A Different Kind of War Story by Carolyn Nordstrom offers a first-hand account, from an anthropological perspective, of the civil war in Mozambique and specifically examines resistance popular to the efforts of Renamo and Frelimo forces. . She considers her books to be "experimental ethnography" that revolves around the process of war rather than its location. Nordstrom views war as "a shared culture of violence" and challenges available definitions of violence in an effort to deepen the analysis of war. Ultimately, Nordstrom focuses on "creativity" in resolving indigenous Mozambican conflicts to overcome political violence while being conscious of her position as an academic. Nordstrom is effective and convincing with his arguments and is capable, to say the least; to show its readers a different and new perspective on war and violence. Throughout the book, Nordstrom uses her own experiences as well as those of those she met in Mozambique. Over the course of about a decade, Nordstrom spent several years in Mozambique visiting many different regions, starting with its first trip in 1988. To prove its point, Nordstrom draws on cases and stories from all over Mozambique. The examples offered by Nordstrom are numerous. Whether it was Anna's story of her violent capture, or Flavia's story of how many Mozambicans had become "living skeletons of war" due to the extreme destruction, they all ultimately come together to offer evidence and support for Nordstrom's proposed complication of defining violence. Nordstrom seeks to obscure and illuminate violence in the context of war. From the beginning of her book, she clearly states her goal as being "to explore the widely shared cultures of violence and the profound creativity that...... middle of paper ...... the bicans were able to deconstruct and redefine violence using creativity to “reconfigure it into an act of resistance”. She does all this while being aware of her privileged position as an academic and makes her thoughts on this clear from the outset. She effectively challenges my thoughts on violence and is able to convince me of possible ways to deconstruct the different layers of violence during the war through the use of examples from Mozambique. Yet while Nordstrom makes a strong argument, he does so through the lens of war and I question the applicability of his arguments outside of war and conflict. Layers of violence must still exist outside of war, but I would argue that the response required for deconstruction must be entirely different. The flaw in Nordstrom's argument is that she fails to apply it outside of Mozambique and briefly in other warring countries..