Customer Reviews

Friendly Fire: American Images of the Vietnam War

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Katherine Kinney's book is a miniature first class education. Having taken classes from Dr.Kinney I was eager to read her book and found every chapter a satisfying line of criticism. Ignore all negative or unappreciative reviews of this book or this author.

In "Friendly Fire," Katherine Kinney offers a fascinating cultural analysis of the Vietnam conflict as it has been represented through popular media. Writing in a style accessible to the casual reader and the serious Vietnam scholar alike, she explores America's involvement in Vietnam by paying particular attention to how certain cultural fears and desires have been reflected through the portrayal of this historical conflict.

You may have read the only other Amazon review of this book, an embarrassing and cowardly hatchet-job by a disgruntled ex-graduate student at the University of California, Riverside, the university at which the book's author is a well-respected professor and scholar. As a former student at this university, I immediately recognized the author of this character assassination (despite the cowardice of the unsigned post), a student whose shoddy performance on their doctoral examinations was one of the truly embarrassing moments in recent, departmental history (the gulf between expectation and actuality was enormous). My recommendation would be to ignore this vindictive attack from an arrogant and unstable person who is pretty much viewed as a joke in the English Department at UC Riverside.

Oxford University Press, long noted for publishing interesting, relevant, and cutting-edge work, has done so yet again with "Friendly Fire." For those interested in the Vietnam War, post-WWII masculinity, or media studies, this book will provide a fascinating read.

Signed,

Andrew Howe

In "Friendly Fire," Katherine Kinney offers a fascinating cultural analysis of the Vietnam conflict as it has been represented through popular media. Writing in a style accessible to the casual reader and the serious Vietnam scholar alike, she explores America's involvement in Vietnam by paying particular attention to how certain cultural fears and desires have been reflected through the portrayal of this historical conflict.

You may have read the only other Amazon review of this book, an embarrassing and cowardly hatchet-job by a disgruntled ex-graduate student at the University of California, Riverside, the university at which the book's author is a well-respected professor and scholar. As a former student at this university, I immediately recognized the author of this character assassination (despite the cowardice of the unsigned post), a student whose shoddy performance on their doctoral examinations was one of the truly embarrassing moments in recent, departmental history (the gulf between expectation and actuality was enormous). My recommendation would be to ignore this vindictive attack from an arrogant and unstable person who is pretty much viewed as a joke in the English Department at UC Riverside.

Oxford University Press, long noted for publishing interesting, relevant, and cutting-edge work, has done so yet again with "Friendly Fire." For those interested in the Vietnam War, post-WWII masculinity, or media studies, this book will provide a fascinating read.