Spouse Calls

Based on renowned journalist Terri Barnes‘s popular, award-winning Stars and Stripes  column of the same name, Spouse Calls features a collection of her best essays on a wide range of topics: motherhood, faith, friendship, family ties, war, current events, sacrifice, PTSD, moving, homecomings, and more.

As a wife and mom, Terri highlights important, pivotal moments in her own family’s life as well as others’, in essays that resonate with both military and nonmilitary families.

From her own kitchen table to Capitol Hill, Terri takes readers beyond the headlines and homecoming videos for an inside look at the day-to-day hardships, victories, and many ways military life shapes, challenges, and enriches its families.

Through poignant personal stories, incisive interviews, and emotive reflections, she creates an historical snapshot of American and world affairs, preserving an important piece of our nation’s culture.

About her book, Terri says, “My hometown isn’t a geographical location, but a place in American culture that is invisible to many people. My family lives in the hometown of military installations and military communities. This book is the story of the people we know and the life we live in the neighborhood of our American military life.”

Terri’s Stars and Stripes column on which the book is based was also recognized by The National Society of Newspaper Columnists, earning second place in the nation for the best general interest column in a newspaper under 50,000 circulation. NSNC judges commended her for writing “with insight and remarkable sensitivity,” calling her columns “masterful” and “powerful.”