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Vietnam Shadows: The War, Its Ghosts, and Its Legacy (The American Moment) Paperback – April 14, 2000

by Arnold R. Isaacs (Author)

4.0 14 ratings

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Post war reflections by those who were there.

Nearly a quarter-century after the fall of Saigon, the memory of America's defeat in Vietnam continues to haunt the national psyche. In Vietnam Shadows, former war correspondent Arnold Isaacs turns his reportorial eye to the conflict since Vietnam, covering the skirmishes and firefights of a cultural battle―some would say stalemate―that refuses to end.

Isaacs takes on the popular myths and misconceptions about Vietnam―among them the mistaken belief that the U.S. military lacked clear goals. ("In many conversations with U.S. officers in Vietnam, I do not recall discovering any who were in doubt about what they were supposed to do there.") He exposes the myth of the MIAs―a myth sustained not only by grieving relatives but also by professional con men of breathtaking cynicism―and shows how the many false MIA stories may nonetheless reveal a deeper truth: "We lost something in Vietnam and we want it back." Isaacs talks to the veterans unable to forget the war no one wanted to talk to them about. He explores the class divisions deepened by a conflict in which the privileged avoided service that an earlier generation had embraced as a duty. (691 Harvard alumni died in World War II, Isaacs points out; in Vietnam, nineteen.) And he shows how the "Vietnam Syndrome" continues to affect nearly every major U.S. foreign policy decision, from the Persian Gulf to Somalia, Bosnia, and Haiti.

Capturing the ironic legacies of a war that abounds in them, Isaacs introduces the "new Americans"―the Vietnamese, Thais, and Cambodians―who fled Indochina to settle in the U.S., where fashion spreads in the New York Times Magazine feature models photographed in Vietnamese settings wearing "Indo-chic clothes" that sell for four to five years' income for the average Vietnamese. ("Farm girl's jacket in 'periwinkle blue' raw silk: $1,460 by Richard Tyler.") And he recounts the experiences of Americans who have returned to Vietnam, only to find their former enemies turned entrepreneurs―such as the operators of a popular Saigon bar called Apocalypse Now.

Isaacs reports and writes for those whose lives were changed by the war and also for a generation that has come of age without memory of Vietnam but who nonetheless feels its shadow in the country they soon will lead.

Editorial Reviews

Review

More than 20 years after the fall of Saigon, Vietnam still haunts us. It is the war that never seems to go away. Arnold Isaacs's readable and insightful new book, Vietnam Shadows, is an effort to explore comprehensively the many facets of this phenomenon.
―George C. Herring, Chicago Tribune

A finely balanced retrospection that is emotionally and morally engaged, and that works by deft indirection . . . Isaacs deploys telling tangents, revealing juxtapositions, and shrewd asides to deepen our understanding of the impact of the war. His range is impressive . . . his judgments are sound, and his exquisite nose for detecting self-deception leads him to some awkward truths about the wartime mythologies that have become encased in middle-aged amber.
―Adam Garfinkle, New York Times

Written with exemplary detachment for one who was witness to the blood baths, Vietnam Shadows covers a broad range of subjects . . . Here the Vietnam of syndromes, MIA myths, noble causes, and ignoble casuistries receives critical scrutiny, while the America of veterans, the Vietnam generation, and the new Americans from Southeast Asia comes into trenchant focus.
―Robert Andersen, Washington Post Book World

No event in the post-World War II era, many have argued, had such far reaching and tragic effects on American society, politics, and international relations as the Vietnam War. These 'far reaching effects' are the subject of Arnold R. Isaacs's comprehensive, insightful, and indeed, compassionate book.
―William B. Pickett, Journal of Military History

Book Description

Post war reflections by those who were there.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Johns Hopkins University Press; First Edition (April 14, 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0801863449
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0801863448
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.61 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #6,578,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,806 in Vietnam War Biographies (Books)
- #4,458 in Historical Asian Biographies (Books)
- #5,050 in Southeast Asia History

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4.0 14 ratings

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Josh M.
Read me
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2021
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Nostalgia...interesting take on this concept. We’ve sent many to their deaths over nostalgia.

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Charles A. Krohn
Absorbing and somewhat dated
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2013
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While I challenge some of the passages early in this book, I heartedly agree with sentiments that are more wishful thinking than factual. But who could foresee that if our involvement in Vietnam was a disaster, how can one describe our adventures in Afghanistan and Pakistan? He quotes Don Oberdorfer: "We're not going to have another Vietnam now because we've already had Vietnam," Isaacs then interpolates: "...meaning that America would never again be unaware of the risks and uncertainties of stepping into another country's violence. This was written in 1977; it could not be written in 2013.

Having visited south Vietnam recently, I can attest how that part of the country is a powerhouse of capitalism, from big factories to little shops and restaurants. This makes me wonder if those who sacrificed so much to expand communism and a collective cultural now feel the effort was worth it? I suppose the old men who now hold the reins of power would agree it was, but I suspect future generations will have their own interpretation.

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Luv 2 read
A most valid examination of the Vietnam War and what ...
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2016
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A most valid examination of the Vietnam War and what it did to America. This book should be in every high school library in America.

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Robert S. Ball
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2017
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As described and fast shipping.

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Paul S.
DECLASSIFIED DIA DOCUMENTS LISTED POWS STILL ALIVE AFTER THE WAR
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2019
My family knows for a fact that POWs were knowingly abandoned by our military and government when the war ended. My brother, Joseph A. Matejov was sent on a reconnaissance mission over the Ho Chi Minh trail 8 days after the signing of the Peace Treaty. His plane, the Baron 52, was shot down over Laos, and within weeks, the day we negotiated a treaty with Laos (for a secret war we were not supposed to be fighting), all 8 crew members on that flight were declared KIA. This was despite much evidence that 4 of the men were captured. THE DIA MAINTAINED RECORDS OF THEIR CAPTURE, DESPITE TESTIFYING TO THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE THAT ALL WERE KILLED IN THE CRASH. THE SCC'S HIRED INVESTIGATOR, SEDGWICK TOURISON, DELIVERED THIS EVIDENCE TO THE COMMITTEE, YET THEY CHOSE, INSTEAD, THE LIES DECLARING THEM KIA.
THIS AUTHOR HAS DISTORTED THE FACTS - OR HAS CHOSEN ONLY TO BELIEVE THE LIES PERPERTRATED BY OUR GOVERNMENT. THEY DECLARED "THE MYSTERY OF BARON 52, SOLVED" IN A WASH POST ARTICLE IN 1995, STATING THAT ALL 8 CREWMEMBERS WERE IDENTIFIED BY 31 BONE FRAGMENTS. WE HAVE IN OUR POSSESSION, A LETTER FROM THE FORENSIC SCIENTISTS FROM CILHI, THAT THEY COULD NOT EVEN DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THESE BONES WERE HUMAN!!!!!

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Paul S.

DECLASSIFIED DIA DOCUMENTS LISTED POWS STILL ALIVE AFTER THE WAR
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2019
My family knows for a fact that POWs were knowingly abandoned by our military and government when the war ended. My brother, Joseph A. Matejov was sent on a reconnaissance mission over the Ho Chi Minh trail 8 days after the signing of the Peace Treaty. His plane, the Baron 52, was shot down over Laos, and within weeks, the day we negotiated a treaty with Laos (for a secret war we were not supposed to be fighting), all 8 crew members on that flight were declared KIA. This was despite much evidence that 4 of the men were captured. THE DIA MAINTAINED RECORDS OF THEIR CAPTURE, DESPITE TESTIFYING TO THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE THAT ALL WERE KILLED IN THE CRASH. THE SCC'S HIRED INVESTIGATOR, SEDGWICK TOURISON, DELIVERED THIS EVIDENCE TO THE COMMITTEE, YET THEY CHOSE, INSTEAD, THE LIES DECLARING THEM KIA.
THIS AUTHOR HAS DISTORTED THE FACTS - OR HAS CHOSEN ONLY TO BELIEVE THE LIES PERPERTRATED BY OUR GOVERNMENT. THEY DECLARED "THE MYSTERY OF BARON 52, SOLVED" IN A WASH POST ARTICLE IN 1995, STATING THAT ALL 8 CREWMEMBERS WERE IDENTIFIED BY 31 BONE FRAGMENTS. WE HAVE IN OUR POSSESSION, A LETTER FROM THE FORENSIC SCIENTISTS FROM CILHI, THAT THEY COULD NOT EVEN DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THESE BONES WERE HUMAN!!!!!

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Jayfred
Not recommended.
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2017
I skimmed through much of it. Nothing special here.

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Olongapo Ed
Still a Valuable Book
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2004
Even though this book was published in 1997, it is still a valuable book, and still relevant to American society in 2004.

First, the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia is *still* peddling its misinformation. I quote from their web site: "The League's highest priority is resolving the live prisoner question. Official intelligence indicates that Americans known to have been alive in captivity in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were not returned at the end of the war. *In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it must be assumed that these Americans may still be alive.*" (emphasis supplied) In _What's the Matter With Kansas_ Thomas Frank mentions Vietnam veterans who pretend that there are live American prisoners of war in Vietnam. Obviously, there are still many people in the USA who are intent on continuing the war against Vietnam by any means they can.

Second, the fawning sycophancy that was seemingly the order of the day after Ronald Reagan died gave powerful evidence of how many Americans prefer a pleasant fantasy to the unpleasant truth. That does not bode well for the way the USA deals with the legacy of the war in Vietnam.

Third, the way a group of shameless right-wing ideologues was able to smear John Kerry about his war-time record during the recent "election" not only demonstrates how far such ideologues will go in their efforts to rewrite history about the war in Vietnam but also what the USA will allow such people to get away with.

So, this book is very much worthwhile reading seven years on, although, sad to say, the people who most need to read it probably wouldn't accept it because it doesn't tell them what they want to hear (Americans in general seem to be inordinately insistent on being told what they want to hear).

I do have a few small complaints, but 4 1/2 stars is not an option in this reviewing system.

For one thing, the author seems to give the impression at one point (inadvertent, I'm sure), that if you didn't serve in Vietnam you were somehow guilty of something. I joined the US Navy rather than be drafted, and yes, staying out of a war that I thought was quite pointless was part of my decision. Am I supposed to feel guilty about that?!?! I don't think so.

For another, the author seems to give people like James Webb too much credit for sincerity when they get self-righteous about those who didn't go to Vietnam. Somehow, those people don't seem to get upset about the chicken-hawks who act as though it was peachy keen for other people to go die in Vietnam as long as they didn't have to risk doing so. The author does mention the chicken-hawks, but he doesn't really point out the hypocrisy of people like Webb where they are concerned.

A few small flaws notwithstanding, this is an excellent book.

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