Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Books

In Country Bobbie Ann Mason Annotation: A young woman’s quest to understand the psychological and moral fallout of the Vietnam War. From the Publisher: The bestselling novel and deeply affecting story of a young girl who comes to terms with her father’s death in Vietnam two decades earlier Synopsis: Bobbie Ann Mason’s In Country explores the legacy of war from the perspective of Sam Hughes, a teenager whose father died in Vietnam before she was born. In the summer of 1984, Sam, her 35-year-old uncle Emmett -- himself a veteran who may be suffering from exposure to Agent Orange -- and her grandmother set out from Hopewell, Kentucky, on a road trip to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D. C. Growing up in an era where video games and television reruns of ’M*A*S*H are more "real" than the entries in her father’s military journal or her uncle’s tormented memories, Sam must come to her own terms with the war’s lasting effect on her family and her small community. From The Critics: New York Times Book ReviewA brilliant and moving book...a moral tale that entwines public history with private anguish. Richard EderA brilliant and moving book...a moral tale that entwines public history with private anguish. -- The Los Angeles Times Book ReviewMichiko KakutaniA novel that, like a flashbulb, burns an afterimage into our minds. -- The New York TimesMary Mackey - Mary Mackey,San Francisco Chronicle Mason’s message is simple: the war dead are us—we are them—and, whatever political stance we took with regard to Vietnam, we are all Americans united by one past, one flag, one history.WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYINGI’m still under the spell ofIn Country—a wonderful experience starting right on the first page. — Anne Tyler Our Price: $13.00

Tangled Memories: The Vietnam War, the AIDS Epidemic, and the Politics of Remembering Marita Sturken From the Publisher: This fascinating investigation into the production of American cultural memory focuses on two of the most traumatic and contested events in recent U.S. history: the Vietnam War and the AIDS epidemic. Each, Marita Sturken argues, disrupts our conventional understanding of nationhood, identity, and American culture. She brilliantly compares the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the AIDS Quilt as key sites where cultural memory is produced and debated. While debunking the characterization of the United States as a culture of amnesia, Sturken shows that remembering is itself a form of forgetting, and memory an inventive social practice. Our Price: $21.95

Vietnam Veterans since the War: The Politics of PTSD, Agent Orange, and the National Memorial Wilbur J. Scott Our Price: $21.95

Boundaries Maya Ying Lin From the Publisher: Walking through this park-like area, the memorial appears as a rift in the earth—a long, polished black stone wall, emerging from and receding into the earth. Approaching the memorial, the ground slopes gently downward, and the low walls emerging on either side, growing out of the earth, extend and converge at a point below and ahead. Walking into the grassy site contained by the walls of this memorial, we can barely make out the carved names upon the memorial’s walls. These names, seemingly infinite in number, convey the sense of overwhelming numbers, while unifying these individuals into a whole... So begins the competition entry submitted in 1981 by a Yale undergraduate for the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.—subsequently called "as moving and awesome and popular a piece of memorial architecture as exists anywhere in the world." Its creator, Maya Lin, has been nothing less than world famous ever since. From the explicitly political to the unashamedly literary to the completely abstract, her simple and powerful sculpture—the Rockefeller Foundation sculpture, the Southern Poverty Law Center Civil Rights Memorial, the Yale Women’s Table, Wave Field—her architecture, including The Museum for African Art and the Norton residence, and her protean design talents have defined her as one of the most gifted creative geniuses of the age. Boundaries is her first book: an eloquent visual-verbal sketchbook produced with the same inspiration and attention to detail as any of her other artworks. Like her environmental sculptures, it is a site, but one which exists at a remove so that it may comment on the personal and artistic elements that make up those works. In it, sketches, photographs, workbook entries, and original designs are held together by a deeply personal text. Boundaries is a powerful literary and visual statement by "a leading public artist" (Holland Carter). It is itself a unique work of art. Synopsis: Maya Lin was just an undergraduate student at Yale when she entered the competition to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., but she went on against all odds to win that competition, and she hasn’t looked back. She’s responsible for some of the most movingly memorable artworks and structures in the world, including the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, and the Women’s Table at Yale University. She even inspired an Academy Award-winning documentary, Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision. With Boundaries, Lin offers her first book, a visual-verbal sketchbook that opens a window into the mind of this uniquely creative artist. From The Critics: Library JournalIn her first big public artwork, the Vietnam War Memorial on the Mall in Washington, DC, Lin created an indelible image now familiar to almost every American. The quiet strength of the black stone wall inscribed with the name of every American who died in Vietnam is the antithesis of all the bombastic statues of heroic military men who fought in all the wars stretching back into history. Equally moving is Lin’s Civil Rights Memorial, which issues a sheet of water inspired by the words of Martin Luther King: "until justice rolls down like water." Yet these are only two among the many and varied art and architectural works Lin has built over the past 18 years. Employing a spare and poetic prose, she presents private residences; gardens of grassy wave forms; sculptures of glass, stone, and water; libraries, museums, and schools; and corporate lobbies--all of which she has designed or embellished. Primarily visual, this book presents numerous beautiful photographs of each project and a discussion of the conception and intent of each work but does not detail the construction and politics involved in the more controversial projects. Recommended for all libraries.--David McClelland, Philadelphia Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. Cathleen McGuigan - NewsweekThough her book documents her wide range of projects, such as the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala., and residences, sculptures, and furniture, it’s as much about her thoughtful creative process as it is about the end product. Our Price: $40.00

Carried to the Wall: American Memory and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Kristin Ann Hass From the Publisher: On May 9, 1990, a bottle of Jack Daniels, a ring with letter, a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, a baseball, a photo album, an ace of spades, and a pie were some of the objects left at the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial. For Kristin Hass, this eclectic sampling represents an attempt by ordinary Americans to come to terms with a multitude of unnamed losses as well as to take part in the ongoing debate of how this war should be remembered. Hass explores the restless memory of the Vietnam War and an American public still grappling with its commemoration. In doing so it considers the ways Americans have struggled to renegotiate the meanings of national identity, patriotism, community, and the place of the soldier, in the aftermath of a war that ruptured the ways in which all of these things have been traditionally defined. Hass contextualizes her study of this phenomenon within the history of American funerary traditions (in particular non-Anglo traditions in which material offerings are common), the history of war memorials, and the changing symbolic meaning of war. Her evocative analysis of the site itself illustrates and enriches her larger theses regarding the creation of public memory and the problem of remembering war and the resulting causalities—in this case not only 58,000 soldiers, but also conceptions of masculinity, patriotism, and working-class pride and idealism. Author Biography: Kristin Ann Hass is Lecturer in the Program in American Culture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. From The Critics: Choice MagazineAn arresting, touching, disturbing, and profound reflection on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.Marc LeepsonHass ties her varied themes together well, and she seems to have done a thorough job of researching her multi-disciplinary topic. -- VVA VeteranVirginia Quarterly ReviewIn this fascinating work, Hass studies the attempts by Americans to come to terms with the Vietnam War and its legacy in American culture.Kirkus ReviewsA dissertation-like examination of why people leave many and varied objects at the Veterans Memorial in Washington. Hass (American Culture-Univ. of Michigan) sees several reasons behind the outpouring of objects—what she calls a "strong, multivocal, contradictory, unsolicited public response"—that have been left at the wall since it was dedicated on the Mall in Washington, D.C., in 1982. Some of the reasons are obvious: the emotional need to remember the dead; the patriotic and nationalist impulses to honor their service; the reaction by Vietnam veterans against the national cold shoulder given to them after they came home from America’s most controversial overseas war. Others are less obvious: the fact that the memorial’s simple design "tacitly asked people to respond" with "their own interpretations," and the grave-decorating traditions of African- Americans, Mexican-Americans, Italian-Americans, and some American Indians. In her chapter on American military memorializing history, Hass places great import on the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, when for the first time "common American soldiers were buried individually in graves marked with their names." Hass ties these varied themes together well. Her writing, for the most part, is clean and clear. Only occasionally does she slip into turgid academes. Hass seems to have done a thorough job of researching this multidisciplinary topic. There is, however, one glaring error. Hass repeats the myth that more Vietnam veterans have committed suicide than were killed in the war. In an otherwise profusely documented book, she offers only an ambiguous citation for this assertion. But the truth is that the suicidestatement has no basis in fact. Hass proves much better at examining and explaining the reasons behind the myth that Vietnam kept American POWs after the war. A sometimes illuminating look at a unique national phenomenon. (16 bandw photos, not seen) Our Price: $16.95

Shrapnel in the Heart: Letters and Remembrance from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Laura Kay Palmer Annotation: A collection of the heartrendering letters left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. From the Publisher: For the first time, one book gives voice to the haunting, painful, tender, and healing tales of those who lost so much in America’s least popular war. Our Price: $13.00

Mourner’s Song: War and Remembrance from the Iliad to Vietnam James Tatum From the Publisher: No matter when or where they are fought, all wars have one thing in common: an aftermath marked by monuments and memorials for the dead. In turn, mourning and remembrance are fundamental to wartime art. In The Mourner’s Song, James Tatum offers incisive discussions of physical and literary memorials constructed in the wake of war, from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the writings of Stephen Crane, Edmund Wilson, Tim O’Brien, and Robert Lowell. Reading the Iliad alongside such works, Tatum reveals how the forms and processes of art memorialize the grief, loss, and hunger for remembrance that war inspires. Photographs of war memorials in the United States, Europe, and Vietnam elegantly augment his testimonials. From The Critics: Library JournalTatum (classics, Dartmouth Coll.; Xenophon’s Imperial Fiction and The Search for the Ancient Novel) has closely studied memorials of different times and different wars to explore our feelings about war, loss, death, victory, and glory and how we are inspired to construct both physical and literary memorials-one of the most basic and pervasive activities of humankind. Using Homer’s Iliad as the prototypical tribute to war and loss, he shows how Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial and other monuments help us both embrace and distance ourselves from our feelings. For instance, he argues that the selection, placement, and organization of the names of the Vietnam Memorial are crucial to the undeniable impact of the wall. This is a difficult book, requiring attention to emotions most of us do not choose to examine carefully and which are often debased in political and cultural discourse. It will find a place in classics and comprehensive military collections but may have little attraction for most lay readers. Those who admired Jonathan Shay’s recent Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming might enjoy this exploration of mourning and memorial.-Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. Our Price: $16.00

Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration, and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century John E. Bodnar From the Publisher: In a compelling inquiry into public events ranging from the building of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial through ethnic community fairs to pioneer celebrations, John Bodnar explores the stories, ideas, and symbols behind American commemorations over the last century. Such forms of historical consciousness, he argues, do not necessarily preserve the past but rather address serious political matters in the present. List Price: $$26.95 Our Price: $25.60

Digger Joseph Flynn From the Publisher: Twenty-five years ago John Fortunato was a soldier in Vietnam, fighting in the crushing darkness of the tunnels of Cu Chi, from which the Vietcong launched their deadliest operations. When he got back to his hometown of Elk River, Illinois, he secretly re-created those hellish tunnels. Partly a memorial, partly a kind of exorcism, they now lie hidden beneath the town’s peaceful streets. John traded his M-16 rifle for a Nikon camera and built a career as a successful photographer. He thought he had put the war and the bloodshed behind him, but a powerful new enemy has other plans for John Fortunato. On a quiet April night, Fortunato witnesses the brutal sidewalk shooting of an innocent man. The vicious crime is but the first assault in a struggle that will erupt into a full-scale battle for control of Elk River, a struggle that will divide neighbors and tear families apart. On one side is a tough, beautiful labor lawyer; on the other is a man who will stop at nothing to control the entire town. And on the front line is John Fortunato, whose secret tunnels will provide the battleground for his own war, a war that revives the killing grounds of Cu Chi in a way he could never have imagined. From The Critics: Publishers WeeklyWhile walking through the streets of Elk River, Ill., Vietnam vet John Fortunato happens to photograph a shooting and flees the scene by descending into a secret tunnel. In this fast-moving thriller, Flynn (The Concrete Inquisition) ingeniously grafts a Vietnam combat motif onto a small-town union war. In a bizarre tribute to the harrowing experience of fighting the Vietcong in their famous tunnel strongholds, Fortunato and two other vets, upon their return home, have dug a whole system of tunnels beneath Elk River. A company town in the grip of a union strike, Elk River rapidly becomes a war zone. When Fortunato’s cousin Tommy Boyle, local head of the union, is killed, suspicion falls variously on company owner Anthony Hunt, his hired thug, a police deputy and the national head of the union. Fortunato becomes Hunt’s next target, along with beautiful union lawyer Jill Baxter. Unfortunately, as things spin out of control in Elk River, Flynn litters his plot with a growing pile of bodies and events. Fortunato’s paranormal giftshe can see in the dark, sense danger and is visited by those he loves at the moment of their deathsare a ludicrous distraction. Not content with a climactic replay of the Vietnam war among Fortunato, his allies and an ex-Vietcong tunnel fighter imported by Hunt, Flynn throws in a flood as well. By then, however, not even that deluge can wash away the disappointing taste left by this once-promising thriller. (Aug.) Library JournalJohn Fortunato is a Vietnam vet who has made a good life as a photographer in Elk River, Illinois. When a corporate raider unexpectedly takes over the local industry and tries to break the union, Fortunato’s friend, the union president, is murdered. Strikes and scabs follow, bitterly dividing the town. Back in Vietnam, Fortunato had been a tunnel rat, one of the demented soldiers who followed Viet Cong down into their tunnel labyrinths. As his personal atonement he and two similarly afflicted friends have been secretly digging tunnels throughout Elk River. Soon a whole cast of odd characters is scuttling through the tunnels. This bizarre hodgepodge of a first novel is full of Gothic elements: mysteries, visitations from the dead, explosions and miraculous escapes, a coming-of-age story, and a love interest. The ending descends into goofiness, but as a whole this entertainment is well worth tackling. The felicitous style and great pacing make up for lapses in credibility. Libraries looking for lengthy but nontaxing reads could do worse.Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Kirkus ReviewsFlynn’s hardcover debut is an extravagant but oddly appealing blue-collar opera: amid constant touches of magic realism and in- your-face symbols, Vietnam vets join forces with union men and women to battle a corrupt industrialist.After serving a tough tour of duty in Vietnam, John Fortunato returns home to Elk River to establish himself as a photographer. Underneath this small southern Illinois town, the obsessed ex-NCO (with a little help from a few military friends) duplicates the dark tunnels in which he and fellow soldiers did battle with the Viet Cong around Cu Chi. More than two decades after the tunnels are dug, the river city becomes a house divided against itself as Anthony Tiburon Hunt, the unscrupulous owner of Pentronics Systems (the area’s largest employer), precipitates a strike by his workers. Peaceable John casts his lot with labor when the local’s president is gunned down following a confrontation between pickets and plant management. Although Jill Baxter (the comely Chicago lawyer imported to keep the union within the law during the work stoppage) tries to keep a lid on, the body count escalates as Hunt brings in scabs, hit men, and Vietnamese hoodlums from the West Coast. While reluctant to go to war again, John (now romantically involved with Jill) frequently takes to his subterranean labyrinth, where he gathers intelligence on the nefarious Hunt. All conflicts come to a violent resolution at the height of a mighty storm that raises the region’s waterways to flood-stage as John and some of his buddies clash with Hunt’s Vietnamese thugs in the tunnels under the town. John dies while ensuring Jill’s escape from a watery burrow, and she makes it back to the surface to restore order in the troubled township and keep his memory ever green. Shamelessly melodramatic entertainment, though with a crude narrative power that will make most readers keep turning the pages. Our Price: $6.50

Remembering War the American Way G. Kurt Kurt Piehler From the Publisher: Drawing on sources ranging from government documents to Embalmer’s Monthly, G. Kurt Piehler recounts efforts to commemorate wars by erecting monuments, designating holidays, forming veterans’ organizations, and establishing national cemeteries. The federal government, he contends, initially sidestepped funding for memorials, thereby leaving the determination of how and whom to honor in the hands of those with ready money - and those who responded to them. In one instance, monuments to "Yankee heroes" erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution were countered by immigrant groups, who added such figures as Casimir Pulaski and Thaddeus Kosciusko to the record of the war. Piehler argues that the conflict between these groups is emblematic of the ongoing reinterpretation of wars by majority and minority groups, and by successive generations. Demonstrating that the battles over the Vietnam Veterans Memorial are not unique in American history, Remembering War the American Way reveals that the memory of war is intrinsically bound to the pluralistic definition of national identity. From The Critics: Library JournalPiehler, who is an archivist and oral historian, undertakes to document how each of America’s wars has been memorialized in monuments, cemeteries, holidays, and fraternal groups. The emphasis is definitely on the tangible; film, video, music, and literature are barely mentioned. The accounts of the social and political disagreements over the purpose and form of public remembrance synthesize a great deal of heretofore scattered or inaccessible information and will attract scholars, but more attention to popular culture would have enhanced the book for both researcher and general reader. An optional purchase for academic libraries.-Fritz Buckallew, Univ. of Central Oklahoma Lib., Edmond List Price: $$34.95 Our Price: $33.20

What the People Know: Freedom and the Press Richard Reeves From the Publisher: The power and status of the press in America reached new heights after spectacular reporting triumphs in the segregated South, in Vietnam, and in Washington during the Watergate years. Then new technologies created instantaneous global reporting, which left the government unable to control the flow of information to the nation. The press thus became a formidable rival in critical struggles to control what the people know and when they know it. But that was more power than the press could handle - and journalism crashed toward new lows in public esteem and public purpose. The dazzling new technologies, profit-driven owners, and celebrated editors, reporters, and broadcasters made it possible to bypass older values and standards of journalism. Richard Reeves was there at the rise and at the fall, beginning as a small-town editor, becoming the chief political correspondent for The New York Times and then a bestselling author and award-winning documentary filmmaker. From The Critics: Steve Weinberg - Christian Science MonitorRichrad Reeves is a respected veteran journalist who wants fellow journalists to concentrate on ferreting out the truth without fear or favor. That sounds like a mundane topic for a book. After all, what else would journalists be expected to do? But Reeves’ What the People Know is anything but mundane because so many journalists either have no idea how to ferret out the truty, or seem to have forgotton that part of their job...[This book] -- part personal reminiscence, part media critique. . . [is] worthwhile [reading] for anybody who cares about Reeves’s illustrious career or the state of journalism.Mark Jurkowitz - The Boston Globe What the People Know avoids the perils of droning pendantry. It is fast-moving and full of history and anecdotes...Reeves wisely spends much of his energy focusing on the kind of corporate corruption of journalism that has not really permeated the consciousness of an American public willing to beleive every conspiracy theory about the media except the most dangerous.Douglas Sylva - New York Times Book Review A....[H]e is really mourning the loss of a...life style filled with glamour, excitement and the heady freedom to follow a story wherever the truth leads. Publishers WeeklyLike many academics, University of Southern California professor Reeves feels that a lot of journalism has been "blood, fire, sports, sex, mixed with stories to make you feel good about yourself and bad about your government." But as an experienced reporter for the New York Times and the creator of award-winning TV documentaries, he still believes that journalists are crucial, irreplaceable contributors to a democratic society. His 12th book reconciles his skepticism and faith with vivid arguments of seasoned optimism. Reeves lauds both "Old Fartism" (journalistic integrity, hard work and the four Ws) and technological change (experimentation, speed and adaptation). Answering charges that journalists are becoming outdated, Reeves stresses their resilience and dedication, cites CNN’s successes and even claims that "newspapers are better than they were pre-television." While people may "get the news" in revolutionary new ways, Reeves cares most about how news "is gathered and prepared for transmission." Reeves does fear journalists’ profit motives, their incessant criticism of government and their ignorance of business. Why? Because "corporations own newspapers and television stations, government does not; corporations sue newspapers and television stations, government does not." Based on his 1997 Joanna Jackson Goldman Memorial Lecture at the Library of Congress, this book’s anecdotal approach may not satisfy historians, but Reeves’s seasoned, passionately optimistic treatise should inform and inspire both media consumers and journalists alike.Library JournalJournalist Reeves (President Kennedy: Profile of Power, LJ 9-15-93) has been chief political correspondent for the New York Times and an editor and columnist for New York magazine and Esquire. Although he once wrote critically of President Gerald Ford in A Ford, Not a Lincoln (LJ 12-15-75), years later he published a magazine article, "I Apologize, Mr. President," admitting that he had sold Ford short. We might listen, then, when he takes the high moral ground journalistically, arguing that after its spectacular successes reporting segregation, Vietnam, and Watergate, the press has become less of a watchdog and more willing to bare its fangs at politicians (who have become easy targets) while letting up on corporate conglomerates (who increasingly own newspapers and broadcasting companies and are more likely to bite back with lawsuits). Meanwhile, the press gives us the soft stories that we apparently want. In this short, gracefully argued book, Reeves offers convincing reasons for this decline and a plea for journalism to return to its roots. Strongly recommended for larger public and academic libraries.--Jim G. Burns, Ottumwa, IA Read all 8 "From The Critics" andgt; List Price: $$12.95 Our Price: $12.30

Give Peace a Chance: Exploring the Vietnam Antiwar Movement: Essays from the Charles Debenedetti Memorial Conference Melvin Small From the Publisher: Written by veterans of the Vietnam War and participants in the organized opposition to it, this book examines how the activities of America’s most important antiwar movement affected the lives of its citizens and its government. From The Critics: Publishers WeeklyThis collection of 14 essays, generated by a 1990 conference on the Vietnam antiwar movement, analyzes movement strategies, the role of the military and women in resistance, and the movement in the schools. While the essays contain much useful information, including some new material based on oral histories, they lack the narrative drive of less academic histories. A few of the contributions stand out: historian Maurice Isserman, analyzing the triumph of militance over pacifism in Students for a Democratic Society, says that its rank and file was more diverse and less radical than the leadership; peace activist David McReynolds reflects on how more radical social critics shook pacifists’ ``unexamined’’ view of America; David Cortwright, a former soldier-activist, traces the socioeconomic profiles of GIs who practiced dissent and disobedience, noting that volunteers opposed the war more than draftees. Particularly stimulating is historian Kenneth J. Heineman’s portrait of Kent State University, which, contrary to myth, had been a hotbed of activism. Small wrote Resort to Arms ; Hoover is a professor of history at the University of Toledo. (July) List Price: $$19.95 Our Price: $18.95

The Politics of Readjustment: Vietnam Veterans since the War Wilbur J. Scott From the Publisher: Veterans of all wars face a demanding task in readjusting to civilian life. Vietnam veterans have borne an additional burden, having returned from a controversial war that ended in defeat for the United States and South Vietnam. To address this situation, leaders among the Vietnam veterans and their allies formed organizations of their own to articulate their problems and extract concessions from a reluctant Congress, Federal agencies, and courts. Scott, a former infantry platoon leader in Vietnam, describes the major social movements among his fellow veterans during the period of 1967 to 1990 in a lively narrative, combining personal interviews with documentary and press records. Included in the book are the "sociological stories" of protests against the war in Operations RAW and Dewey Canyon III; the successful effort to place post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Third Edition (DSM-III), of the American Psychiatric Association; the building of the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., despite fierce opposition; and the long-running controversy over the herbicide Agent Orange. In the last chapter the author details the sociological thinking that informs his stories, and develops the implications for understanding social movements in general and veterans’ issues in particular. Our Price: $51.95

Let Their Spirits Dance: A Novel Stella Pope Duarte From the Publisher: Let Their Spirits Dance is the moving story of a family’s journey across America. Thirty years after the death of the family’s son and brother, Jesse, in Vietnam, the family has remained in many ways locked in a time of grief and pain. Having heard her son’s voice, Alicia makes a vow to touch his name on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., and her decision inspires her warring children, along with hundreds of strangers across the country. Stella Pope Duarte portrays a family struggling with the universal scars suffered by all who have been touched by death through war. In this powerfully evocative novel, Pope Duarte connects family, friends, and an entire nation with the names on the Wall, honoring the men and women who served in Vietnam as well as those who watched and waited, but never forgot. From The Critics: Publishers WeeklyA cross-country trip to the Vietnam Wall is the subject of Let Their Spirits Dance, Stella Pope Duarte’s tearjerker of a first novel (Fragile Nights, a collection of short stories, was published in 1998). Elementary school teacher Teresa Ramirez is skeptical when her ailing 80-year-old mother hears voices telling her to make a pilgrimage to touch her son’s name on the wall, but the whole extended Ramirez family and assorted friends set out to drive to Washington, making a name for themselves along the way. Duarte’s narrative is meandering, but the density of the detail she packs in gives the novel emotional clout and historical depth. (May) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. Library JournalDuarte’s first novel is an inspirational road book full of energetic Latinos exorcising their cultural, political, and personal demons. A fortyish schoolteacher, Teresa is failing at her marriage and is haunted by the memory of her beloved brother, Jesse, who was killed in the Vietnam War 29 years ago. One night, Teresa’s mother hears Jesse’s voice, which tells her to go to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. Then surprise, surprise she finds out that the government owes her $90,000 because it had mistakenly delivered her son’s body to the wrong address. Despite poor health, Mrs. Ramirez rounds up Teresa, her other children, and friends and heads to the nation’s capital by auto caravan. The press picks up on their junket and follows them through American towns large and small. As they near the memorial, the mother takes sick but not before meeting Jesse’s Vietnamese wife, his son (raised in America), and his grandchild. Duarte’s considerable talents shine in the entertaining travel sections, but red-flagged plot devices and an excess of cultural and historical apposition about Chicano history undermine the narrative’s complexity and aesthetic enjoyment. Recommended for collections of Latino literature. Harold Augenbraum, Mercantile Lib. of New York Fuentes, Carlos. Inez. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. Kirkus ReviewsFirst-novelist Duarte (stories: Fragile Night, not reviewed) skillfully treats the wounds inflicted on a Chicano family by the war in Vietnam. The death in battle of young Sgt. Jesse Ramirez during the Tet offensive of 1968 broke the spirit of his Arizona family. The eldest of four children and the favorite of his sister Teresa, narrator of this unpretentious and moving story, Jesse was adored by three generations, none of whom completely recovered from his loss. Three decades later, Teresa is a grandmother and elementary schoolteacher on the brink of losing her career after a catfight with her estranged husband’s girlfriend. Her siblings’ lives are as messy if not messier. Baby brother Paul, who’s been in and out of jail, has lost custody of his brilliant son Michael. Younger sister Priscilla can’t get over the loss of a child. And now Teresa’s mother, in poor health and widowed after years with an openly unfaithful husband, tells her daughter that she’s heard Jesse’s voice in the night. She informs Teresa that Jesse wants her to go to Washington to touch his name on the Vietnam Memorial, that she has promised to do so, and that it is more or less up to Teresa to make it happen. Quickly. There’s no doubt that the trip will occur or that the ending will be emotional. What keeps Duarte’s story from tipping into the dangerous swamps of ethnic sanctity, magically realistic plot rescues, or made-for-TV simplicity (and the wheels get frighteningly close to the berm from time to time) is the author’s formidable skill in rendering a large family whose Mexican Indian past has shaped, toughened, and, occasionally, handicapped them. No one’s a saint here, not even the grandmothers who set up altarsevery night to the Virgin of Guadalupe. These old ladies are as tough and as dominant as their Calabrian or Bengali counterparts, and their children nurse youthful slights long into adulthood. Still, an enviable core of good humor and loyalty prevails. Intelligent, unpretentious, and appealing. Author tour Our Price: $12.95

Echoes of Combat Fred Turner From the Publisher: Using psychological trauma as its guiding metaphor, Echoes of Combat is the first book to explore the parallels between the healing of Vietnam veterans and Americans’ collective recovery from the war. With such diverse sources as film, books, television, political speeches, monuments, medical texts, veterans’ testimonies, and the men’s movement, Turner shows how the healing narratives of individuals have allowed us to transform our recollections of American aggession in Vietnam into tales of national sacrifice. About the Author:Fred Turner is a freelance reporter and critic since 1986. His features have appeared in The Progressive, The Chicago Tribune, and The Boston Phoenix. He has taught at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He lives in Watertown, Massachusetts. From The Critics: Publishers WeeklyA carefully considered and intelligent attempt to interpret the war’s aftermath.WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYINGEchoes of Combat is a fascinating examination of how the Vietnam War affected the American psyche. Using the literature and films on the war, as well as the memory of veterans themselves, Fred Turner reaches complex and sometimes surprising conclusions about healing the wounds left by an ugly episode in the nation’s history. — Howard ZinnDo not mistake Echoes of Combat for yet another pedestrian survey of Vietnam images in popular culture. Whether the subject is crazed vets or the Vietnam Memorial Wall, Fred Turner writes splendidly about the disintegration of morality in the Vietnam War, about the return of the repressed, about America’s failure to ’put the war behind us’ even while purporting to do just that. An important book on the war’s disowned legacy. — Todd Gitlin Our Price: $18.95

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Patra McSharry Sevastiades Annotation: Examines the history, purposes, design, and impact of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. From The Critics: Children’s Literature - Charles WymanOne of the most visited memorials in Washington is know simply as "the Wall." It is actually two walls made of polished granite with the names of those who died in the Vietnam War etched into it. Sevastiades also tells readers that the memorial was the result of a tireless effort by Jan C. Scruggs, himself a veteran of the war, to not let his comrades be forgotten. The resulting monument was created by Maya Ying Lin, but not until a bronze statue of three soldiers was added was the design finally accepted. It is an easy to read book with full-color photographs. Our Price: $15.93

Shared Spaces and Divided Places: Material Dimensions of Gender Relations and the American Historical Landscape Deborah L. Rotman (Editor) Our Price: $39.50

Backroad Bicycling in Kentucky’s Bluegrass: 25 Rides in the Bluegrass Region, Lower Kentucky Valley, Central Heartlands, and More (Countryman Guide Se George Garber From the Publisher: A guide to a region where spectacular scenery, gently rolling hills, and fascinating history combine for the perfect cycling experience.When you think of Kentucky, Daniel Boone and horse farms usually come to mind. What most people don’t know is that the area’s easy accessibility from major cities, quiet backroads, gentle terrain, and stunning river views make it an ideal place to explore by bicycle. Whether you’re going out for a day trip or two-day ride, cyclists of all abilities will find many opportunities to explore this beautiful state.With detailed maps, mile-by-mile directions, and fascinating historical commentary about what you’ll see along your ride, author George Garber will lead you along winding rivers and through covered bridges and pastoral farmlands, in addition to such places as: Frankfort, the state capital Lexington and horse country Kentucky Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Harrodsburg, the first Anglo-American settlement west of the Alleghenies Camp Nelson, a Civil War site Kentucky River Gorge Big Bone Lick State Park, home of fossilized woolly mammoths...and much more. In addition, cyclists can ride a portion of the Transamerica bike route that runs from Virginia to Oregon, and that traverses almost the entire length of Kentucky. List Price: $$16.95 Our Price: $15.25

Vietnam: A Reader David T. Zabecki (Editor) From the Publisher: Vietnam: A Reader brings to life as never before the many complexities -- the people, battles and strategies -- that made this tragic, heroic chapter in America’s history unique. Vietnam: A Reader goes beyond the day when the last shot was fired in anger and covers the period when America tried to forget the war and its veterans, the initially controversial Vietnam War Memorial and the ongoing process of reconciliation and healing that has occurred since its dedication. From The Critics: Publishers WeeklyDien Bien Phu, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the Tet offensive these and other battles are revisited in Vietnam: A Reader, a collection of essays and personal accounts from Vietnam magazine, edited by Brig. Gen. David Zabecki of the Army Reserve. Contributors include military officers, journalists and others who witnessed fighting. Former L.A. Times war correspondent George McArthur critiques the antiwar conventional wisdom circulated by some of his high-profile colleagues. A retired U.S. Army colonel, William Wilson, recalls his horror and disillusionment as he investigated the My Lai massacre for the government. The anthology offers a range of perspectives on the war, though most pieces focus on specific battles and individual experiences, avoiding polemical arguments for either side. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. Our Price: $16.00

Run for the Wall: Remembering Vietnam on a Motorcycle Pilgrimage Raymond J. Michalowski List Price: $$22.00 Our Price: $20.90

Mourner’s Song: War and Remembrance from the Iliad to Vietnam James Tatum From the Publisher: No matter when or where they are fought, all wars have one thing in common: an aftermath marked by monuments and memorials for the dead. In turn, mourning and remembrance are fundamental to wartime art. In The Mourner’s Song, James Tatum offers incisive discussions of physical and literary memorials constructed in the wake of war, from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the writings of Stephen Crane, Edmund Wilson, Tim O’Brien, and Robert Lowell. Reading the Iliad alongside such works, Tatum reveals how the forms and processes of art memorialize the grief, loss, and hunger for remembrance that war inspires. Photographs of war memorials in the United States, Europe, and Vietnam elegantly augment his testimonials. From The Critics: Library JournalTatum (classics, Dartmouth Coll.; Xenophon’s Imperial Fiction and The Search for the Ancient Novel) has closely studied memorials of different times and different wars to explore our feelings about war, loss, death, victory, and glory and how we are inspired to construct both physical and literary memorials-one of the most basic and pervasive activities of humankind. Using Homer’s Iliad as the prototypical tribute to war and loss, he shows how Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial and other monuments help us both embrace and distance ourselves from our feelings. For instance, he argues that the selection, placement, and organization of the names of the Vietnam Memorial are crucial to the undeniable impact of the wall. This is a difficult book, requiring attention to emotions most of us do not choose to examine carefully and which are often debased in political and cultural discourse. It will find a place in classics and comprehensive military collections but may have little attraction for most lay readers. Those who admired Jonathan Shay’s recent Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming might enjoy this exploration of mourning and memorial.-Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. Our Price: $32.00

Landscape Narratives: Design Practices for Telling Stories Matthew Potteiger From the Publisher: Narrative offers fascinating ways of knowing and shaping landscapes not typically acknowledged in conventional documentation, mapping, surveys, or even in the formal concerns of design. This book establishes a comprehensive framework for understanding the elements, processes, and forms of landscape narratives. Illustrating specific narrative practices that can be applied across a range of design projects, it bridges the gap between theory and practice by tracing the narratives of specific projects and places, including the restoration of New Jersey’s Meadowlands and the road stories of Highway 61 in Mississippi. Drawn from insights in literary theory, cultural geography, and visual art, Landscape Narratives traverses a broad range of disciplines and practices concerned with the social identity, history, and nature of place. Revealing exciting possibilities for preservation and heritage planning, public art, sustainable design, and other areas, Landscape Narratives is important reading for landscape architects, planners, and other designers involved in historic preservation, public art projects, and community and park design. From The Critics: BooknewsNarrative offers an intriguing way of knowing and shaping landscapes not normally acknowledged in conventional documentation, mapping, surveys, or even in the formal concerns of design. The authors describe and illustrate a framework for understanding the elements and diverse forms of landscape narratives, addressing issues such as social identity, history, and the nature of place. Abundant bandw photographs. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or. List Price: $$65.00 Our Price: $61.75

America’s Top 10 National Monuments Tanya Lee Stone Annotation: Provides information about ten famous national monuments: the White House, Washington Monument, Statue of Liberty, Mesa Verde National Park, Mount Rushmore, Cabrillo National Monument, Lincoln Memorial, George Washington Carver National Monument, Jefferson Memorial, and Vietnam Veterans Memorial. From The Critics: Children’s Literature - Dia L. MichelsInteresting facts, maps, and beautiful color photographs make this a nice introductory reference book. Each of the monuments is shown in a large color photograph facing easy-to-read entries. Bulleted boxes offer highlights and fun facts about the monuments. The sites chosen for selection in this book include some Washington D.C. favorites as well as the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore and Mesa Verde National Park. Designed to stimulate further interest, this book includes a glossary, reading list, and a section on where to get online information. This book is part of a series of ten titles, including America’s Top 10 Rivers, Top 10 National Parks, and Top 10 Natural Wonders. School Library JournalGr 3-6Brief overviews of major U.S. sights of interest. Monuments includes George Washington Carver National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park, and the Cabrillo National Monument as well as various presidential memorials in Washington, DC. Each two-page spread features a full-page photograph with a small map inset and a few paragraphs that include history and description along with a fact box. A list of additional monuments and memorials and an Internet home page address for each featured entry are appended. National Parks and Rivers are similar in scope. The information in the back of each book makes these titles useful as resources for reports, and the texts are good for reading aloud as an introduction to a social studies unit or for pure learning pleasure. The colorful photographs will capture the interest of lower-ability readers. Unfortunately, there is no map of the U.S. to show the location of these areas in relation to the rest of the country. Nevertheless, they are useful additions.Stephani Hutchinson, Pioneer Elementary School, Sunnyside, WA Our Price: $17.95

Vietnam: A Reader I Books From the Publisher: Vietnam: A Reader brings to life as never before the many complexities -- the people, battles and strategies -- that made this tragic, heroic chapter in America’s history unique. Vietnam: A Reader goes beyond the day when the last shot was fired in anger and covers the period when America tried to forget the war and its veterans, the initially controversial Vietnam War Memorial and the ongoing process of reconciliation and healing that has occurred since its dedication. From The Critics: Publishers WeeklyDien Bien Phu, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the Tet offensive these and other battles are revisited in Vietnam: A Reader, a collection of essays and personal accounts from Vietnam magazine, edited by Brig. Gen. David Zabecki of the Army Reserve. Contributors include military officers, journalists and others who witnessed fighting. Former L.A. Times war correspondent George McArthur critiques the antiwar conventional wisdom circulated by some of his high-profile colleagues. A retired U.S. Army colonel, William Wilson, recalls his horror and disillusionment as he investigated the My Lai massacre for the government. The anthology offers a range of perspectives on the war, though most pieces focus on specific battles and individual experiences, avoiding polemical arguments for either side. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. Our Price: $7.99

Explorations in Cultural History T.G. G. Ashplant From the Publisher: Cultural history has opened up innovative approaches to the research and writing of history. The central themes of this volume are that culture is historically conditioned and history culturally conditioned. The production of history is now clearly recognized as a cultural practice, an invention in the present, as much as a representation and interpretation of the past. Both theoretical and practical in its approach, this book explores the development of cultural history, and its impact on current teaching. Part 1 examines the ways in which conceptions of historical meaning have been challenged, via developments in a range of disciplines (including literary and linguistic theory, history, sociology, anthropology, media and cultural studies). Part 2 looks at four case studies drawn from America and Britain: the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the music of the Beatles, the social documentary of George Orwell, and the political polemics of nineteenth-century British radical women. From The Critics: BooknewsThe editors and contributors are all colleagues from the department of Literature and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. They analyze the emergence of the field of cultural history in the 1980s, and discuss the schools, methods, disciplines and influences associated with this discipline. Topics include versions and definitions of cultural history; the influence of French historians and British Marxist historians and cultural theorists; the impact of poststructuralism, postmodernism, and Foucault; and new historicism. A new cultural history frame is applied in four case studies of British and American cultural artifacts from the last two centuries. The book is distributed in the US by Stylus. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Our Price: $22.50

Explorations in Cultural History T.G. G. Ashplant From the Publisher: Cultural history has opened up innovative approaches to the research and writing of history. The central themes of this volume are that culture is historically conditioned and history culturally conditioned. The production of history is now clearly recognized as a cultural practice, an invention in the present, as much as a representation and interpretation of the past. Both theoretical and practical in its approach, this book explores the development of cultural history, and its impact on current teaching. Part 1 examines the ways in which conceptions of historical meaning have been challenged, via developments in a range of disciplines (including literary and linguistic theory, history, sociology, anthropology, media and cultural studies). Part 2 looks at four case studies drawn from America and Britain: the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the music of the Beatles, the social documentary of George Orwell, and the political polemics of nineteenth-century British radical women. From The Critics: BooknewsThe editors and contributors are all colleagues from the department of Literature and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. They analyze the emergence of the field of cultural history in the 1980s, and discuss the schools, methods, disciplines and influences associated with this discipline. Topics include versions and definitions of cultural history; the influence of French historians and British Marxist historians and cultural theorists; the impact of poststructuralism, postmodernism, and Foucault; and new historicism. A new cultural history frame is applied in four case studies of British and American cultural artifacts from the last two centuries. The book is distributed in the US by Stylus. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Our Price: $69.95

Journeys: Pilgrimages in the Aftermath B. A. Brittingham Our Price: $15.95

Run for the Wall: Remembering Vietnam on a Motorcycle Pilgrimage Raymond J. Michalowski Our Price: $55.00

Vietnam Memorial Sarah E. De Capua Annotation: A description of the Vietnam Memorial, the memorial which commemorates the American dead from the Vietnamese Conlflict and which is the most visited monument in the nation’s capital. Our Price: $25.00

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Tamara L. Britton Annotation: Provides background information on the Vietnam War and on the memorial that was built to honor those who died during this conflict. From The Critics: School Library JournalGr 3-5-These books contain highly readable texts and historical and contemporary photographs, along with a "Fast Facts" page and a time line. Britton presents a vivid picture of Air Force One and of the Alamo. She shares insight into the founding of the Smithsonian and its dual mission of increasing knowledge through research and diffusing knowledge by collecting material and mounting exhibits. In Memorial, she offers a balanced discourse on the controversies surrounding the Vietnam War and the design competition for the memorial. The glossaries and indexes in these books will aid students involved in research, but some may find each title simply an enjoyable read.-Pamela K. Bomboy, Chesterfield County Public Schools, VA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. Our Price: $22.78

What the People Know: Freedom and the Press Richard Reeves From the Publisher: The power and status of the press in America reached new heights after spectacular reporting triumphs in the segregated South, in Vietnam, and in Washington during the Watergate years. Then new technologies created instantaneous global reporting, which left the government unable to control the flow of information to the nation. The press thus became a formidable rival in critical struggles to control what the people know and when they know it. But that was more power than the press could handle - and journalism crashed toward new lows in public esteem and public purpose. The dazzling new technologies, profit-driven owners, and celebrated editors, reporters, and broadcasters made it possible to bypass older values and standards of journalism. Richard Reeves was there at the rise and at the fall, beginning as a small-town editor, becoming the chief political correspondent for The New York Times and then a bestselling author and award-winning documentary filmmaker. From The Critics: Steve Weinberg - Christian Science MonitorRichrad Reeves is a respected veteran journalist who wants fellow journalists to concentrate on ferreting out the truth without fear or favor. That sounds like a mundane topic for a book. After all, what else would journalists be expected to do? But Reeves’ What the People Know is anything but mundane because so many journalists either have no idea how to ferret out the truty, or seem to have forgotton that part of their job...[This book] -- part personal reminiscence, part media critique. . . [is] worthwhile [reading] for anybody who cares about Reeves’s illustrious career or the state of journalism.Mark Jurkowitz - The Boston Globe What the People Know avoids the perils of droning pendantry. It is fast-moving and full of history and anecdotes...Reeves wisely spends much of his energy focusing on the kind of corporate corruption of journalism that has not really permeated the consciousness of an American public willing to beleive every conspiracy theory about the media except the most dangerous.Douglas Sylva - New York Times Book Review A....[H]e is really mourning the loss of a...life style filled with glamour, excitement and the heady freedom to follow a story wherever the truth leads. Publishers WeeklyLike many academics, University of Southern California professor Reeves feels that a lot of journalism has been "blood, fire, sports, sex, mixed with stories to make you feel good about yourself and bad about your government." But as an experienced reporter for the New York Times and the creator of award-winning TV documentaries, he still believes that journalists are crucial, irreplaceable contributors to a democratic society. His 12th book reconciles his skepticism and faith with vivid arguments of seasoned optimism. Reeves lauds both "Old Fartism" (journalistic integrity, hard work and the four Ws) and technological change (experimentation, speed and adaptation). Answering charges that journalists are becoming outdated, Reeves stresses their resilience and dedication, cites CNN’s successes and even claims that "newspapers are better than they were pre-television." While people may "get the news" in revolutionary new ways, Reeves cares most about how news "is gathered and prepared for transmission." Reeves does fear journalists’ profit motives, their incessant criticism of government and their ignorance of business. Why? Because "corporations own newspapers and television stations, government does not; corporations sue newspapers and television stations, government does not." Based on his 1997 Joanna Jackson Goldman Memorial Lecture at the Library of Congress, this book’s anecdotal approach may not satisfy historians, but Reeves’s seasoned, passionately optimistic treatise should inform and inspire both media consumers and journalists alike.Library JournalJournalist Reeves (President Kennedy: Profile of Power, LJ 9-15-93) has been chief political correspondent for the New York Times and an editor and columnist for New York magazine and Esquire. Although he once wrote critically of President Gerald Ford in A Ford, Not a Lincoln (LJ 12-15-75), years later he published a magazine article, "I Apologize, Mr. President," admitting that he had sold Ford short. We might listen, then, when he takes the high moral ground journalistically, arguing that after its spectacular successes reporting segregation, Vietnam, and Watergate, the press has become less of a watchdog and more willing to bare its fangs at politicians (who have become easy targets) while letting up on corporate conglomerates (who increasingly own newspapers and broadcasting companies and are more likely to bite back with lawsuits). Meanwhile, the press gives us the soft stories that we apparently want. In this short, gracefully argued book, Reeves offers convincing reasons for this decline and a plea for journalism to return to its roots. Strongly recommended for larger public and academic libraries.--Jim G. Burns, Ottumwa, IA Read all 8 "From The Critics" andgt; Our Price: $22.00