Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam

by Bernard Edelman

Book Overview

Nearly forty years after the official end of the Vietnam War, Dear America allows us to witness the war firsthand through the eyes of the men and women who served in Vietnam. In this collection of more than 200 letters, they share their first impressions of the rigors of life in the bush, their longing for home and family, their emotions over the conduct of the war, and their ache at the loss of a friend in battle. Poignant in their rare honesty,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393323048
• ISBN13: 9780393323047
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

First hand account of the Vietnam War

After the amazing documentary about Vietnam that solely exists of actor voice overs of funny, goofy, anxious and heartbreaking letters home from soldiers at the battlefront in Vietnam, accompanied by graphic footage of the war itself, this book came out. It contains the letters read out in the movie, and additionally has some more background information about the soldiers who wrote the letters. Even without the trained actor voices reading the letters out loud to you, and without the grim and realistic war images, this book is a pageburner. Heart-wrenching accounts of the legacy of war written by the soldiers that fought it, as well as by the people they left behind.

Insightful

This book consists of letters written by American soldiers during the Vietnam War. It's extremely heart-breaking to read these letters as they gives "voices" instead of a mere figure. A lot of times, the figure of how many were killed, wounded, missing, etc but it does not portray any "emotions" the soldiers felt. At the end of each letter, the editor includes a few sentences on what happened to the author. It's extremely sad to read how many of those killed were just 19 year-olds, 20 year-olds, and these soldiers were just kids! It makes you think how wasteful, stupid, unnecessary wars are, and the sacrifices that has to be made.The last chapter of this book speaks a lot. It is chronologically listed and you can see the evolving sentiments of the soldiers. At the beginning of the war, the soldiers were proud to fight against the Communists, how they think the war will be over soon. Towards the end of that chapter, most soldiers were scared, depressed and just wanted to get out of the war... alive! This shows why many Vietnam War veterans suffered from postwar depression as the horror of the war, how their friends, buddies were killed or wounded in front of their own eyes and how many could not possibly forget these horrifying images.I highly recommend this book as this book speaks a lot. To me, the important message that it is trying to convey is the unnecessary sacrifices that these soldiers have to make, to fight a war that is not theirs, and the horror and bloodiness of the war is vividly described by these soldiers.

Dear America

These books are very interesting and informative. It is important for people, especially children, to read. They will only do so if the books spark their interest. My daughter has read almost all of the books in this set and loves them. they inspire her to do research and read more books about the past.

A MUST READ FOR ALL AGES

Of all the books I have read none have touched me this much. It is powerful because it is real. These are real stories, real feelings, real lives. This book will keep you up all night just thinking.

Heart gripping, personal and emotional letters home from war

This book is one of the hardest books I have ever had to read. To know some of these men would never return home and to read emotional letters home to their girlfriends, parents and friends, made reading very hard with tears in my eyes. As a VietNam veteren I could relate to some of those feelings expressed in the letters.