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MARQUETTE -- We see war on the news, but that only brushes the surface.

"It's a very complex topic.  I think people need to have an understanding of war, and I think they need to know what effect it has on individuals and our culture."

Those are the words of Jan Fedewa, Executive Director of the Michigan Humanities Council.  The Council is responsible for bringing three well-known war authors to Marquette Thursday evening.

Benjamin Busch is an Iraq War veteran who's memoir, Bearing Arms, was recently published in Harpers, and his essay, "Growth Rings", in the Michigan Quarterly Review. 

"I had no intention of writing about it.  Actually, the only writing I really did at that time were once a month, I wrote a letter home.  And that was the beginning really of discussion, literate discussion, about my situation in Iraq," says Busch.

Philip Caputo served two tours in Vietnam.  He's a Pulitzer Prize winning author for his memoir, A Rumor of War, which has sold more than two million copies.

"When someone read the book, they would have what I would now call a "virtual tour of duty.  They would experience the war in all of its physical and concrete realities," says Caputo.

Doug Stanton is the only one of the three not to have served, but his research and interest in war has gotten him on the New York Times bestsellers list twice.

"I'm interested in what ordinary people with kind of extraordinary sense of character are able to overcome--really hero-ing and terrifying and challenging situations--and I'm inspired by being able to get a glimpse into their lives as they do that," explains Stanton.

All told, more than 200 literature lovers came out to speak with these war authors, everyone from high school students to war veterans to grandparents.  Tickets were $5, and the money raised was split between the Peter White Public Library and the Michigan Humanities Council.