The Fifth Act and Afghanistan
Elliot Ackerman joins editor Adam Ross on The Sewanee Review podcast to discuss The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan. Their conversation traces the memoir’s connections between Ackerman’s military service, the collapse of Kabul in 2021, and the effort to help Afghans leave the country.
Duty, Memory, and Coming Home
Ackerman describes the bonds he formed with Afghan partners and the obligations that endured after his own service ended. He explains how the book brings together the war’s political history, five evacuation efforts, and memories of a fallen teammate to examine the promise to leave no one behind.
The discussion also considers how combat shapes a person’s identity and complicates the return to civilian life. Moving from the memoir’s structure to the enduring pull of war in literature, Ackerman and Ross explore the distance between coming home physically and feeling at home again.
Listen to the Conversation
The podcast was recorded in the William Ralston Listening Room inside duPont Library at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
▶ Listen at The Sewanee Review