North to Canada: Men and Women Against the Vietnam War [Hardcover]

James L. Dickerson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0275962113 | ISBN-13: 978-0275962111 | Publication Date: February 28, 1999

While we may never know the exact number of Americans who chose Canada over Vietnam, an estimated half-million men and women went north as a result of their opposition to the war. Despite President Ford's amnesty and President Carter's pardon, some of these exiles never returned. This book, which focuses upon those who remained in Canada, offers a resister's eye view of the most traumatic war in American history. Dickerson blends resister interviews with an account of the historical events that served as watersheds for these young Americans.

Dickerson answers the question: Whatever happened to the men and women who went to Canada? With contextual information regarding the policies of both the U.S. and Canadian governments towards the war and its resisters, Dickerson offers evidence that a generation of America's best and brightest was lost to Canada. His inclusion of female resisters contributes a new perspective to the debate that continues to rage more than 25 years after the withdrawal of the last American troops in Vietnam.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Not until the end of this excellent inquiry does the reader learn that Dickerson, the author of the popular music books Women on Top (Watson-Guptill, 1998) and Goin' Back to Memphis (S. & S., 1996), moved to Canada to avoid the draft. His anger and that of the seven resisters who are the main characters of this book make for a highly charged story. Rather than an oral history of their lives, this is a most readable reconstruction of eventsAprimarily from contemporary magazine articlesAof the migration of 500,000 Americans, half of them women, to Canada, where they were welcomed by a government headed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. This is in sharp contrast to Dickerson's indictment of an America that turned its back on its childrenAboth war resisters and emotionally and physically scarred veteransAas it struggled to redeem its collective soul. An excellent complementAless comprehensive but better writtenAto Tom Wells's acclaimed The War Within (LJ 3/15/94) and, despite the price, recommended for public libraries and highly recommended for Vietnam-era and peace collections.AKarl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Of the approximately 191,522 Americans who fled from the U.S. to Canada to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War, a significant number did not return, even after amnesty was granted by President Carter. Many of those war "resistors," as Dickerson refers to them, stayed and remade their lives in Canada. Dickerson, himself a resister, weaves the tumultuous history of the Vietnam War era into the backdrop of the resisters' own experiences settling into their adopted country. Their personal stories vary, including those of a former ROTC student, an archaeologist who received his draft notice in Yugoslavia, and a female premed student who fled the U.S. with her draft-eligible husband. Many of the resisters were also deeply affected by events other than Vietnam that marked the 1960s stateside, such as the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. They found life in Canada clearly better than fighting an unpopular war or returning to their own troubled country. Recommended for collections that focus on the Vietnam War. Marlene Chamberlain

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Praeger (February 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275962113
• ISBN-13: 978-0275962111
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,893,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A native of Mississippi, James L. Dickerson is the author of twenty-six books, and over 2,000 magazine and newspaper articles; he has worked as a magazine editor and publisher, newspaper editor, reporter, columnist, book critic, and social worker.
Dickerson's book, The Mojo Triangle, was the winner of a 2006 IPPY award (Independent Publisher Book Awards) in the non-fiction category. Two other books, Goin' Back to Memphis and That's Alright, Elvis, were finalists for the Gleason Award. Reprint rights to Dickerson's books have been sold to publishers in Australia and China, where two of his books have been translated into Chinese.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a good read for 'Boomers' that remember this era, August 8, 2001

By 

joel417 (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: North to Canada: Men and Women Against the Vietnam War (Hardcover)

I was intrigued by the number of Americans that sought refuge in Canada during the late 60s and early 70s in response to recission of the '2S' deferment. The case studies were particularly interesting with respect to how this disruption of family and career was met with differing degrees of adjustment. I wish that the author had devoted a comparison with American Peace Corps Volunteers who served in places like Atar, Mauritania; Sarh, Tchad; Farah, Afghanistan; Zabol, Iran, or Zinder. Their lives were also disrupted without the comfort of a first world nation like Canada.