Bringing It All Back Home: An Oral History of New York City's Vietnam Veterans - Couverture rigide

Napoli, Philip F

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0809073188 ISBN 13 : 9780809073184

Editeur : Hill & Wang Inc.,U.S., 2013

Synopsis

A collection of heartrending oral histories that topples assumptions about the people who served in Vietnam The Vietnam War was a defining event for a generation of Americans. But for years, misguided and sometimes demeaning cliches about its veterans have proliferated widely. Philip F. Napoli's Bringing It All Back Home strips away the myths and reveals the complex individuals who served in Southeast Asia. Napoli was one of the chief researchers for Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, and in the spirit of that enterprise, his oral histories recast our understanding of a war and its legacy. Napoli introduces a remarkable group of young New Yorkers who went abroad with high hopes only to find a bewildering conflict. We meet a nurse who staged a hunger strike to promote peace while working at a field hospital; a paratrooper whose experiences on the battlefield left him with emotional scars that led to violence and homelessness; a black soldier who achieved an unexpected camaraderie with his fellow servicemen in racially tense times; and a university administrator who helped to create New York City's Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Some of Napoli's soldiers became active opponents of the war; others did not. But all returned with a powerful urge to understand the death and destruction they had seen. Overcoming adversity, a great many would go on to lead ambitious lives of public service. Tracing their journeys from the streets of Brooklyn and Queens to the banks of the Mekong, and back to the most glamorous corporations and meanest homeless shelters of New York City, Napoli reveals the variety and surprising vibrancy of the ex-soldiers' experiences. For almost everyone the time in Vietnam was the most exciting and the most alive time of your life, one veteran recalls. He adds: I still have this little trick . . . When I lie down and go to sleep, if there's something bothering me, I say, You're warm, you're dry, and there is no one shooting at you.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Philip F. Napoli is an assistant professor of history at Brooklyn College, where he also directs the Veterans Oral History Project. He was one of the chief researchers for Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation and An Album of Memories. He lives in New York City.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Hill & Wang Inc.,U.S.
• Date d'édition: 2013
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0809073188
• ISBN 13: 9780809073184
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 254
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible