Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam [Hardcover]

New York Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission (Author), Bernard Edelman (Editor), Jr. William Broyles (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1985

"An overwhelmingly eloquent book of the purest and most simple writing on Vietnam."—David Halberstam

More than twenty-five years after the official end of the Vietnam War, Dear America allows us to witness the war firsthand through the eyes of the men and women who served in Vietnam. In this collection of more than 200 letters, they share their first impressions of the rigors of life in the bush, their longing for home and family, their emotions over the conduct of the war, and their ache at the loss of a friend in battle. Poignant in their rare honesty, the letters from Vietnam are "riveting,...extraordinary by [their] very ordinariness...for the most part, neither deep nor philosophical, only very, very human" (Los Angeles Times). Revealing the complex emotions and daily realities of fighting in the war, these close accounts offer a powerful, uniquely personal portrait of the many faces of Vietnam's veterans. Over 100,000 copies sold.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Always an extremely moving read, but I think never more than now. -- New York Times, Bob Herbert, 27 May 2002

An overwhelmingly eloquent book of the purest and most simple writing on Vietnam. -- David Halberstam

Not a history book, not a war novel....Dear America is a book of truth. -- Boston Globe --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Bernard Edelman served as a broadcast specialist/correspondent in Vietnam. He is the author of Centenarians: The Story of the 20th Century by the Americans Who Lived It --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 316 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1st edition (April 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393019985
• ISBN-13: 978-0393019988
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #366,103 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, December 3, 2001

By 

Janice (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dear America: Letters from Vietnam (Paperback)

This book consists of letters written by American soldiers during the Vietnam War. It's extremely heart-breaking to read these letters as they gives "voices" instead of a mere figure. A lot of times, the figure of how many were killed, wounded, missing, etc but it does not portray any "emotions" the soldiers felt. At the end of each letter, the editor includes a few sentences on what happened to the author. It's extremely sad to read how many of those killed were just 19 year-olds, 20 year-olds, and these soldiers were just kids! It makes you think how wasteful, stupid, unnecessary wars are, and the sacrifices that has to be made.

The last chapter of this book speaks a lot. It is chronologically listed and you can see the evolving sentiments of the soldiers. At the beginning of the war, the soldiers were proud to fight against the Communists, how they think the war will be over soon. Towards the end of that chapter, most soldiers were scared, depressed and just wanted to get out of the war... alive! This shows why many Vietnam War veterans suffered from postwar depression as the horror of the war, how their friends, buddies were killed or wounded in front of their own eyes and how many could not possibly forget these horrifying images.

I highly recommend this book as this book speaks a lot. To me, the important message that it is trying to convey is the unnecessary sacrifices that these soldiers have to make, to fight a war that is not theirs, and the horror and bloodiness of the war is vividly described by these soldiers.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerfully emotional, March 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dear America: Letters from Vietnam (Paperback)

I still remember the day I walked into my college's library back in the late 1980s and saw this publication sitting on the table of new releases. I picked it up and headed for a couch. About six hours, many tears, mixed emotions, and several missed classes later I emerged from that couch and put the completed book back on the table. In those six hours my view about the Vietnam experience and those who fought it changed. The words of those soldiers in their letters are powerful evidence of the collision between innocence and experience that takes place when young men are thrust into battle.

This book should be required reading for all students of that war and required reading for every President who ever contemplates sending soldiers into battle.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ FOR ALL AGES, September 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dear America: Letters from Vietnam (Paperback)

Of all the books I have read none have touched me this much. It is powerful because it is real. These are real stories, real feelings, real lives. This book will keep you up all night just thinking.