How I Learned That I Could Push the Button [Hardcover]

Jerome Gold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2003

These essays compose a compact history of the effects of the war in Viet Nam on American life. Colored by the impact of the war, they portray some of the ways in which we looked at later events. Certain themes arise again and again-the perceived threat presented by the Other, the permeability of borders that separate like from other, the tension between loyalty to one's fellows and obligation to nation or country or society, the distrust of abstraction and those who use abstraction to manipulate us. These essays, drawing on the author's direct experience of one war and his peripheral experience of another, may be considered a companion volume to his acclaimed novel, Sergeant Dickinson.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...ranks with Short Timers and Dispatches." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Belongs on the high, narrow shelf of first-rate fiction about battlefield experience." -- The New York Times Book Review

"Gold has shaped a powerful, merciless novel..." -- Booklist

About the Author

How I Learned That I Could Push the Button is Jerome Gold's ninth book. He has published short stories, essays, poetry and reviews in a variety of magazines and journals. He saw combat during the American war in Viet Nam and was on active duty during the Gulf War of 1991, serving on the general staff of a reserve command.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 157 pages
• Publisher: Black Heron Press (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0930773675
• ISBN-13: 978-0930773670
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,798,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A very sober recounting of a troubled and hazardous time, January 17, 2004

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How I Learned That I Could Push the Button (Hardcover)

How I Learned That I Could Push The Button is the personal memoir of Jerome Gold and drawn directly from his experiences in the Vietnam War. Discussing the issues of perceived vs. actual threat, loyalty, obligation, how abstraction is used to manipulate others, and the brutal and terrible side to war itself, How I Learned That I Could Push The Button is a very sober recounting of a troubled and hazardous time. Also serving as a companion to the Jerome Gold's novel, "Sergeant Dickinson", How I Learned That I Could Push The Button deftly explores how the fictional Sergeant Dickinson might have lived and been in the decades following that novel's conclusion.