Prisoners of Culture: Representing the Vietnam P.O.W (Communications, Media, and Culture) [Paperback]

Elliott Gruner (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A salutary treatment of media mythmaking, this incisive book shows how portrayals of Vietnam POWs in movies and books often diverge from the reality of the POW experience. Gruner, who teaches at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, suggests that the image of the POW has been used to "rehabilitate all Vietnam veterans and romanticize the Vietnam War." He analyzes how POW autobiographies promote this myth, finding that the more commercially successful ones downplay negative experiences. Though the film The Hanoi Hilton draws on autobiographies, it distorts them to emphasize POW resistance and to demonize the North Vietnamese, he argues. He shows how advertisers such as Philip Morris exploit the image of the heroic POW, and emphasizes the sexism in most narratives. Most accounts, he notes, focus on the individual's triumph over adversity and not on the politics and destructiveness of the war. He concludes by analyzing how Americans tried to fit POWs from the Gulf war into the frame of Vietnam, wanting them to "conform to certain preexisting notions of conduct, sexuality and image." Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Gruner, a U.S. Army special forces officer, presents a critical interpretation of the portrayal of Vietnam War prisoners of war in the American media and within the culture as a whole. Early on he demonstrates a reasonably convincing knowledge of the several POW autobiographies available, but his work begins to unravel as the roles of film, advertising, and myth in America's view of the POW are introduced. The occasional use of jargon serves to distract readers not grounded in contemporary literary theory. The subject matter of the work is intriguing: there is a good hook here, but it awaits a more disciplined writer. For comprehensive Vietnam and mass media collections only.
- John R. Vallely, Siena Coll. Lib., Loudonville, N.Y.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (April 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813519314
• ISBN-13: 978-0813519319
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,513,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stories that connect pasts to futures; civil to military, November 9, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Seoul, Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prisoners of Culture: Representing the Vietnam P.O.W (Communications, Media, and Culture) (Paperback)

Elliott Gruner's book is destined to be a benchmark, if not a classic study of how we see ourselves through the men and women we send in to war and conflict. His appreciation for the disconnects between the realities of what POW's face and the images that media have put to them are timeless. Although it was written principally from the experiences of Vietnam, it grows in value with every media expansion in to every kind of conflict. The book holds meaning for a cross section of society: certainly the soldier, probably the corresondent, and hopefully the policy maker. Excellent, clear, scholarly work.

3.0 out of 5 stars An okay book for study..., January 15, 2007

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Moonstarr (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prisoners of Culture: Representing the Vietnam P.O.W (Communications, Media, and Culture) (Paperback)

I used this as on of four or five textbooks in a Vietnam War class. It was all right, but not as insightful as he others It talks about how the war was presented in and to America, by way of certain cultural standards. Its title relates to the idea that the soldiers were perhaps inaccurately represented in the media to the common populace, but that cultural standards and expectations prevented them from deviating. They had something to live up to, so they were prisoners to that idea. On one hand it's good to see the war in the media at all, but on the other, it's too bad that the soldiers couldn't show how they truly felt. It had some good examples, but it talked a lot about film. So if you're studying Vietnam, you might be interested in this (as long as you have the extra time for it), but I think it's better as a resource for someone going into media to understand the effects that their wok have on the subject matter. You could also take the book's main premise (there's more to the war and its soldiers than what's in the media) and apply it to to other wars. It's okay if you're new to he concept but I was critical of it i the essay I had to write on it. Basically, it depends on where the reader is at on the ideas whether they will gain from it or not. If you're not interested in media or the the Vietnam War, this may not interest you in teh least.

1.0 out of 5 stars Not What I Thought It Would Be, March 13, 2002

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Steven Lee Smith (Narragansett, RI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prisoners of Culture: Representing the Vietnam P.O.W (Communications, Media, and Culture) (Paperback)

I would obtain this book through a local library or an inter-library loan system before making the purchase. The text addresses specific areas related to the media's reinterpretation of POW events, whether through the printed or film medium. Even though the book is full of endnotes I still found many statements or conclusions needing documentation--which he doesn't provide. Furthermore, some of the material related to the involvement of Sybil Stockdale is in error or taken out of context. Regarding VADM Stockdale: after in "Love and War" he wrote additonal books, which are not used as sources to address the development of his thought post 1973. And, leaving out the influence of Epictetus in his POW experience neglects a significant part of his story.