Wendy Hoffman is a screenwriter determined to gain access to Ward 57 of Walter Reed Hospital, the ward where soldiers who have suffered cataclysmic injuries in Iraq recover. Captain Gray Whitlock is the Army captain in charge who denies her access. Private Small is a patient on the ward who wants to die. And the studio executive, Eric, just wants a screenplay. What occurs between all of them, in Jessica Goldberg's Body Politic, is the surprising and poignant story of what can happen when people with deep commitments and beliefs come to recognize each other's humanity