Search - Stephen Swanson :: Was My Brother in the Battle?

This program grew out of Stephen Swanson s frustration with the coverage of Operation Iraqi Freedom and with his son s decision to enlist. He and his wife began researching song dealing with war and formulated a program of songs about the individuals involved in America s historic military conflicts, their friends and their families. The primary consideration was the texts rather than the settings. The fervent nationalistic patriotism of World War I; the intimate personal glimpses in to World War II; the satirical songs from the Cold War; the Vietnam-era protest songs; the setting of Abraham Lincoln s letter to a mother who lost five sons all demonstrate the conflict between the need to fight and the horrific losses war imposes.