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Breaking Cadence: One Woman’s War Against the War

By Rosa del Duca

Breaking Cadence: One Woman’s War Against the War
$16.00
  • Publisher: Ooligan Press
  • Available in: 5.5" x 8.5", Trade Paperback | 368 pages
  • ISBN: 978-1-947845-04-6
  • Published: May 21, 2019
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When a young recruiter tells Rosa del Duca that enlisting in the National Guard will cover most of her college tuition, it seems like the perfect opportunity to escape her small Montana town and toxic family circumstances. After all, during her six-year contract she will only be a soldier for one weekend a month and two weeks a summer―nine percent soldier, ninety-one percent civilian.

9/11 changes everything.

As American involvement in the Middle East escalates, Rosa finds herself torn between her escalating moral disagreements with the military’s actions and her promise to the National Guard. To voice her opposition to the war would mean branding herself a traitor in the eyes of the peers she has come to consider a second family, but after years of navigating messy relationships and mental health struggles fueled by her dilemma, she can no longer stay silent. As Rosa begins the slow process of becoming a conscientious objector, she finds a powerful voice for her beliefs and learns the importance of standing up, even when it means standing apart.

Praise

“This book stands as an example of what it takes for someone in the military to stand up for justice, act on their morals, and become a conscientious objector. This story of Rosa del Duca’s spirit and her tenacity to follow it is a beacon to shine the light for others who choose not to be the cannon fodder of empire.”
-Dahr Jamail, Iraqi War reporter and author of The End of Ice
 
“It’s hard to believe that a 17-year-old who can’t vote or drink can go to war. Del Duca’s experience as one of those teens — who joined the National Guard to pay for college and then finds herself on the verge of being sent to fight a war she thinks is morally wrong — is as harrowing as they come. I was riveted by her story and her strength.”
-Julies Scheeres, author of NYT Bestseller Jesus Land and A Thousand Lives 
 
“Rosa del Duca’s Breaking Cadence is a tribute to the notion that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. In her intense, revelatory and liberating transformation from teen military recruit to conscientious objector, we follow del Duca as she navigates her contradictory emotions that puts her on a collision course with the most powerful institution in the world. Her determination not to fight in an immoral war in Iraq will hopefully serve as a warning and an inspiration for young Americans across this country. Bravo!”
-Medea Benjamin, activist and cofounder of Code Pink
“Breaking Cadence is honest, beautifully-written, and immensely compelling. Among many other things, it is a vital chronicle of military service, and of the young Americans who volunteer into it. It is a window into a world most civilians know little about, but must, if we are to reckon with the actual human costs of war. Step by painful step, the narrator becomes the person she was destined to be: a conscientious objector, an artist, and a writer who looks honestly at herself and the world, and who tells, in unflinching detail, the truth. The irrefutable evidence of her destiny is this compelling, moving, essential story.”
-Matthew Zapruder, author of Why Poetry and Sun Bear

About the Author

Rosa del Duca is a writer, journalist, and musician. She grew up a tomboy in rural Montana, where she joined the Army National Guard at seventeen. During her six-year contract, she became not only a conscientious objector, but a feminist and unlikely rebel.

Her work has been published in CALYX, River Teeth, CutBank, Grain, the Los Angeles Review, and others. When she’s not writing creatively, she’s writing the cold hard facts that keep you up at night at NBC Bay Area News, or she’s singing at bars, coffee shops, and farmers markets. Rosa lives in Castro Valley, California, with her writer, professor, and craftsman husband, Nicholas Leither, and their two young children, Itasca and River. Visit her website to learn more.

Reading Guides

In order to foster discussion about this memoir, we have created two sets of reading questions. These are intended to be a jumping off point for discussing the complex themes and events described within this book. Please feel free to use these questions in your classrooms, reading groups, and beyond.

High School Reading Guide (Ages 14-18)

University and Beyond Reading Guide (Ages 18+)

Breaking Cadence
Start to Finish

Introducing Breaking Cadence: One Woman’s War Against the War - We're preparing for a busy season at Ooligan Press, with three titles coming out in as many consecutive months beginning in March. Our final book of the school year, Breaking Cadence: One Woman's War Against the War by Rosa del Duca, is set to publish on May 21. It's a thought-provoking memoir that not only communicates Rosa's path to becoming a conscientious objector in the military but also serves as a conversation-starter around a number of pressing topics.