A War at the End of Empire: The Militarization of America and Matt Gallagher’s Empire City

This article examines how contemporary U.S. veteran literature helps understand the domestic effects of the 20-year long War on Terror, and its inseparability from violence at home. Literature written by veterans of the War on Terror provides a unique—and often overlooked—instrument for the mapping and navigation of this cultural terrain enveloped by “forever war.” I use Matt Gallagher’s novel Empire City (2020) as a case study to explore how contemporary veteran literature interrogates the relationship between state violence at home and abroad. The novel’s use of alternate history allows it to interrogate the domestic implications of the War on Terror and foreground the repressed imperiality of U.S. history. The counternarrative ruptures of Empire City demonstrate the unique vantage point veteran literature provides to understanding the ways in which the War on Terror has shaped, and continues to shape, the United States and its relationship with the world.