Dartmouth Events

Why the Vietnam War Still Matters

Christian G. Appy is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an expert on the history of the Vietnam War.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015
4:30pm – 6:00pm
Haldeman 41 (Kreindler Conference Hall)
Intended Audience(s): Public
Categories:

Christian G. Appy is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an expert on the history of the Vietnam War.  He is the author of American Reckoning, the Vietnam War and Our National Identity (Viking, 2015), and also Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides, which won the Massachusetts Book Award for nonfiction. He lives in Amherst, MA.

Summary of American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity (Viking, 2015):

How did the Vietnam War change the way we think of ourselves as a people and a nation? Christian G. Appy, author of the widely praised oral history of the Vietnam War Patriots, now examines the relationship between the war’s realities and myths and its impact on our national identity, conscience, pride, shame, popular culture, and postwar foreign policy.

Drawing on a vast variety of sources from movies, songs, and novels to official documents, media coverage, and contemporary commentary, Appy offers an original interpretation of the war and its far-reaching consequences. Authoritative, insightful, sometimes surprising, and controversial, American Reckoning is a fascinating mix of political and cultural reporting that offers a completely fresh account of the meaning of the Vietnam War.

For more information, contact:
Dickey Center

Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.