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More Than A Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam (Reflections of History)
 
 
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More Than A Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam (Reflections of History) [Hardcover]

Victor R. Volkman (Editor)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Book Description

January 5, 2009 Reflections of History
A Conflict that Shaped A Generation

Four decades on, the legacy of American involvement in the Viet Nam War still looms large in the lives of the veterans who experienced it first hand. This new anthology of poems, stories, and essays looks at the war through the lens of both past and present perspectives.

Featuring the work of fifteen veteran writers, the scope of the book defines how modern warfare affects the lives of those who lived it and subsequently their own families after returning from the war. The men who have contributed to this volume each have played their own part whether medic, air cavalry, recon, forward observer, or just plain grunt. The pain they felt, witnessed, and buried can hopefully be released by the telling of their collective truths.

It is their hope that through this book you will be able to feel something of what they have felt and that it will inform you about the role that this conflict continues to play in the lives of those who served there. The words of William Faulkner still ring true: "The past is not dead, it's not even past."

Praise for More Than A Memory

Acclaim for More Than A Memory "For those old hands wanting to see and hear how others have made some sense of it in words--perhaps for inspiration to write some of their own--and for those newbies wanting to understand and relate as much as possible to that experience, I recommend this new volume wholeheartedly."
--Michael Gillen, PhD, Professor, Vietnam and Modern America, Pace University

"Poignant and heartrending as it is, More Than A Memory is a work of great courage and optimism, of triumph against all odds and amidst the horrors, of resurrection and renewal. It is nothing short of uplifting."
--Sam Vaknin, PhD, author of Malignant Self-Love

"There seems to be no end to the stories veterans of the Vietnam War need and want to tell and there should be no end to the readiness of the rest of us to read, to listen, and more importantly, to learn. More Than A Memory is a welcome addition to the literature of the war and its ongoing consequences."
--Marilyn B. Young, PhD, Dept. of History, NYU

"If you want to understand a conflict, look into the hearts of the men who fought it. More than a Memory does that and reveals a legacy that should stand as a warning to people who would remake the world in their own vision."
--Trish Wood, investigative journalist, and author of the critically acclaimed What Was Asked of Us: An Oral History of the Iraq War by the Soldiers Who Fought It

More from the contributors at www.ReflectionsOfVietnam.com

"More Than a Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam" is the newest book in the Reflections of America series from Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com

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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 232 pages
  • Publisher: Modern History Press (January 5, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1932690654
  • ISBN-13: 978-1932690651
  • Product Dimensions: 7 x 10 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,859,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Victor grew up as a computer geek, bought an Interact Model One computer with his life savings at age 14 and never looked back. Before he finished highschool, he had taken BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, and 6800 Assembly Language classes. He earned his BS in Computer Science at Michigan Tech University (cum laude). The next 10 years, he concentrated on writing for computer programming journals such as C/C++ Users Journal, Windows Developer's Journal, The C Gazette, and others. During this phase, he wrote computer programming textbooks including "C/C++ Treausure Chest" and "Windows Programming with Shareware Tools."

In 2003, he formed Loving Healing Press out of a project in the Self-Expressional and Leadership Program (SELP) at Landmark Education.

 

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking - Emotional!, December 8, 2008
Victor R. Volkman has pieced together lots of different kinds of energy and emotions about the Vietnam war. In his anthology, "More Than A Memory: Reflections Of Viet Nam", he presents more than just the memories of veterans but insightful spiritual and emotional imprints from their very soul. There is much to like about this collection of stories, prose and poetry.

This book is not just a presentation of the typical Vietnam veterans, who like myself, never went to bed with the leftist ideology of the anti-war groups. It also gives the reader a different look at understanding those veterans who opposed the war. That may make some of us old veterans stand up and take notice - but in all fairness the editor chose not to censor, or limit the scope of the presentation. To me that is what I fought for. I do not enjoy having someone determine what is the proper thought process and this book clearly reveals a deep difference between the two groups. However, in the end, all of them wore the uniform and all of us suffered in our own ways.

The book is hard hitting and at times, tragic, dramatic, sad, angry, political, and even vulgar. In context of what the subject matter is and the emotional atmosphere involved it all works to give readers a gripping soulful look and feel for what these men went through. The book deals with PTSD and it lays out some of the social and phycological mine fields that they transverse in their daily lives. The words are like bullets to the heart and soul and there is plenty of ammunition for a true war for the soul!

This book is not an easy book to read emotionally - but I am grateful that these "memories" were captured so that we have a clearer view of what the real price of war is. There are some really moving personal tales in these pages. I hope that some veterans will not be tuned out by the chapter on the court martial. You do not have to agree with what these men did, or stood for, to see that they are damaged from the war as well.

Over-all this book gives us a good look at the issues of PTSD even when not directly focusing on that matter. My hope is that this book can serve as a bridge between veterans and those who did not serve. This is not an uplifting book to read but it is one that needs to be read and understood by all of us. In the end - war really is hell!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable Insight Offered in Diverse Collection of Vietnam Prose and Poetry, March 29, 2009
This review is from: More Than A Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam (Reflections of History) (Hardcover)
"More Than a Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam" is a stunning anthology of writings by veterans that includes first-person non-fiction narratives of serving in Vietnam, fictional stories about the war, poetry, tales of adjusting to civilian life after the war, and many memories of the war and how it continues to affect veterans' lives today. The diversity of "More Than a Memory" provides a more thorough understanding of the war experience than any one soldier's story could provide. Twelve authors have contributed forty-five different pieces of Vietnam war literature that leave a reader both shocked, grieving for the veterans' experiences, and better educated about what war does to an individual and a nation.

It is impossible to discuss the merits of all the works included in this anthology. Many of the stories are what the reader might expect--depictions of veterans experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder upon their return home, veterans trying to understand what it meant to have to kill other people, soldiers coping with the loss of comrades in battle, and soldiers returning home to a nation that failed to treat them with respect. In addition are many unexpected themes that add to a fuller understanding of the Vietnam War and how war haunts a person for the rest of his life. If the book is lacking in any way, it is the absence of women explaining how the war also haunted "her" life as a soldier or soldier's wife, but that is a small complaint compared to the multiple voices in this volume.

The various poems and stories, both fiction and non-fiction, can be divided up between those that take place during the war itself, and those that are reflections back upon the war. Many dramatic scenes depict the experiences of the war and trying to cope with immediate and dangerous events as they happen. Tom Skiens' story "Boat People" stands out for explaining how the war psychologically affected soldiers while they were in the midst of combat. Frightened constantly of being killed themselves, and never knowing who might be the enemy, soldiers often found themselves killing innocent people:

Killing because we are tired of others killing those around us. This was a revenge killing. Not that these two people in the boat had done anything to us personally, but simply because we needed to kill someone to help us feel like we could even the score. Killing to gain a sense of control over our lives. (p. 192)

Other stories describe the heartache of daily life in the war. In an excerpt from his book, "My Tour in Hell," David Powell tells how he did not want to make friends with his fellow soldiers because he feared if he became attached to someone, he would become weak and risk his own life for another, or become distracted by his own grief and thus get himself killed. Nevertheless, he becomes friends with a soldier, who consequently gets killed, and David finds himself writing home to console his friend's mother.

Other soldiers struggle with moral issues and how war forces them to act against their better natures. In "Witness to Rape" Tom Skiens writes about a soldier struggling to accept his fellow soldiers raping a Vietnamese woman; he wishes he could turn his gun on the soldiers to stop them, but he knows he will be court-martialed if he does. Years later, he still tries to justify his decision to stand by while the rape occurred.

The majority of the stories and poems reflect the book's title theme of memories. Many of the stories depict soldiers trying to function in civilian life while still haunted by the war. In "My Blue Block of Wood," Richard Boes depicts a soldier's first day home and how he immediately makes his family afraid of him, making him realize, "I'd brought the trauma home. I'm the f---in' enemy here" (p. 21). Sadly, Boes died of throat cancer just after "More Than a Memory" was released.

After years and decades of being home, the memories and trauma do not lessen for veterans. The return to the scenes of the war is another constant theme as Vietnam veterans try to make peace with their experiences. In Marc Levy's "Torque in Angkor Wat," a veteran returns to Cambodia with a friend who had not been in the war. The veteran becomes delusional, seeing Cambodian troops aiming at him when they are actually Cambodians playing Frisbee with him and his friend.

Other stories and essays explain how veterans struggle to deal with people who cannot understand their experiences. One of the more humorous yet pointed of these pieces is Alan Farrell's "Nothing So Bad It's Not Poetry" where the author talks about how poetry is a form of release for Vietnam veterans, but also how academics fail to understand war poetry despite their literary theories. During a poetry reading, one professor tries to pronounce the city "Quang Ngai." A veteran helps him, and then when the professor cannot pronounce other cities' names, the veteran repeatedly tells him the same pronunciation as for the first city without the professor catching on to how he is revealing his own ignorance.

In "Kangaroo Court Martial," Shirley Jolls and Walter Aponte reveal racism in the military by telling the story of two soldiers who went to prison for six and ten years simply for protesting the treatment of blacks in the United States during the race riots in Detroit.

Don Bodey's stunning first chapter to his award-winning novel "F.N.G." is included, in which a Vietnam veteran considers shooting his grandson to disable him so he cannot leave to serve in Iraq.

Numerous more works are included in "More Than a Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam." Most importantly, these stories and poems all work together to express the diversity and similarities of veteran experiences and how the Vietnam War remains with these veterans. Readers will come to understand why Vietnam veterans cannot simply "get over it." The final work in the anthology is titled "Whatever You Did in War Will Always be With You." It begins with a telling dialogue from an anonymous author.

VA Shrink: Were you in Vietnam?

Vietnam Vet: Yes.

VA Shrink: When were you there?

Vietnam Vet: Last night.

Vietnam Veterans cannot forget the war. Their experiences are not just memories, but events they live with everyday and every night. We honor them by reading their stories and never forgetting the sacrifices they made; many of them sacrificed their lives by dying, many more sacrificed their lives by surviving only to find it difficult to live again.

For more information about "More Than a Memory" as well as to read additional writings by its contributors, visit www.ReflectionsOfVietnam.com.

-- Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D., author of The Marquette Trilogy
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars More than memories of a war for many Viet Nam vets, December 20, 2008
Length:: 6:26 Mins

Rich Raitano presents a montage of photos of the contributors to this volume and the men they served with. Some small excepts and praise from critics as well. Guaranteed to raise goosebumps.
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