Land of Tears
By Sanjar Rohãm
(Milspeak)

Sanjar Rohãm, an Iranian-American, was an in-demand successful business consultant in Los Angeles before the 2008 crash of the U.S. economy compelled him to rethink his career choices after discovering an advertisement for a translator fluent in Pashto and willing to serve as an interpreter with the U.S. Marines. By October 2010, he was on the frontlines of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province in Afghanistan. Fighting suspicions from Marines because of his Persian ethnicity, as well as from Afghan interpreters, Rohãm attempts to prove himself by volunteering for every mission the command will allow, experiencing mortar attacks, IED detonations, losses of friends, and the additional dangers of being a foreigner in a land that promises harm to outsiders.

EARLY PRAISE

LAND OF TEARS brings an important new perspective from one who straddles the war zone worlds of us and them with the bridge of language. With in-sight, humor, heart-wrenching detail, and compassion for those on all sides, Rohãm captures just how critical —and precarious-that bridge can be. It's a story of war and all the surrounding darkness but also an unexpected awakening to the possibilities of life. —LAUREN KAY JOHNSON, author of THE FINE ART OF CAMOUFLAGE

Sanjar Rohãm's LAND OF TEARS, inspired by his experience in Afghanistan as an interpreter, reminds us of the blood, sweat, and tears shed in a war many already want to forget. But those of us sent there can't forget, and we can't let those who sent us forget. Rohãm has made a valuable contribution to the canon of war literature. .—TOM YOUNG, author of THE MULLAH'S STORM, SAND AND FIRE, and others

LAND OF TEARS comes as much from the head and the heart as it does from months of boredom, moments of terror, and observations of beauty in the midst of chaos. Sanjar Rohm speaks from personal experience and makes the particular universal and the mundane profound. More than an important book, it is a necessary story —TRAVIS KLEMPAN, author of HILLS HIDE MOUNTAINS and HAVE SNAKES, NEED BIRDS

LAND OF TEARS is a gritty, make-you-squirm reflection on the sorrow, horror, and guilt that the American experience in Afghanistan inflicted on Sanjar Roham, who traded a life in Los Angeles for a deployment as an interpreter in Helmand Province. But this memoir lifts us up with its steady stream of inspirational moments. Roham's candor about the challenges and his humility about the commitment he upheld makes him feel like an old, respected friend. —JOHN LAWSON III