On August 19, 2014, the world was stunned when ISIS uploaded a video to YouTube showing the beheading of James Foley. James, a journalist who had been kidnapped in 2012 in Syria, was the first American killed by ISIS. American Mother, written by Irish novelist Colum McCann with Diane Foley, James’s mother, gracefully broaches the unfathomable barbarism of James’s death, his passionate career in journalism, US policies on war and hostage negotiation, and the unfillable absence after the loss of a child.

Diane Foley recounts her journey to forgive her son’s killers.