Praise for "A Square of Dirt" 

No one writes quite like MacAdam. In his compelling debut, MacAdam tells a story rich with vibrant contradictions—it is simultaneously wise and cynical, spiritual and worldly, contemplative and dynamic, beautifully narrated and unafraid of turning a mirror to humanity’s destructive impulses. This is an anti-elegy, the tale of a forsaken place which demands its own agency. The eponymous “square of dirt” may be forgotten by those who occupied it, but MacAdam’s words will remain with the reader for a long time. 

Jillian Danback-McGhan, author of Midwatch

 J.G.P. MacAdam gives us a story of America's war in Afghanistan with fresh and surprising perspective. Told from the perspective of one small piece of ground on which the war was fought, 'A Square of Dirt' is a reminder that, in an age where technology can make the battlefield remote, distant, and impersonal, war is still a very personal affair, fought by and among human beings.

Ben Weakley, author of Heat + Pressure

J.G.P. MacAdam’s narrator reminds us of the permanence of the earth and the violent banalites we inflict on one another. His outpost shows us the war in snapshots, making us privy to the lives of the Americans, Afghans, and even a little village girl hiding within its walls. All the while it dispassionately teaches us that this too shall pass, telling us the same stories a Shawnee forest or a Roman sundial could. It tells us about being human. A powerful book with a reminder to live our lives in the now.

Christopher Lyke, author of The Chicago East India Company