Elliot Ackerman’s THE FIFTH ACT continues to garner critical praise. The Diplomatic Courier raves: “Ackerman is one of the finest writers of his generation, having brilliantly penned literary reflections on war and meaning—a quality that carries through to his latest book. It is not often that I finish a book in one sitting, and even rarer that I put a book down and know it will stay with me long after I finish it. Ackerman’s THE FIFTH ACT does both. It is powerful, poignant, personal, and painful. His personal narrative of combat and how it stays with him today—especially during the effort to evacuate Afghans in the run-up to the collapse—is haunting and should be widely read.” Elsewhere, The Washington Review of Books deems the book a “painful, essential read from perhaps the only author who could’ve written it...He has a unique ability to center his and his comrades’ lived experience within the larger historical continuum.” Penguin Press published the book on August 9, 2022.