{"product_id":"late-thoughts-on-an-old-war-paperback","title":"Late Thoughts on an Old War - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003ePhilip D. Beidler\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePhilip D. Beidler, who served as an armored cavalry platoon leader in Vietnam, sees less and less of the hard-won perspective of the common soldier in what America has made of that war. Each passing year, he says, dulls our sense of immediacy about Vietnam's costs, opening wider the temptation to make it something more necessary, neatly contained, and justifiable than it should ever become. Here Beidler draws on deeply personal memories to reflect on the war's lingering aftereffects and the shallow, evasive ways we deal with them. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBeidler brings back the war he knew in chapters on its vocabulary, music, literature, and film. His catalog of soldier slang reveals how finely a tour of Vietnam could hone one's sense of absurdity. His survey of the war's pop hits looks for meaning in the soundtrack many veterans still hear in their heads. Beidler also explains how \"Viet Pulp\" literature about snipers, tunnel rats, and other hard-core types has pushed aside masterpieces like Duong Thu Huong's \u003ci\u003eNovel without a Name\u003c\/i\u003e. Likewise we learn why the movie \u003ci\u003eThe Deer Hunter\u003c\/i\u003e doesn't \"get it\" about Vietnam but why \u003ci\u003ePlatoon\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWe Were Soldiers\u003c\/i\u003e sometimes nearly do. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs Beidler takes measure of his own wartime politics and morals, he ponders the divergent careers of such figures as William Calley, the army lieutenant whose name is synonymous with the civilian massacre at My Lai, and an old friend, poet John Balaban, a conscientious objector who performed alternative duty in Vietnam as a schoolteacher and hospital worker. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBeidler also looks at Vietnam alongside other conflicts--including the war on international terrorism. He once hoped, he says, that Vietnam had fractured our sense of providential destiny and geopolitical invincibility but now realizes, with dismay, that those myths are still with us. \"Americans have always wanted their apocalypses,\" writes Beidler, \"and they have always wanted them now.\"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003ePHILIP D. BEIDLER is a professor of English at the University of Alabama. He has written or edited more than ten books. Beidler served as an armored cavalry platoon leader in Vietnam.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 224\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.63 x 8.71 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 01, 2007\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47279559213305,"sku":"9780820330013","price":43.67,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/azNWTmc1ZFJkVDIwRngwY0ZqdUtidz09.webp?v=1769022773","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/late-thoughts-on-an-old-war-paperback","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}