This anthology does not concentrate on the mountain of jingoistic pulp aimed at teenage boys during and after the Vietnam war like "The Green Berets," "Special Forces Trooper," or "Women of the Green Berets." Nor does it concentrate on allegorical pro-imperialist works like "The Ugly American." Instead, it concentrates on literature which, to quote the editor, springs from the discovery, "usually through painful experience, of insights far too valuable to be lost or forgotten."
Most of the works in this volume were written by soldiers, nurses, and journalists who spent time in Vietnam during the war. Simple, moving, and strong themes run through many: The contradiction between Amerika's "just cause" rhetoric and the brutal reality of a genocidal war; the recognition that the Vietnamese men and wimmin killed by Amerikan soldiers were not faceless "gooks" but real people; and the pain of seeing close Amerikan friends die meaningless deaths for an evil cause, to name a few.
Some of the authors are anti-war activists, some are not, and a few pro-war authors are also represented (but that's as it should be, since we should learn to know our enemy). The anthology demonstrates that art can be topical and relevant, appeal directly to the broad masses, and yet have high aesthetic standards. Ultimately, it shows that middle forces can play an important role in the cultural ferment which makes a broad anti-imperialist movement possible. And it illustrates the tragedy that so many Amerikans had to travel through the imperialist military on their journey to becoming middle forces in the struggle against imperialism, as Franklin did.
The writings in this book advertise for themselves, but we do not have permission to quote them for review. Amerikans who wish to write anti-imperialist litrature should thoroughly work with, and critically think through the writings on the Vietnam War, and this book is a good place to start. Those who do not wish to write creatively themselves can learn about the barbarity of the Vietnam War and the split it caused in Amerikan culture, forcing a section of the oppressor nation to ally themselves with the struggles of oppressed peoples abroad.