MSI Press Blog

   This week's editor's choice is Chris Richards' book, Nothing So Broken . Book description:  In the shadow of loss, a path to healing begins. Chris Richards grew up in a small New England mill town, where life was tough and loyalty ran deep. At just 19, his world was shaken when a close friend was left permanently disabled by a devastating accident. At the same time, Chris’s father began to show troubling symptoms linked to his service in the Vietnam War—unseen wounds that would slowly unravel the man he once knew. The weight of watching two people he loved unravel under the strain of trauma and physical decline left deep scars—ones Chris carried silently into adulthood. For years, he buried his grief and fear, never imagining that one day, facing his own crisis, he would turn to their stories for strength. This powerful and moving memoir explores the enduring impact of trauma, the quiet power of resilience, and how even the most broken lives can become sources of inspi...

  Public policy rarely begins in committee rooms. It begins in living rooms, hospital wards, and veterans’ halls — in the voices of people who refuse to be ignored. The history of Agent Orange policy in the United States is, at its core, the story of individuals whose private suffering became public testimony. 1. From Silence to Advocacy In the years after Vietnam, most veterans faced their illnesses alone. They were told their cancers were coincidental, their neuropathies unexplained, their children’s birth defects unrelated. But silence has limits. As patterns emerged — similar diagnoses, shared experiences — veterans began to connect the dots. The first advocacy came not from institutions but from individuals : A veteran who kept meticulous notes of his symptoms and those of his unit. A widow who wrote letters to Congress after her husband’s death. A small group of veterans who met in a church basement and decided to gather data themselves. Their persistence transformed anecdote...

 This week's editor's choice is  Chris Richards' book,  Nothing So Broken . Book description:  In the shadow of loss, a path to healing begins. Chris Richards grew up in a small New England mill town, where life was tough and loyalty ran deep. At just 19, his world was shaken when a close friend was left permanently disabled by a devastating accident. At the same time, Chris’s father began to show troubling symptoms linked to his service in the Vietnam War—unseen wounds that would slowly unravel the man he once knew. The weight of watching two people he loved unravel under the strain of trauma and physical decline left deep scars—ones Chris carried silently into adulthood. For years, he buried his grief and fear, never imagining that one day, facing his own crisis, he would turn to their stories for strength. This powerful and moving memoir explores the enduring impact of trauma, the quiet power of resilience, and how even the most broken lives can become sources of ...