Kansas State University

MANHATTAN -- Journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner David Finkel will discuss his most recent book, "Thank You For Your Service," which has ties to the Manhattan area.

Finkel will speak at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, at the Kansas State University Alumni Center main ballroom. A book sale and signing session will be at 3 p.m. in the K-State Alumni Center.

The event is free and open to the public, although seating is limited. For free tickets, members of the military may contact Art DeGroat at degroata@k-state.edu; Kansas State University faculty, staff and students may contact Briana Nelson Goff at bnelson@k-state.edu; and members of the community may contact Janet Nichols at janet@manhattan.org.

"Pulitzer Prize writer David Finkel is exceptionally generous to return to K-State to share his personal perspective on this epic work," said DeGroat, director of military affairs at the university. "I am sure that his lecture, like the book, will help us all to better understand the essence of the 'after war' fought by our veterans and families to regain some level of normalcy in their lives. It is fitting and timely that he comes to K-State to help inform and shape our collective work on this challenging issue."

"Thank You For Your Service" chronicles the challenges American soldiers and their families face after war. Finkel followed up with the soldiers who were at war and featured in his previous book. His new book shows how the soldiers are adjusting to home after deployment. Finkel conducted research for the book in Manhattan, Junction City, the Fort Riley Warrior Transition Battalion and the Topeka Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Finkel visited Kansas State University in 2011 to discuss his previous book, "The Good Soldiers," a New York Times best-seller and winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism. The story details the soldiers of the U.S. Army's 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry of Fort Riley, known as the Rangers, during their historic tour of duty in Iraq from 2007-2008 at the peak of the surge.

Finkel is a writer and editor for The Washington Post. He has reported from Africa, Asia, Central America and Europe, and he has covered wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.