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lrcartee's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a compilation of interviews and stories of people affected by the Vietnam war. Included are the stories of a medic, an army nurse, a refugee, a protest singer and many others. It gives a personal take to horrors of the war and how it affected the lives of many.
artransvet's review against another edition
3.0
This isn't a book that I normally would have read, but I learned a lot by reading it.
nataliereinhart's review against another edition
4.0
I really appreciated the Vietnam War perspectives this book shared, from veterans to refugees to memorial designers. As much as I know the basic facts of the war from teaching it every year, it’s easy to gloss over the many, many complicated experiences of those who actually lived through the war, particularly those who saw and/or participated in the violence firsthand. Partridge does a wonderful job of threading the timeline of the war through the experiences of these individuals, and asks us (importantly, in language that is accessible to readers of all ages) to struggle with the same questions that the nation did during and after Vietnam—questions that remain perennially relevant for all U.S. military engagement abroad.
andeez's review against another edition
5.0
I'm 48 years old. I've learned more about Vietnam in these pages than I ever have in school. Is this a fault of my own? A lot. Is this a fault of our school curriculums? I think a big "YES".
Partridge takes us into the stories of the people who were there: soldiers, nurses, refugees. We learn their backgrounds, their war experience, their war beliefs, and what happened after the war. We learn that controversy didn't stop after the war - it continued on to the war memorial. I didn't want the book to end. The photographs were beautiful. I feel like I know these people now.
I'm proud to have this in our school library, but I think I need this for my personal library. Read this book. Inform yourself. Especially in this time of political upheaval - it will remind you we've pretty much always been a mess.
Partridge takes us into the stories of the people who were there: soldiers, nurses, refugees. We learn their backgrounds, their war experience, their war beliefs, and what happened after the war. We learn that controversy didn't stop after the war - it continued on to the war memorial. I didn't want the book to end. The photographs were beautiful. I feel like I know these people now.
I'm proud to have this in our school library, but I think I need this for my personal library. Read this book. Inform yourself. Especially in this time of political upheaval - it will remind you we've pretty much always been a mess.
srousseau's review against another edition
3.0
I thought that this book gave an interesting perspective to the Vietnam War by including snippets from various perspectives in the conflict. And the chapters about the politics of the conflict set the stage. It was an interesting approach and one that I think will make it accessible to teens, but teens who are truly interested in the war will have to go elsewhere to get more complete information.
lizthelibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
Let me just say that this book blew me away when deciding what to rate this it was a no brainer. I wish that this book would've been presented to me when I was in high school so I could've read this instead of a textbook. This is the type of nonfiction that will drag you in, teach you, and leave you thinking about what you read for weeks. This book covers around twentyish years of the Vietnam War and the aftermath of it. There were many things I was not aware of before I read this book, and I'm glad I understand more of it now. What I enjoyed was getting personal accounts and chapters that focused on what was going on in the White House - I was also crazy excited to see pictures. The personal accounts are harrowing and will break your heart; for me, the nurses' and memorial chapters were the hardest. This is an amazing book that I encourage everyone to read because it makes you think and reflect.
thisgrrlreads's review
4.0
Partridge does a beautiful job of telling the story of the Vietnam using the stories of specific people, from soldiers and medics to LBJ and civilians in Vietnam and protesters and even Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam War Memorial in DC. It is a shockingly compelling read, despite the intensity of the subject matter. She follows each of the soldiers during their time "in-country" and beyond, including a lot of suicidal thoughts and near suicidal actions. She manages to cover a fairly diverse set of people, specifically some Asian-American service men and women who really struggled both in Vietnam and after. Plus, she contrasts the experience with those of black servicemen, and how they were received coming back to the United States. A really worthwhile read, especially for those of us who were too young to know all the intricacies of people's emotions abotu this, despite the many textbooks and even my parents' recollections of that time (neither served so it was missing a large chunk from that side of the story which is filled in here). This is neither pro -war nor anti-war but about what happened in our country. Really manages to put politics in there without having to go too far in-depth to get to what was relevant for this conflict.
bethmitcham's review against another edition
4.0
Engrossing history of Vietnam that consists of personal interviews (arranged into essays by the author) interspersed with a bigger overview look at political figures working political matters and military decisions. The heart of the book is the interviews, which include medics, various soldiers, and a refugee. The final chapters show the design, construction and impact of the Vietnam War Memorial, which does a good job of bringing the story closer to the present.
dungeonmasterteacher's review against another edition
5.0
This book was very personal. It focused on lived experiences rather than broad explanations of political, economic, or military ramifications. I would recommend this to any middle school kid interested in military history. Most of those kids nerd out on gear, tactics, or heroism, and this book shows what war is actually like without being ghoulish.