A Square of Dirt

In the unforgiving landscape of Afghanistan’s Tangi Valley, a military base tells its own extraordinary story. Neither human nor fully inanimate, this “square of dirt” becomes a sentient witness to the brutal rhythms of war, listening intently to the soldiers who build and inhabit it. From American soldiers wrestling with fear and purpose to Afghan troops left to defend an increasingly untenable position, from quiet moments of vulnerability to explosive confrontations, the base observes everything—collecting stories, counting losses, and understanding the futility of conflict in ways its human inhabitants cannot.

A Square of Dirt is a groundbreaking narrative that reimagines war literature through the most unexpected of narrators: the very ground where human dramas of survival, courage, and despair unfold. At once intimate and expansive, this novelette reveals how a single location can bear witness to the complex, heartbreaking realities of modern warfare.

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Praise for A Square of Dirt

No one writes quite like MacAdam. In his compelling debut, MacAdam tells a story rich with vibrant contradictions—it is simultaneously wise and cynical, spiritual and worldly, contemplative and dynamic, beautifully narrated and unafraid of turning a mirror to humanity’s destructive impulses. This is an anti-elegy, the tale of a forsaken place which demands its own agency. The eponymous “square of dirt” may be forgotten by those who occupied it, but MacAdam’s words will remain with the reader for a long time.

—Jillian Danback-McGhan, author of Midwatch

J.G.P. MacAdam gives us a story of America’s war in Afghanistan with fresh and surprising perspective. Told from the perspective of one small piece of ground on which the war was fought, A Square of Dirt is a reminder that, in an age where technology can make the battlefield remote, distant, and impersonal, war is still a very personal affair, fought by and among human beings.

—Ben Weakley, author of Heat + Pressure

J.G.P. MacAdam’s narrator reminds us of the permanence of the earth and the violent banalites we inflict on one another. His outpost shows us the war in snapshots, making us privy to the lives of the Americans, Afghans, and even a little village girl hiding within its walls. All the while it dispassionately teaches us that this too shall pass, telling us the same stories a Shawnee forest or a Roman sundial could. It tells us about being human. A powerful book with a reminder to live our lives in the now.

—Christopher Lyke, author of The Chicago East India Company

About the Author

J.G.P. MacAdam is the first in his family to earn a college degree. He spent 7 years active-duty in the US Army, deploying twice to Afghanistan, serving in Korea as well as in Arlington National Cemetery. His novelette “A Square of Dirt” was published by Emerge Literary. He currently serves as an Assistant Substack Editor at Consequence Forum, a nonprofit dedicated to publishing literature and art addressing the consequences of geopolitical conflict.

A Square of Dirt

Praise for A Square of Dirt

About the Author

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