Long Time Passing

by Myra MacPherson

Book Overview

Praise for the original edition: "A haunting chorus of voices, a moving deeply disturbing evocation of an era." --San Francisco Chronicle"Myra MacPherson's book belongs with the best of the works on... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451136071
• ISBN13: 9780451136077
• Release Date: June 1985
• Publisher: Berkley
• Length: 784 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.0" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Enduring

This gripping generational saga remains as fresh and moving as "Hey Jude." In an astounding feat of reporting, Myra Macpherson takes us from the priviledged sanctuaries of middle-class college students to the bloody battlefields where poor blacks and whites faced the terror of massed North Vietnamese Army divisons. Today's post-draft generation of college students would do well to read how lucky they are, how their forebears faced the agony of having to choose between fighting in a loathsome war or fleeing to Canada. In one scene as alarming as it was when it was written nearly 25 years ago, one young man facing conscription cuts off his trigger finger with a kitchen knife.rather than go to Vietnam. Macpherson's real triumph of reporting, however, is in finding two brothers who served in Vietnam -- one now a United States senator -- who come home from the war with distinctly different opinions on whether it was worth fighting. This, of course, serves as a metaphor for the entire generation. If you think the 60s were all about flower children and free love, you will be shocked, and moved, by this engrossing book.

what the experts say

Joseph Heller, author of Catch 22, said of "Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the Haunted Generation" "There has been no better body of war literature that I know of." Arnold R. Isaacs, noted autority on Vietnam, author of "Vietnam Shadows" writes "Any approach to the subject of Vietnam's aftermath must begin with Myra MacPherson's ground breaking book. Her book, among the first to break the long national silence on the war, remains one of the most moving and important works on the Vietnam bookshelf." This new edition features a vital and topical new introduction that links the Vietnam Veteran Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)experience with today's civilian trauma following 9/11. It also connects Vietnam with present foreign affairs and military policies, including the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. Yesterday's foot soldiers in Vietnam who are now leaders in the military and politics also reflect on Vietnam and provide new insight, as do those who were youthful leaders in the anti-war movement. This brilliant examination of the generation is must reading, not only for those who lived through the war, but especially for a younger generation who can learn about--and learn from--the past.

Should Be Required Reading!

Not only for those who lived through this time in our country but for the young who only know of it as some sort of "folk legend" of the past. MacPherson offers personal perspectives from every possible angle.

The insights of this book are incredibly relevant today

This book was the first to describe the class differences which determined in large part who fought the war and who found some way or other to not go. These same differences are now being played out in our politics and cultural life, as the author brilliantly points out in a new introduction. A must for understanding the U.S. today, and an excellent text for courses about this period