Shrapnel in the Heart: Letters and Remembrances from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial [Paperback]

Laura Palmer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 5, 1988

For the first time, one book gives voice to the haunting, painful, tender, and healing tales of those who lost so much in America's least popular war.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Thousands of letters and messages have been left at the Vietnam Memorial Wall since its dedication in 1982, many preserved by the National Park Service as part of a planned museum collection. Palmer, who worked in Saigon as a reporter in the early '70s, found and interviewed many of the people who left them. The resulting book combines the messages with the comments of those who wrote them, and one would have to look far to find a work that stirs deeper emotions. Reading it is a cathartic experience rather than a depressing one. The bodies of the fallen are buried elsewhere, but as far as the surviving family members, friends and comrades are concerned, the spirits of the dead seem to dwell in and around the monument itself. Shrapnel in the Heart is in its own way as awesome a memorial as the wall. Photos. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA Journalist Palmer, who covered the Vietnam War and the fall of Saigon, personalizes the tragic loss of young Americans killed in two decades of fighting our least popular war. She weaves together interviews with par ents, siblings, wives, children, home town friends, and battle field buddies, all coming to grips, if not peace, with the deaths of loved ones. Moved by let ters left at the Vietnam Veterans Me morial in Washington, D.C., Palmer opens a window on the soldier's life in Vietnam and the sorrow, anger, de spair, and keen loss of the survivors. Her account adds another piece to the Vietnam puzzle being explored in re cent films and in books such as Edel man's Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (Pocket, 1986). Alice Conlon, University of Houston
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books ed edition (November 5, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394759885
• ISBN-13: 978-0394759883
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #297,054 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish all young people had to read this!, April 12, 2000

By 

Kimberly Austin (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shrapnel in the Heart: Letters and Remembrances from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Paperback)

I read this book for a college history course and until now have thought very little about war, military, or world politics. Young people today rarely understand or realize what goes with becoming a soldier. This book gives real images of the devastation war brings from the people who lived through the tragedy of losing their loved ones. It opens our eyes to things we just shouldn't close our eyes on.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best, January 15, 2002

By 

J. Hartman (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shrapnel in the Heart: Letters and Remembrances from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Paperback)

Shrapnel In the Heart is a book to be read by everyone no matter what generation they were born in. Shrapnel In The Heart is a book that has letters and rememberances left behind at the Vietnam War Memorial. Some of the letters tell the story about the people behind the letter. The stories are sad, but the courage of the men and women is a true inspiration. The people written about in this book were extrememly young (18, 19, 20) and it seems like they died in vain. But through their letters that were left behind it is easy to see that these young men knew their duty and refused to shirk from it. These men and women are true heroes.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Once you start reading, you won't put it down., July 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Shrapnel in the Heart: Letters and Remembrances from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Paperback)

I recently bought this book while visting Arlington National Cemetary. It made me undertand more about what was going on here in the United States with families only knowing things about the Vietnam War from what they saw on television. I just could not put this book down for one second. This book even made me cry many times and made me swollow hard tears. We musn't forget those who went over there to fight a war our government tried to win. We should remember them, whether they came home or not.