When the bullets start flying, I hope the first one gets you.” The man in the crosshairs was the author's father. It was an era of seismic social change in the American South. Four decades, in a young firefighter's heroism on 9/11, the author glimpsed a truth about his father's lifelong devotion to duty and justice. So he sat down and began writing him letters. The Burdens of Aeneas is that series of letters.