Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and Its War by James Edward Wright
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Hmm… this book is a bit difficult to describe. It’s a lot of things…
- historical
- political
- cultural
- painful
- cathartic
If you grew up in the era of this war, this book will be painful to read, yet therapeutic in its presentation of the affects that this war had on many of us from this time in our lives.
I did not serve in this war, but I have the utmost respect for those young men and women who did. I was just a bit too young. Had it lasted just a few more years, though, I would have been a candidate for the draft.
My father and uncles all served in WWII. My brother was of draft age during the height of the Vietnam War, but had a high lottery number and lucked out; otherwise, his life could have been seriously changed by his experiences had he served.
Because of my brother’s age and the fact that this war was the first televised war, it was a daily conversation in our home then. I remember the fear my mother expressed over my brother’s situation. I remember my father’s comments about the news stories on the evening news.
I’ve had an interest in military history since I was a small child, but my focus has always been on the Vietnam War, possibly because I grew up in the midst of all of it. If you have an interest in the era and would like to try to understand what the young men and women of that time period were dealing with, read this book.
Nocturnal Slacker v2.0 