Awards

• Commended for Benjamin Franklin Award (Memoir) 2024

Overview

Lauren Kay Johnson is just seven when she first experiences a sacrifice of war as her mother, a nurse in the Army Reserves, deploys in support of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. A decade later, in the wake of 9/11, Lauren signs her own military contract and deploys to a small Afghan province with a non-combat nation-building team. Through her role as the team's information operations officer-the filter between the U.S. military and the Afghan and international publics-and through interviews and letters from her mother's service, Lauren investigates the role of information in war and in interpersonal relationships, often wrestling with the truth in stories we read and hear from the media and official sources, and in those stories we tell ourselves and our families. A powerful generational coming-of-age narrative against the backdrop of war, The Fine Art of Camouflage reveals the impact from a child's perspective of watching her mother leave and return home to a hero's welcome to that of a young idealist volunteering to deploy to Afghanistan who, war-worn, eventually questions her place in the war, the military, and her family history-and their place within her.

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Reviews

"""A brave and heartfelt debut memoir, one that takes us deep inside the visceral reality of a woman at war. With Johnson as our guide, we taste the stale M&M's, feel the uniform unsuited to our bodies, and struggle to carry a gun that is too big for our hands. At the heart, this is a story that asks the question: why do we serve? Her answer is at once brutally honest and ultimately triumphant."" Susannah Cahalan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness ""With stark honesty and an unflinching eye, Johnson redefines what words like strength and sacrifice mean in military service. A war memoir like you've never read before."" Brian Castner, bestselling author of The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life that Follows, and others ""The first book I've read in which a woman followed her mother into military service, The Fine Art of Camouflage is riveting. A spot-on account of being on a combat deployment as a woman, with fascinating insights into the ethical and emotional challenges of serving in a fraught environment. This is a book I will give to anyone considering joining the military, but its appeal goes far beyond that audience: it is a well-crafted exploration of the journey to finding one's self as an independent person."" Kayla Williams, author of Love My Rifle More than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army ""The Fine Art of Camouflage heralds the arrival of a sharp new literary voice. From her family inheritance of duty to country, to her inner conflicts between being a good public affairs officer and a decent human being, to her chronicles of day-to-day life as a counterinsurgent in Afghanistan, Johnson writes with a fascinating blend of how-it-was immediacy and astute reflection. What a great memoir."" Matt Gallagher, author of Empire City and Youngblood ""An astonishing glimpse into the daily life of America's military women. A moving chronicle of a mother-daughter relationship. A powerful coming-of-age tale. Johnson has pulled off a hat trick with her haunting debut. I couldn't put it down."" Joanna Rakoff, internationally bestselling author of My Salinger Year ""Beautifully crafted and deeply moving, The Fine Art of Camouflage is a memoir of Johnson's dual deployments-one to help bring stability to a war-torn land, the other to discover the true meaning of service to country. Courageous and difficult undertakings both; thus, the wisdom and insight they yield are as captivating as they are hard-won."" Jerald Walker, author of How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, National Book Award finalist"

A brave and heartfelt debut memoir, one that takes us deep inside the visceral reality of a woman at war. With Johnson as our guide, we taste the stale M&M's, feel the uniform unsuited to our bodies, and struggle to carry a gun that is too big for our hands. At the heart, this is a story that asks the question: why do we serve? Her answer is at once brutally honest and ultimately triumphant. Susannah Cahalan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness With stark honesty and an unflinching eye, Johnson redefines what words like strength and sacrifice mean in military service. A war memoir like you've never read before. Brian Castner, bestselling author of The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life that Follows, and others The first book I've read in which a woman followed her mother into military service, The Fine Art of Camouflage is riveting. A spot-on account of being on a combat deployment as a woman, with fascinating insights into the ethical and emotional challenges of serving in a fraught environment. This is a book I will give to anyone considering joining the military, but its appeal goes far beyond that audience: it is a well-crafted exploration of the journey to finding one's self as an independent person. Kayla Williams, author of Love My Rifle More than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army The Fine Art of Camouflage heralds the arrival of a sharp new literary voice. From her family inheritance of duty to country, to her inner conflicts between being a good public affairs officer and a decent human being, to her chronicles of day-to-day life as a counterinsurgent in Afghanistan, Johnson writes with a fascinating blend of how-it-was immediacy and astute reflection. What a great memoir. Matt Gallagher, author of Empire City and Youngblood An astonishing glimpse into the daily life of America's military women. A moving chronicle of a mother-daughter relationship. A powerful coming-of-age tale. Johnson has pulled off a hat trick with her haunting debut. I couldn't put it down. Joanna Rakoff, internationally bestselling author of My Salinger Year Beautifully crafted and deeply moving, The Fine Art of Camouflage is a memoir of Johnson's dual deployments-one to help bring stability to a war-torn land, the other to discover the true meaning of service to country. Courageous and difficult undertakings both; thus, the wisdom and insight they yield are as captivating as they are hard-won. Jerald Walker, author of How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, National Book Award finalist

"""A book about the stories a nation's veterans -- and parents and children -- tell ourselves and each other when the truth is too painful to confront directly...The Fine Art of Camouflage is a new breed of memoir."" (Penthouse March/April 2023) ""A brave and heartfelt debut memoir, one that takes us deep inside the visceral reality of a woman at war. With Johnson as our guide, we taste the stale M&M's, feel the uniform unsuited to our bodies, and struggle to carry a gun that is too big for our hands. At the heart, this is a story that asks the question: why do we serve? Her answer is at once brutally honest and ultimately triumphant."" Susannah Cahalan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness ""With stark honesty and an unflinching eye, Johnson redefines what words like strength and sacrifice mean in military service. A war memoir like you've never read before."" Brian Castner, bestselling author of The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life that Follows, and others ""The first book I've read in which a woman followed her mother into military service, The Fine Art of Camouflage is riveting. A spot-on account of being on a combat deployment as a woman, with fascinating insights into the ethical and emotional challenges of serving in a fraught environment. This is a book I will give to anyone considering joining the military, but its appeal goes far beyond that audience: it is a well-crafted exploration of the journey to finding one's self as an independent person."" Kayla Williams, author of Love My Rifle More than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army ""The Fine Art of Camouflage heralds the arrival of a sharp new literary voice. From her family inheritance of duty to country, to her inner conflicts between being a good public affairs officer and a decent human being, to her chronicles of day-to-day life as a counterinsurgent in Afghanistan, Johnson writes with a fascinating blend of how-it-was immediacy and astute reflection."" Matt Gallagher, author of Empire City and Youngblood ""An astonishing glimpse into the daily life of America's military women. A moving chronicle of a mother-daughter relationship. A powerful coming-of-age tale. Johnson has pulled off a hat trick with her haunting debut. I couldn't put it down."" Joanna Rakoff, internationally bestselling author of My Salinger Year ""Beautifully crafted and deeply moving, The Fine Art of Camouflage is a memoir of Johnson's dual deployments-one to help bring stability to a war-torn land, the other to discover the true meaning of service to country. Courageous and difficult undertakings both; thus, the wisdom and insight they yield are as captivating as they are hard-won."" Jerald Walker, author of How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, National Book Award finalist"

Author Information

Lauren Kay Johnson's essays, fiction, and poetry have appeared in the Washington Post, the Atlantic, Glamour, Yale Medicine Magazine, CONSEQUENCE magazine, Drunken Boat, Pleiades, and several anthologies. Her writing and interviews have been used in the creation of dance and theater productions, and she has lectured at schools, conferences, and veteran centers across the country, including the Association of Writers and Writing Programs national conference, the Boston Book Festival, and the University of Iowa. She is a writing consultant with GrubStreet, an editor at the Wrath-Bearing Tree, and a former editor-in-chief of Redivider. Lauren lives with her family in Seattle. By day, she works for IGNITE Worldwide, a non-profit that aims to combat the gender imbalance in STEM fields. By night, she writes (with the help of her fat tabby cat) and eats copious amounts of ice cream.

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