A nonfiction work tracing the life and death of poet Kozo Takeuchi, who dreamed of becoming a film director and died in war. Following his surviving poems and footsteps, the young author examines what it means to go to war.

Following the words of a young poet killed in war, the book looks at the distance between war and expression.

A nonfiction investigation of the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan, examining the Taliban, bin Laden, and international politics. It presents cultural destruction as part of a political process leading toward later global crisis.

The politics and violence behind the destruction of the Buddhas are read as a prelude to a global crisis.