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Grunts: The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam
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Comments/Reviews
Description: Equally appealing for classroom use and general readers, this book provides a fresh approach to understanding the American combat soldier's experience in Vietnam that integrates such topics as the political culture, the experiences of training, the actual Vietnam experience, and the "homecoming." It offers a remarkable overview of the 870,000 "grunts" who bore the brunt of the fighting in the jungles and highlands of South Vietnam, and eventually Cambodia and Laos.
The book addresses many of the stereotypes of the Vietnam combat veteran that have been perpetuated in popular culture, and also considers how Vietnam veterans have been commemorated through memorials and other means, and how the veterans remember each other. Coverage also includes women who served in or near the front lines as well as on the home front. The author draws on memoirs and oral histories including his personal interviews with veterans, but the book conveys a picture of the Vietnam combat soldier's experience far more powerful than what individual memoirs can provide.
Selected Contents:
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. Johnny Get Your Gun: Decisions to Enter the U.S. Military during the Vietnam War
Chapter 2. Building GI Joe: Induction, and Recruit Training During the Vietnam Era
Chapter 3. The First Wave: The American Infantryman in Vietnam, 1961-1968
Chapter 4. The Winter of Their Discontent: After Tet Until the Withdrawal and Fall of Saigon, 1968-1975
Chapter 5. Coming Home: Reintegrating into Society and Memory of the American Infantryman in Vietnam
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Comment(s): " Grunts: The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam is the most extensive and moving account of the experience of young Americans sent to war that I have read. Using the widest possible variety of sources, Longley traces his subjects from the moment they show up for their physicals to the time when they return home--or don't. His canvas is vast and he peoples it vividly, from patriot to protestor and the many degrees in between. Longley's sensitive book is an all too timely reminder of the realities of war." -- Marilyn B. Young, New York University, author of The Vietnam Wars 1945-1990
Review(s): Grunts details the experiences of the American soldiers in Vietnam, from how the boys were raised to become soldiers to the impact of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It contains extensive footnotes and a comprehensive bibliography. The scholarly format makes it suitable for classroom use while the author's engaging style makes it appealing to general readers. The Journal of Military History
    
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