The Vietnam Experience: A Concise Encyclopedia of American Literature, Songs, and Films [Hardcover]

The Vietnam War was one of the most painful and divisive events in American history. The conflict, which ultimately took the lives of 58,000 Americans and more than three million Vietnamese, became a subject of bitter and impassioned debate. The most dramaticand frequently the most enduringefforts to define and articulate America's ill-fated involvement in Vietnam emerged from popular culture. American journalists, novelists, playwrights, poets, songwriters, and filmmakersmany of them eyewitnesseshave created powerful, heartfelt works documenting their thoughts and beliefs about the war. By examining those works, this book provides readers with a fascinating resource that explores America's ongoing struggle to assess the war and its legacies.

This encyclopedia includes 44 essays, each providing detailed information on an important film, song, or literary work about Vietnam. Each essay provides insights into the Vietnam-era experiences and views of the work's primary creative force, historical background on issues or events addressed in the work, discussion of the circumstances surrounding the creation of the work, and sources for further information. This book also includes an appendix listing of more than 275 films, songs, and literary works dealing with the war.

Advisory Board
Preface
After Our War: Conscientious Objectors and Other Draft Resisters
Apocalypse Now: The Vietnam War as Hallucinatory Experience
Armies of the Night: The March on the Pentagon
Ballad of the Green Berets : U.S. Special Forces in Vietnam
The Best and the Brightest: Policymakers of the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations
Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans: Afrls0