Author. Thinker. Musician
Books
Benjamin Buchholz is the author of four acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction. His newest novel, Sirens of Manhattan, explores the haunting fractures of modern city life. He is also the author of Private Soldiers, a deeply reported account of a National Guard unit deployed to Iraq; One Hundred and One Nights, his celebrated debut novel set in war-torn Iraq; and The Tightening Dark, a lyrical work examining conflict, memory, and the human cost of war. Across genres, Buchholz’s writing is praised for its emotional depth, sharp observation, and unflinching honesty.
Fiction
Siren of Manhattan
An entrancing generational coming-of-age novel about a young woman, Dixie, who moves to 1960s-era New York City from small-town Idaho, trying to escape a devastating, deeply buried trauma. As she navigates Manhattan and her horizons expand—in this landscape so different from her own—the reverberations of her well-buried secret keep drawing her to catastrophe, like a moth to flame, or a siren calling sailors to their doom. Dixie builds a life for herself in NYC, but her buried secret catches up with her, and the cost may, ultimately be too much. This is a haunting, deeply affecting exploration of family, legacy, and the echoes of a soul trying to make meaning from pain.
One Hundred and One Nights
After 13 years in America, Abu Saheeh has returned to his native Iraq, a nation transformed by the American military presence. Alone in a new city, he has exactly what he wants: freedom from his past. Then he meets Layla, a whimsical fourteen-year-old girl who enchants him with her love of American pop culture. Enchanted by Layla's stories and her company, Abu Saheeh settles into the city's rhythm and begins rebuilding his life. But two sudden developments--his alliance with a powerful merchant and his employment of a hot-headed young assistant--reawaken painful memories, and not even Layla may be able to save Abu Saheeh from careening out of control and endangering all around them.
A breathtaking tale of friendship, love, and betrayal, One Hundred and One Nights is an unforgettable novel about the struggle for salvation and the power of family.
Nonfiction
Private Soldiers
In April 2005 they received the official alert: The Wisconsin Army National Guard's 2-127th Infantry Battalion was being mobilized. Their mission would take them into the most dangerous regions of Iraq, and during the next year the battalion would withstand hundreds of attacks, see dozens wounded, and lose three members killed in action.
Written and photographed by three battalion members, the book provides a rare first-hand account of war and life in Iraq. Fascinating soldier interviews reveal the effects of deployment on the troops and on their families back home, and interviews with Iraqi civilians describe the Iraqis' perceptions of life, war, and working alongside Wisconsin troops.
​
Private Soldiers honors Wisconsin's participants in the Iraq war and helps readers understand the war's human side.
The Tightening Dark
As air strikes carpeted Yemen's capital, Sam Farran was one of only a few Americans left in the war-ravaged country. He was there to conduct security assessments for a variety of international firms. Days after his arrival, he was brutally seized and taken hostage by Houthi rebels. Sam would spend the next six months suffering a horrific ordeal that would test his endurance, his loyalty and his very soul.
Every day his captors asked him—as a fellow Muslim—to betray America and his Marine heritage in exchange for his freedom. Would he give in to the Houthis and return to his Middle Eastern roots?
The Tightening Dark is an intimate, riveting and inspiring memoir of heroic strength, courage, survival and commitment to country. And a reminder that the best parts of the American dream are the dreamers—those who pledge to being American, regardless of where they are born.