In Fairburn, Georgia, when I was growing up, everyone knew them simply as CharlieandBarbara, one word—for they seemed almost uncannily close, a single unit of harmony, two parts of a whole. Now everyone who reads this extraordinary document of love in a time of war will feel the power of that closeness. Miss You is the quintessential American chronicle, as substantial and rich and enduring as the Southern earth. Read and cherish it—there are none of us who wouldn’t have chosen for ourselves such a love as this.