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Documentary photographer and photojournalist and writer Jenn Tuero (J. T.) Blatty graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2000 and served six years as an active-duty U.S. Army officer, deploying with the first troops into Afghanistan following 9/11 and again into Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. After completing her service to the military, she pursued freelance photography and writing as a career, working as a regular contributor for the New Orleans Advocate and as a FEMA disaster reservist photographer after completing an internship with National Geographic Traveler.

Since early 2018, she has been documenting the conflict in eastern Ukraine while simultaneously creating photographic/audio archive of the 2014 volunteer soldiers of the Donbas (exhibited in Chicago and NYC in 2019-2020, March 2022 in Kyiv postponed due to the full-scale invasion), the revolutionaries who self-deployed during the original Russian invasion of the Donbas and saved Ukraine's independence. A 2021-2022 Ukraine Fulbright alum, Blatty continues her photojournalistic work in Ukraine and recently completed writing Snapshots Sent Home: From Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine (publication Feb 20, 2024), a military memoir that speaks of her journey in Ukraine, the volunteers, and a universal bond between combat veterans around the world.

Blatty is represented by Redux Pictures and the Martine Chaisson Gallery (New Orleans), and is the author of Fish Town: Down the Road to Louisiana’s Fishing Communities, a 2020 winner of a Bronze IPPY Award as Best Regional Non-Fiction in the South.

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Michael Andrews
5.0 out of 5 stars Essence of a Warrior
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2024
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If you want to know what it means to have your heart explode with humanity in the midst of war, read this book. JT Blatty weaves a rich tapestry of experience -- warp poetic images, woof a search for meaning. This book is an honest and vulnerable accounting of life in wartime Ukraine as well as a paean to all souls bound by love during outrageous circumstance. This is an important book for this insane moment in history, presciently predicted more than 30 years ago by Richard Heckler in his book "In Search of the Warrior Spirit." He wrote: "To come to terms with our expanded technology, we need to invoke our inner warrior: a person who can live warrior virtues without war; an individual who can claim primal aggressive instincts without hurting others, men and women who live with dignity and security without making others insecure and undignified." JT's book is a chronicle of that warrior essence. In finding her own freedom, JT intones that such transformation is possible for us all.
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Oleg Gredil
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly deep and moving.
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2024
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The book is a masterful amalgamation of interviews with volunteers from the Russo-Ukrainian war, often conducted at the frontline, and the author's reflections as a U.S. Army veteran during the early stages of the Afghan and Iraqi campaigns. JT juxtaposes these interviews and life stories of soldiers who joined pro-Ukrainian volunteer battalions (such as 'Aidar') following the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2014, with her own life story and experience as a West Point-educated platoon leader deployed by her beloved country to mitigate security threats. This contrast offers an unparalleled perspective for understanding the motivations of Ukrainian society and the immense sacrifices of its servicemen since the beginning of the all-out phase of the invasion in 2022, as well as the pervasive sadness and horror inherent in all wars. A must-read.
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Ann Gaechter
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and relatable
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2024
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Snapshots Sent Home gives readers an insider's glimpse into the war in Ukraine and what it's like to be a solider, regardless of the war. As a civilian, I still found many aspects relatable in terms of fitting into society when much of your life has been spent feeling like an outsider. Themes of love and loss, commitment and purpose are woven throughout. Reconciling all of these things in order to create some kind of settled, content life, will speak to anyone who has had any kind of struggle in their lives (so everyone). J.T Blatty's writing is engaging and beautiful. Buy the book, you won't regret it!
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Shop Girl
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly insightful and emotional. A must read
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2024
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JT’s journey and the journeys of those that she documents are insightful and emotional. Her vivid descriptions and storytelling paint images in your head that are not to be forgotten. This book is an important piece of work and an inspirational masterpiece that is well written from the first page to the final page.
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Shop Girl
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly insightful and emotional. A must read
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2024
JT’s journey and the journeys of those that she documents are insightful and emotional. Her vivid descriptions and storytelling paint images in your head that are not to be forgotten. This book is an important piece of work and an inspirational masterpiece that is well written from the first page to the final page.
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V
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, thought provoking
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2024
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If you want to understand Ukraine, read this book instead of listening to mainstream media.
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