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"War Stories": False Atrocity Tales, Swift Boaters, and Winter Soldiers―What Really Happened in Vietnam Hardcover – October 1, 2009

by Gary Kulik (Author)

14 customer reviews

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War stories are mostly innocent fables and understood as such by both the teller and the hearer. However, they have long been used for political and national purposes, and those about the war in Vietnam were no exception, as painfully evidenced in the 2004 presidential campaign. John Kerry campaigned as a war hero. His opponents cast him as a liar and a traitor and their “war story” prevailed. "War Stories" delves into the myths associated with the Vietnam veteran’s experience and looks at them through the war stories they told and continue to tell. Kulik conducts an extremely thorough review of the Vietnam literature and interviews participants wherever possible, poking holes in the war myths of people throughout the political spectrum. “War Stories” discusses how returning Vietnam vets were treated and delves into the myths that atrocities were commonplace, that all veterans of that war suffer from PTSD, and that all are guilt ridden. Kulik’s research and analysis of such stories lies at the heart of this book’s originality and provides a new perspective on the Vietnam War for scholars, students, and general readers. His purpose in exposing such stories is not to deny or minimize American war crimes in Vietnam but to cut through the cant of false stories so that we retain our outrage at those that are true. As we are faced with future “war stories” from Iraq and Afghanistan and their likely exploitation, the moral stance and the lessons learned in this book will be especially important.

"War Stories": False Atrocity Tales, Swift Boaters, and Winter Soldiers―What Really Happened in Vietnam

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gary Kulik most recently served as a deputy director of the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. Previously, he was a department head and an assistant director of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, and the editor of American Quarterly. He is also a decorated veteran of the war in Vietnam, having served as a medic in the Fourth Infantry Division and in the Sixty-first Medical Battalion. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware.

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Potomac Books; 1 edition (October 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1597973041
ISBN-13: 978-1597973045
Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 14 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,038,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #906 in Books > History > Military > United States > Veterans
- #1800 in Books > History > Military > United States > Vietnam War
- #11206 in Books > History > Asia

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Top customer reviews

A really nice monograph

ByHugo Johnsonon December 12, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Kulik writes an engaging account of tales of atrocities and misconduct in Vietnam; anyone concerned with debates about truth coming out of that war should check out this book. Kulik demonstrates convincingly that quite a few people who have claimed to have participated in or witnessed terrible atrocities are exaggerating or lying. He observes the irony of Vietnam--every war has had atrocities, but in most wars people try to flee responsibility for them. In Vietnam, people have confessed to atrocities that never happened, or that they did not commit. Why?

His goal is not, however, to deny that real tragedies took place nor to insist that every Vietnam vet with an ugly story to tell is a liar. He is after the truth, whatever that may be. He documents that Guenter Lewy, for instance, either made up his claim that the Winter Soldier witnesses were not actually veterans, or was taken in by a bogus Navy investigation (an investigation which either never existed or has since been lost). Were some of the witnesses at Winter Soldier exaggerators or liars? Yes, but most of them were, in fact, veterans, and some probably were telling the truth, albeit not those with stories that sounded too outrageous to be true. He also investigates the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth movement and denounces it as an ugly, politically motivated, hatchet job.

Finally, Kulik deals with exaggerated claims of mistreatment of Vietnam veterans. Here too we get a nice clearing of the air. No, most veterans were not spit upon. Although Kulik cannot say with certainty that it never happened, he shows how many of the claims of it are clearly false. He does believe that PTSD was significantly overplayed, although I found him a little over the top here. The numbers on PTSD might be a little high, there might be some people who insisted for ideological or personal reasons that more vets were suffering from PTSD than really were, but I think it's undeniable that some veterans absolutely suffered from PTSD, and they needed support and help.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Worth the read. The author challenges many, many ...

ByPoeon December 9, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Worth the read. The author challenges many, many notions about the war in Vietnam. Fact vs fallacy is again and again disputed in this well researched book. As a veteran of the Vietnam war and a mental health professional who has spent 30 + years working with this group of veterans I can concur with much of what the author says. However, I do at times believe that the cynicism regarding the "facts" of the war expressed is a little over the top.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

A Fair Look at a Controversial Topic

ByKathy Ton January 18, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Open minded look at a topic that is most often approached from a pre-determined, negative point of view. The author makes clear that he is no supporter of America's war in Viet Nam, but he is concerned that the subject of atrocities said to be committed by US soldiers is treated accurately and fairly. His research is admirable. This is a good read for someone interested in unbiased insight into one controversial and historical aspect of that war.

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Bad, read for me

ByLow Crawlon June 20, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

About the most opionated book on Vietnam I've read.. I was there 67-68, medic with the 101st and did not leave with this guys issues. Sorry, that's just me.i

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Vietnam Vet found the book excellent

Byphilip s. watsonon February 28, 2014

Format: Hardcover

I was in Vietnam '68 - '69 (8 months, medivac'd due to wounds 12 May 69).
When I bought this book I was kicking myself as I left the book store.
As Kulik said close to the end, "it's time to let it go."
But can't help myself. (I have reservations for my 5th
VN unit reunion in April) Anyway, suprisingly I finished it (because i finish few
non-fiction reads) and am now writing a
positive review.
I thought 'War Stories' was excellent. Especially if you were a Vietnam or
Vietnam Era vet. After VN, i spend 8 months in navy hospitals and I got to talk to a lot
of wounded marines and corpsmen. Many if not most spoke of some kind of atrocity, and i don't
think they all were lying. But I never saw any.

I read the reviews on this Amazon blog and the short ones criticizing this book
are very strange. This was, as one reviewer stated, a even handed, highly researched work.
Great job, Gary Kulik.

One piece or research that made me drop my beer was on pgs 35 - 36. A MoH winner
was later killed trying to hold up a liquor store!?

I was bitter about VN for many years, but in the last couple of decades I've thanked God
for my 8 months in Nam. As Kulik writes on page 247 of guys lying about serving in VN,
that the wannbes were "chasing the magic of a very special time. Amen to that.

Kulik, if you read this I'd like to make contact.
pswatson1949@gmail.com

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Most recent customer reviews

A Work of Fiction

Just a piece of fiction or at best revisionist history.I would not waste my time reading such garbage

Published on August 18, 2015 by Thomas Pearman

A hard read

Author seems to me just trying to impress everyone with his vocabulary instead of telling the story. A boring and hard read to understand what he is trying to say.

Published on June 20, 2013 by Michael Foster

Finally - Enough time has passed to take an honest look

I found this book a reasoned effort to develop an honest counterweight to the lies and hyperbole that was one of the byproducts of the Vietnam Era.Read more

Published on March 25, 2013 by Kyle Peterson

A good one

Kulik writes brilliantly, and he's a solid historian. It's an incisive look at a form of group-think, and the way truth gets manipulated.Read more

Published on December 23, 2012 by Ronald Becker

'War Stories' whitewash reality.

' Another 'Winter Soldier'. Don't waste your money on this revisionist 'his' tory. The sad part is Kulik actually believes this crap.

Published on December 20, 2012 by Joe Bangert

An objective look at Vietnam war stories

Unlike some of the other reviewers, after many years of reading about and discussing the Vietnam War, I stopped because it seemed most people had hardened theirs views in such a...Read more

Published on March 3, 2012 by Bill

Shatters the Myths of the Vietnam War

Gary Kulik's "War Stories," successfully peels back the layers of myth that have long distorted the history of the Vietnam War, and in doing so, his book shatters several claims...Read more

Published on April 26, 2011 by Jason

10 stars

Ever since my own tour of duty in Vietnam (1968-69) I have read everything published about the war in an effort to understand better what happened to me and millions of others.Read more

Published on November 19, 2009 by D. C. Carrad

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