The Man in the Cowboy Hat  looks at the human cost of war as it ripples through one family.

In 2004, three Marines came to Carlos Arredondo’s home to inform him that his oldest son, Alex, had died fighting in Iraq. Carlos entered their military van with a can of gasoline and propane torch and the van exploded into flames. Carlos’s extreme grief over Alex’s death launched him on a journey to honor his son and fight for the America he believed in. He sought solace in sharing Alex’s story and advocating for the war to end. He became a well known, if unorthodox, peace activist and then a central figure in Occupy Boston. Publicly Carlos had a new purpose. Behind the scenes the story was more complex.

For a decade after Alex’s death, echoes of the war in Iraq have reverberated for Carlos and his family, just as the Iraq War still has ramifications for thousands of other families in the United States, the Middle East and the world.