The story of seventeen-year-old Sam from Kentucky. Her father was killed in Vietnam and her gentle uncle Emmett is suffering from either the Agent Orange — or delayed acne. Sam’s growing awareness of the reality of war, of the scars and the guilt, becomes an obsession when she fails in love with Tom at a Veteran’s dance. Through her father’s letters home and the journal he kept “in country”, Sam begins a journey of exploration that takes her across America and helps her to come to terms with her past. A story of small-town, K-Mart America, the legacy of Vietnam and of two generations. “Bogen giver en fremragende skildring af Sams tanker og livet i den lille by.” (AMM Meddelelser) (278 standard pages)
Level: B

A witty, profane, brutally realistic memoir of the Gulf War by a marine sniper who recounts his battles with fear and suicide, his brushes with death, and his search for identity as a soldier and an American. Anthony Swofford's grandfather fought in WWII; his father fought in Vietnam; and he — a testosterone-plagued teenager — becomes a scout/sniper in the marines and fights in the Gulf War. His account is in the finest tradition of soldiers' stories. He describes the sheer terror of being fired upon by Iraqi troops and the worrying, drinking, joking, lusting and just plain sitting around that his troop endured. When they do finally fight, the men aren't quite the super professional warriors that their commanders, the American public and the men themselves think they are. Swofford charts his journey from a wide-eyed adolescent to a hardened fighter who becomes consumed with doubt about his chosen role. (384 pages)
Level: B

The war in Vietnam was the longest war in American history, lasting 15 years. During that time 46,370 US servicemen died in battle, however, the psychological damage to America was incalculable. Vietnam was the first war that America lost. It left the country bitterly divided. Many Americans who served in Vietnam suffered psychologically for decades to come and America discovered that, for all its might and technological superiority, it could not defeat the ill-equipped peasant army of a small and fiercely determined enemy. This is a comprehensive and balanced account of the first 'media' war. Contents: Into the 'Nam – The Origins of the War – The War on the Ground – The Growing Commitment – The War in the Air – The Unwinnable War – The War at Home – The Collapse of Morale – The Expanding War – The Dominos Fall – Epilogue. (232 pages)
Level: A/Papers/Library/Depot