Customer Reviews

Carried to the Wall: American Memory and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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i read this book for a class i was taking in college. some of the lists and letters haas reproduced made me cry...most books that people read in college don't make people cry. haas' main (and one of her only) shortcomings was her apple pie, americana approach to what people left. many latino-americans and african-americans fought in vietnam and the material and social analysis is, at times, very white bread. very good overall. moving and interesting.

This book is tripe. I was forced to read it for a college class, and am disappointed by the lack of substance in the book. While it claims to be about tributes to fallen soldiers in Vietnam, it spends a substantial portion of the time discussing battle monuments of the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, along with an extended discussion of the dedication of the Gettysburg battlegrounds. It looks too far into many of the objects left, such as the bike tube and nursing pads. Frankly, I'm ashamed to be associated with the same instution as this woman. Don't read it if you don't have to.