Life is full of contradictions and inconsistencies, especially in those moments when we yearn for clarity.  Issues that appear, at first glance, to be in sharp black and white relief quickly drift into shades of gray. That's what Beth Taylor has learned about distressingly ambiguous matters of war and peace.

Beth Taylor teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program in Brown University's English Department. She lives in Providence with her husband Bill, and they have three grown sons.  Taylor's new book is The Plain Language of Love and Loss: A Quaker Memoir. (University of Missouri Press).