Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines the critical role of desertion in the international Vietnam War debate. Paul Benedikt Glatz traces American deserters' odyssey of exile and activism in Europe, Japan, and North America to demonstrate how unprecedented levels of desertion in the US military changed the traditional image of the deserter.
Trade ReviewHere, at last, is the go-to book on a major, unique, and scandalously neglected feature of the Vietnam War: the organized international movement of American deserters. Paul Benedikt Glatz’s scholarship is meticulous, insightful, and well-balanced. His fluency in several languages allows him to explore—and bring to life—the battles swirling around the deserters in several nations. All future work on the Americans who deserted the Vietnam War will owe a great debt to this invaluable book.
-- H. Bruce Franklin, professor emeritus, Rutgers University; author of Crash Course: From the Good War to the Forever War
Today, in the United States, there is a move to whitewash the tragedy, disaster, and criminality of the U.S. war against Vietnam. Vietnam’s Prodigal Heroes shows the viewpoint of soldiers who were actually there, as well as others who were at risk of being sent there and chose to desert. Glatz has left no stone unturned in his efforts to portray a realistic view of deserters, one not often presented to the general public. This book will help to defeat the sanctimonious pronouncements of today’s politicians.
-- Robert Fantina, independent scholar
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Reconstructing a Marginalized History
Chapter 1: Stepping Out: The Appearance of American Deserters and the International Debate on War
Refusal
Chapter 2: The Deserters’ 1968: Exile Organizing, Politicization and the Struggle for Recognition
Chapter 3: Asylum and Exile: Consolidation of the Swedish Sanctuary, Community Building and Exile
Culture
Chapter 4: Amnesty: Deserters and the Debate over Clemency, Exoneration, and Vindication of Vietnam
War Resisters
Conclusion: History, Memory and Activism
