Description
Book SynopsisAt the height of the Vietnam War, thousands of Americans wrote moving letters to Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's pediatrician and a high-profile opponent of the war - these are tose letters
Trade ReviewFew documentary collections offer such an immediate connection to the years in which the Vietnam War was fought. Reading these letters now, when the U.S. is once again at war, is a profoundly moving experience. -- Marilyn B. Young,author of The Vietnam Wars, 1945-1990
Foley has discovered a unique source on the American home front during the Vietnam War, a perspective that moves us past the usual images of angry polarization. These powerful letters help us to consider how war-times induce people to look with new eyes at their nation and their government. -- David Farber,author of The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s
These letterswith Michael S. Foley's astute and informed commentarymake clear why and how so many Americans trusted Benjamin Spock. The body politic sorely needs a Doctor Spock today. -- James Carroll,author of Crusade: Chronicles of an Unjust War
The letters collected contain an array of opinions about the war, of both the hawk and dove variety. The scores of letters in this collection both praise and vilify Dr. Spock for his antiwar activism. * The VVA Veteran *
From thousands of letters written to Dr. Benjamin Spock during the Vietnam War, Foley has carefully culled 218 missives from Americas silent majority. . . . Many may find the frustration, fear and grief expressed here newly relevant. * Publishers Weekly *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction A Note on the Letters 1 Gun?re in the Distance, 1965 2 Into the Quagmire, 1966 3 Polarization, January-October 1967 4 The Antiwar Challenge and Its Discontents, October 1967-February 1968 5 Shock Waves: The Aftermath of Tet and the Ordeal at Home, February-May 1968 6 The War on Trial, May-September 1968 7 Toward Nixon's War, September 1968-December 1969 8 The End of the Tunnel, 1970-1972 Appendix Notes Index About the Editor
