Voices of the Vietnam POWs Witnesses to Their Fight

by Howes, Craig

• ISBN13: 9780195076301
• ISBN10: 0195076303
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-09-30
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In the first book to explore the entire range of memoirs, biographies, and group histories published since America's Vietnam POWs returned home, Craig Howes describes how these captives drew upon their national heritage to compose a collective history while still in prison, and how individual POWs have responded to this Official Story. Examining what racial, cultural, and political assumptions support this shared Official Story, Howes places the POWs' experiences squarely in the center of American history, and within those larger clashes of opinion and belief which characterized the nation's response to the Vietnam War. The result is an engrossing study of what these captivity narratives can tell us about the POWs, their jailor, and America's Vietnam legacy.

Table of Contents

Introduction: America's Vietnam POWs	p. 3
The Code, the Rules, and the Body
The Fighting Man's Code	p. 17
Camp Authority and the Rules of the Game	p. 41
Torture and War's Body	p. 53
The Official Story and the Big Picture
The Official Story	p. 75
The Big Picture	p. 115
One Man's View
A Prophet Returns to His People	p. 165
The Story's Other Sides	p. 193
Keeping the Faith - James Bond Stockdale	p. 233
Notes	p. 257
Bibliography	p. 277
Index	p. 285
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.