Everything you need to understand or teach The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers.
The Yellow Birds is a novel by Kevin Powers which details the experiences of Private John Bartle in the Iraq War in 2004, and its aftermath.
When the novel begins, Bartle and his friend, Murphy, are fighting in and around Al Tafar, Iraq. Bartle, back before their unit was deployed, had promised Murphy's mother that he would watch out for Murphy and bring him back home. Sergeant Sterling asserts that this is a stupid thing to do, a stupid promise to have made. The war grinds on, and bit by bit, Murphy becomes more and more disillusioned, until he wants to go home. Ultimately, following a bombardment and the death of a pretty nurse, Murphy strips himself naked and walks around the city in a trance, where he is captured, killed, and mutilated by insurgents. His body is later found by Bartle and Sterling, who don't want Murphy to return... View more of the The Yellow Birds Summary
