The April 25th Collectors' Book salon will feature bold reader and military collector, John Reed. Reed was born in 1951, grew up in middle-class comfort and privilege, and received a very high draft number in 1971, which exempted him from military service during the end of the Vietnam War. However, a stream of literary and inter-personal experiences motivated him to “join the Army” in 1982. His talk will focus on the literary influences that convinced him that his missed service during Vietnam was a lacuna that he had to fill, with many downstream consequences for his wife, his daughter, and for himself, including a one-year tour in Iraq during the “Surge” of 2007-2008, another failed war. | 
