Keep Your Head Down Vietnam, the Sixties, and a Journey of Self-Discovery [Paperback]

We tend to write about what will not go away, Doug Anderson says in this candid, darkly humorous journey of self-discovery. Beginning in 1943, in the precivil rights South filled with tobacco and war stories, he recalls the difficult childhood that propels him into service in Vietnam. In 1967, having returned home deeply shaken by his experience as a combat medical corpsman, Anderson plunges into the heady freedoms and excesses of the sixties. His downward spiralthrough booze, substance abuse, and sexbrings him dangerously close to a total breakdown. Finally, in a return group visit to Vietnam in 2000, he meets with former enemies now become writers and poets. Moved by the realization that the last time I saw these people they were trying to kill me, Anderson confronts the past and calls upon a storythis powerful storyto rebuild a life.Starred Review. In his first book of nonfiction, Anderson tells his story in inviting, poetic prose. He begins with his dysfunctional childhood in Memphis, then offers an evocative depiction of his service in Vietnam, which included a firefight on his first day in the field and more than his share of closely observed horror. He shows the hell of war as he went through it. Only in recent years did Anderson stop drinking, find meaningful work as a poet and teacher, marry and make a life-changing trip back to Vietnam in 2000. Yet what Anderson dubs Snakebrain (the demons inside him) remains a part of him. His beautifully told story is one of redemption, but also one without a happy ending.An award-winning poet highlights the vibrant history of his generation in a farewell to Vietnam, the chaotic sixties, and their long aftermath.