I read El Akkad's nonfiction book, One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, earlier in the year. It was devastating and made me want to read more from him, so I snagged American War, too. 

El Akkad is well researched, taking his firsthand knowledge as a reporter of current/recent conflicts and applying them to an alternate United States in the 2080s. He flips current world power dynamics on their head and melds them with already existing divisions in the US to create the Second American Civil War, following Sarat and examining how the actions of one woman can shape so much of her country. 

Told by her nephew who reads her story through her journals, it paints a truly devastating picture of trauma and the effects of war. It's well written and executed but I'd be hard pressed to call it enjoyable based on the subject matter! But really excellent, one I would reccomend.