Soldiers in Revolt: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War (Paperback)

~ (Author), Howard Zinn (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Cortright is president of the Fourth Freedom Forum and a research fellow at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author or editor of twelve books, including A Peaceful Superpower: The Movement Against War in Iraq (2004).

Howard Zinn is the author of the best-selling People's History Of The United States (over a million copies sold), and numerous other works of history, politics, and biography.

Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: Haymarket Books (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931859272
• ISBN-13: 978-1931859271
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #539,600 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Behind the Walls, October 9, 2005

By	Douglas Doepke (Claremont, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Timely new edition of pioneering 1975 study of GI resistance during the Vietnam war. Most younger Americans know about the anti-war movement from first-hand film accounts of the massive marches and sit-ins. Yet far fewer know the extent of resistance within the armed forces themselves. There are no video tapes of widespread clashes between MP's and GI protesters during war's peak period. Nor is there footage of crew members demonstrating aboard such elite ships as the USS Kitty Hawk, nor even from blue-collar vessels such as the USS Nitro (a humorous and inspiring episode). Yet the resistance in many instances proved doggedly disruptive. And despite silencing efforts by the Pentagon and its media allies, the war's outcome was seriously affected by thousands of courageous resisters in uniform, who, each in his own way, refused to support a murderous politicians' war.

Cortright exhaustively documents stateside developments from Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, to Camp Pendleton, California, plus the role of civilian supporters in facilitating the movement. Coverage of GI resistance in Vietnam is harder to document because of battlefield censorship. Nonetheless, revealing instances of fragging, combat avoidance, and conscience-baring convocations such as Winter Soldier are included and speak volumes. Cortright's approach is sympathetically objective, providing a good birdseye view of what was going on behind the general coverup. Morover, he's careful to point out those cultural factors which intensified resistance, including widespread racism for which black resisters bore the brunt. If there's a downside, it's the absence of subjective, first-hand accounts that would make the reader feel the oppressive weight of the war machine as it attempted to roll over those who would stand in its way. In addition, some material in Part II has dated and perhaps should have been elided, while a 2005 Postscript begs for comparisons with Iraq but proves somewhat disappointing.

Nonetheless, the length and breadth of resistance is meticulously set forth, along with some surprising results -- enlistees were more likely to resist than draftees; the least educated were more likely to physically resist than the more educated. But most importantly, the research shows a rapidly disintegrating fighting force that belies apologist claims that the war was lost because it was fought "with one arm tied behind us". No, the war was lost because it was one that should never have been fought in the first place, as increasing numbers of those participating came to realize, (not to discount the astonishing will of the Vietnamese people to resist Western neo-colonialism) . All in all, this is an excellent resource for those wondering what actually went on inside the processing centers, the training bases, and the killing fields during a tumultuous period that in so many ways is still with us.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vietnam Veterans For Peace: A History of Resistance, March 14, 2006

By	Robert A. Williams "libertarian" (Oberlin, OH United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

David Cortright originally wrote his hidden history of resistance within the U.S. Armed Forces to the Vietnam War in 1975. Thanks to Howard Zinn for rescuing it from the memory hole of information warfare.

Cortright's thesis is that the U.S. military in Vietnam resisted the war on a massive scale. By 1969, the enlistees took the lead over the draftees in opposition to the war. Stateside, enlistees had formed protest organizations at most bases in all the branches of the military. The enlistee resistance movement produced over 200 G.I. newspapers such as "All Hands Abandon Ship" and "Harass the Brass". Enlistees also organized off-base meetings in coffee houses and staged demonstrations against the war. Over in Vietnam, "survival politics" led to refusals to engage the Vietnamese in combat, avoidance of making contact with the Vietnamese, and 12 mini-mutinies of companies and platoons.

This is an important history. When the peace movement pressured the government to get out of Vietnam, it was to be a time of peace - especially for the U.S. military. Later the Berlin Wall fell and the Warsaw Pact was disintegrating. The Soviet threat was neutralized by its own perestroika. Then came the Bushes, Clinton and their wars and monthly bombings in Iraq non-stop during the last 15 (that's right - fifteen) years.

This latest Iraq invasion and occupation has reached deeply into our communities. Fathers, and mothers, left their children only to end up killing children in a land whose inhabitants had never made a threat to us. Worse, some troops engaged in shameful tortures.

Bush should be impeached now for his war crimes. And after that, one more thing remains: bringing the troops home to their children and our apologies.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Addition For Anyone Studying Vietnam, January 8, 2006

By	Pearse O'Sullivan (Lexington, KY) - See all my reviews

This is a re-issue of an older book (early 1970's), this book is still relavant because much of its contents are not recognized by many people. It tells the story of the dissent that brewed among the GI's in 'Nam. By no means universal, the dissent actually crippled America's ability to fight the war.

Neo-cons admit the truth of this book's comments every time they extol the greatness of an all-volunteer army as opposed to one formed by draftees. The truth of this book is exhibited by the armed forces' refusal to start a draft even as recruiting goals fail today. But the history books still do not speak of the widerspread GI revolt in Vietnam.