Peace Amidst Conflict
$9.95
| Author: | Rene Reid |
| ISBN: | Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9801709-3-1 E-book 978-0-9801709-4-8 |
| Publication Date: | 1st published May 2, 2008; rereleased September 11, 2026 |
| Pages: | 484 |
| Subject: | Historical reality novel with fictional characters interwoven. |
KEY NOTE
Peace Amidst Conflict is a love story set during and after the shocking events of September 11, 2001. The novel follows both a nation searching for answers during a period of political and international conflict and a couple struggling to resolve deeply personal differences of their own.
Set against one of the most consequential periods in modern American history, Peace Amidst Conflict explores how understanding an opposing perspective can become an essential first step toward healing divisions between individuals as well as nations.
Description
A Love Story Set During and After 9/11
Peace Amidst Conflict is a historical reality novel in which fictional characters are woven into factual historical and political circumstances surrounding September 11, 2001, the Iraq War, and the national debates that followed.
The novel opens on September 11, 2001, as airplanes strike the World Trade Center towers and a devastating attack changes the United States and the world.
At the center of the story is the relationship between Kyle and Jenny. Their love develops during a period defined by fear, anger, political division, uncertainty, and difficult questions about how individuals and nations respond to conflict.
Their personal struggles mirror a much larger national challenge: how can people move beyond division when they cannot agree on what is true, what caused the conflict, or how it should be resolved?
Political Conflict and the Road to War
Against this emotional backdrop, Peace Amidst Conflict places its fictional characters within the historical and political circumstances surrounding the lead-up to the Iraq War.
Twin brothers occupy important roles in the political storyline—one serving as Attorney General of California and the other working in the office of the U.S. Secretary of State in Washington.
Through their experiences and search for answers, the novel examines questions surrounding intelligence before and after 9/11, U.S. foreign policy, debates over the justification for the Iraq invasion, and the controversy surrounding reports involving Niger and Iraq.
The story also incorporates historically reported events connected with Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s public challenge to the Bush administration, the disclosure of Valerie Plame’s identity as a CIA officer, and reports of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.
These factual historical and political circumstances provide the setting in which the novel’s fictional characters confront their own questions about war, truth, responsibility, diplomacy, and the consequences of political decisions.
More Than a Political Novel
Peace Amidst Conflict is more than a political novel and more than a romance.
It explores what happens when personal relationships, national interests, political power, competing perspectives, and different understandings of truth collide.
As the story develops, the twin brothers continue searching for alternatives to prolonged conflict. Kyle later serves as President of the U.S. Institute for Peace, where the characters engage with international perspectives and consider approaches to foreign policy centered more strongly on diplomacy, dialogue, and understanding.
At the same time, Kyle and Jenny must confront the conflicts within their own relationship.
Their personal journey reflects one of the novel’s central ideas: meaningful reconciliation often begins with an effort to understand the other side—the experiences, motivations, fears, grievances, and beliefs that may be contributing to the conflict.
Love, Diplomacy and Reconciliation
Through both its personal and political storylines, Peace Amidst Conflict asks whether the same principles that help individuals work through disagreements can also contribute to resolving larger conflicts between communities and nations.
The novel explores themes including:
- Love and personal relationships
- September 11, 2001 and its aftermath
- The Iraq War
- American politics and foreign policy
- Diplomacy and international relations
- Political power
- Competing versions of truth
- Conflict resolution
- Understanding opposing viewpoints
- Peace and reconciliation
By bringing a fictional love story into the factual historical circumstances of the post-9/11 era, Peace Amidst Conflict offers readers both an intimate human story and a thought-provoking exploration of one of the most consequential periods in recent American history.
About Rene Reid
Rene Reid is the author of Peace Amidst Conflict and several other books spanning fiction, memoir, relationships, entrepreneurship, and personal development.
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Preview Excerpts from the Book
Chapter Two, “Early Bird, September 11, 2001”
Josh is trapped in Tower Two of the World Trade Center.
Chapter Seventeen, “Valentine’s Day Slips By, February 14 – March 13, 2001”
Kyle tells Jenny he feels they are two people hopelessly in love but destined to walk different paths. He wants marriage and for her to forsake all others for him. Jenny is facing the loss of both her mother and her closest friend. She expresses her fear that, with his erratic behavior, he will not be there for her in her time of need.
Chapter Twenty-one, “Dinner With the Governor, September 17 – October 30, 2001”
Kyle and Jenny have dinner with the Governor and visiting dignitaries. Following the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, a dynamic Democrat vs. Republican conversation takes place in which the question is raised as to what drove the terrorists to this extreme. “What have we done to cause this degree of hatred?”
Chapter Twenty-two, “Overcoming Fear of Trust, November 1 – December 14, 2001”
Jenny talks to her close friend, Mike, about what holds her back from marrying Kyle. Is she afraid to put her trust in one man or is she afraid of Kyle’s instability? Mike tells her that a deep relationship requires unconditional trust and without it, there is only a façade of a relationship.
Chapter Thirty-six, “Pilgrim Soul, April – November 2007”
As a Red Cross volunteer in Iraq, Jenny sees first hand the abusive treatment that “enemy combatants” are receiving at Abu Ghraib. In visiting with one of them, he explains that continuance of the Iraqi war will not help the U.S. but rather supports the overriding goal of Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network, which is to end a century of what they see as Western domination of the Muslim world.
