An incisive examination of power, Jennifer Barnhill’s “The Military Stories You’ve Been Told, and the Ones You Need to Hear,” looks at the military through the lens of storytelling to scrutinize narratives that have held longtime sway.
An oft-stated fact is that less than 1% of Americans currently serve in the military, which means that for many people without firsthand experience, these narratives — which range from ideas on “resilience” to treating spouses as “dependents” — may be the only thing they think they understand about military life. Part institutional history, Barnhill’s book serves as a corrective to several of these popular but misleading storylines. As she writes, “If Americans know nothing of the military lifestyle, they may believe whatever someone in power tells them about it.”
Selected as a 2023 Bush Institute Stand-To Veteran Leadership Scholar and named the 2025 Armed Forces Insurance Navy Spouse of the Year, Barnhill has been a ceaseless advocate for military families. In this thoroughly researched work, she offers multilayered recommendations on how to dismantle these sometimes harmful stories, and how to help share new ones that better reflect the realities of military culture. The work particularly shines a spotlight on the many ways military spouses have enacted important changes, including the impactful lives of leaders like Sybil Stockdale, Mouza Zumwalt, and Edie Smith who helped, respectively, to secure freedom for P.O.W.’s during the Vietnam War, guide the Navy through a time of changing racial relations, and correct the so-called “widow’s tax.“
This book is smart and fascinating. It’s a read you’ll want to savor, packed with facts and footnotes, and it will make you revisit the military stories you think you know — no matter how well-acquainted with this life of service you may be.
“The Military Stories You’ve Been Told and The Ones You Need to Hear” is available everywhere books are sold. Join author Jennifer Barnhill and Military Families Magazine’s Book Club host Kate Lewis on February 12 at 2 p.m. ET on Instagram Live for an in-depth discussion of Barnhill’s work!
