The Vietnam War alternately mesmerized and maddened the American public
for two decades. The repercussions of this unsettling episode in American
history still resonate in our society. Light at the End of the Tunnel: A
Vietnam War Anthology is a collection of some of the best writing on this
tumultuous period in history.
This updated and revised edition of
Light at the End of the Tunnel
is an
exhaustive account of the Vietnam War that gives a total overview of the
conflict. Vietnam specialist Andrew Rotter has selected the finest pieces
to illuminate the social, cultural, and military aspects of the war and has
included several gritty passages in a section of the book that takes the
reader into the jungle to experience the war from a soldier's perspective.
This penetrating account offers such notable writers as Stephen Ambrose,
one of today's most respected historical biographers and author of the
bestseller
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the
Opening of the American West
; Philip Caputo, a gung-ho Marine from Chicago
who arrived in Vietnam in March 1965 and quickly changed his thinking about
the war; Frances FitzGerald, author of the popular book on Vietnam titled
Fire on the Lake
; and Neil Sheehan, the perceptive reporter who covered the
war for
The New York Times
. Vietnam contemporaries such as Robert
McNamara, Secretary of Defense under Lyndon Johnson, and Henry Kissinger,
National Security Adviser under Richard Nixon, also lend their voices and
perspectives to events surrounding the war.
This book is essential for anyone interested in truly understanding the
Vietnam War. These readings will both educate and entertain those who want
to find out more about this turning point in the history of the United
States and, indeed, the world.