From Both Sides Now: The Poetry of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath [Paperback]

Philip Mahony (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 1998

The Vietnam War, America's longest -- and in some ways most devastating -- conflict, changed the course of a generation and left millions wondering, "Why?" Here, in the first-ever collection of poetry from both sides of the war, Vietnamese and American poets use their art to ponder this haunting question. Chronologically arranged to mirror the progression of the war, From Both Sides Now brings together a wide variety of opposing views, with poetry by American and Vietnamese soldiers, orphans, widows, priests, monks, political figures, and antiwar protesters. In addition to including extraordinary works from well-known poets such as Bruce Weigl, Margaret Atwood, Yusef Komunyakaa, Sharon Olds, Robert Bly, Allen Ginsberg, Grace Paley, Philip Levine, and W. S. Merwin, editor Phillip Mahony has scoured the globe to find amazing and, in some cases, never-before-published poetry by North and South Vietnamese soldiers and poets and the first postwar generation of Vietnamese-Americans. Together the words of these poets cohere to a modern, many-voiced epic about the most important event in recent American history. Poignant and accessible, the poems collected here will leave an indelible impact on all readers -- not only poetry lovers but everyone who lived through, and those who want to learn about, the Vietnam War.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Poetry about the Vietnam War continues to move readers with its stark expression of grief. Here, editor Mahony, a New York City police officer, arranges poems by 135 poets in chronological order "to simulate the progression of the Vietnam War." Poems of the North and South Vietnamese, "boat people," and postwar Vietnamese American second-generation poets appear beside well-known names (e.g., Ehrhart, Komunyakaa, and Weihl). Some of the Vietnamese contributors, widely published in the "global Vietnamese community," deserve more recognition, among them Bao-Long Chu, Nguyen Chi Thien, Barbara Tran, and Tran Mong Tu. The American (anti-) war poetry is characterized by reportorial focus on loss of innocence and spiritual wounding. Community-oriented and gutsy, the Asian poets display more formal eloquence and a spirit of sad sacrifice. Cross-fertilization between peoples of different backgrounds and lands reveals that out of war and its difficult aftermath comes strong healing synergy that transcends barriers of age, gender, nationality, political belief, and race. As one veteran concludes: "Because we are brothers/ there are tears in our eyes." This useful anthology of multicultural, war-scarred poetry might help erase "Nam Nightmares."AFrank Allen, Northampton Community Coll., Tannersville, PA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Wanting to revive awareness of the Vietnam War, which he sees slipping into oblivion because Americans would rather not talk about it, Philip Mahony has crafted a new kind of war-poetry anthology. He has chosen poems by both Americans and Vietnamese; by both adults involved in the fighting and children, now grown, who were displaced by it; and by both combatants and protesters. He presents them in 10 parts, "to simulate the progression of the Vietnam War." The poems in the first part mark the self-immolations of Buddhists in Saigon and a Quaker in Washington, D.C., and the injunctions of saber-rattling politicians. Then come clutches of combat poems, protest poems, poems of stoic endurance, poems about bombings and atrocities, poems about those additionally victimized during the war (black soldiers, women, children), poems about the American evacuation, poems of exile and immigration, poems about the Vietnam Wall, and poems by young adults seeking parents and cultures lost decades ago. Read in order, the poems create a vivid and emotionally powerful panorama of the war and its wake. Only a vast oral history combined with a vast philosophical novel might surpass this collection's portrayal of how what happened in Vietnam affected the ordinary people swept up in it. Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; Original edition (November 2, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068484947X
• ISBN-13: 978-0684849478
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #132,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an ecletic yet wide-ranging poetry anthology from "both side, December 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: From Both Sides Now: The Poetry of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath (Paperback)

Mahony has done what no one before him was able to do--get a "big publisher" in this case Scribners and Simon & Schuster to publish a Vietnam War Poetry Anthology in both a hardcover and paper edition and make it available to a variety of markets. Except for W.D. Ehrhart who got Avon to print an early anthology in l985--which was promptly "dumped" , no American publisher has touched the subject of Vietnam War poetry. Now we have Mahony's From Both Sides Now with its multi-faceted approach and a pretty sharp intro by its editor. A fine text for classroom use since it affords a view of veterans from both sides, as well as other more well-known poets including Sharon Olds and Philip Levine,etc. The anthology is well-organized, and in some cases especially poignant since it presents poems by poets whose work is not known to the American public. This is an extremely accessible book, rich with the real loss and melancholia of our longest war.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent collection of poetry, December 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: From Both Sides Now: The Poetry of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath (Paperback)

This book was exciting in two ways. One, the poetry was wonderful, combing poets who are quite famous with poets who are published here for the first time. Second, it recreated the Vietnam experience in a way I hadn't experienced in years. I especially enjoyed reading the dozens of poems in this book that were written by young Vietnamese-Amercan and Amerasian poets.