ABSTRACT
If the ultimate test of American citizenship is a willingness to fight and die for one’s country, and if youth are expected to answer the call, then the young men and women who have fought and died in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere have passed the test and paid the ultimate price for life in a democracy. The phrase fallen angels in the title references Walter Dean Myers’ (1988) novel by the same name. Myers’ Fallen Angels chronicles the experiences of young African Americans soldiers serving in Viet Nam. Although an award-winning young adult novel, it has been banned in some schools because of its graphic depiction of war.
