Dear Americ Book Review - 1556 Words

Kersasp Cawasji Hist 1302- 5021 Professor Blake Ellis Aug 10, 2014 Dear America – Book Review ‘Dear America’ is a rather sober look at the war fought in Vietnam from the point of view of the soldiers fighting in it. The book is a collection of 200 letters penned by the soldiers and their families during the war. It is through the simplicity of the writers’ language and the honesty in their words that makes Dear America a history book and not a war novel. Through these readings, the myths of the glories of war are promptly dispelled to make way for the harsh truths that accompany it. War is known to take the humanity out of many a soldier but all that is left of it shines through the pages of their candid, homebound letters. In one such†¦show more content†¦The rain drips on them until they sleep from exhaustion. However, day after day, they tread through this misery willingly as they know it is their job (60). A lot can be learned from letters as these about the conditions that soldiers faced during the Vietnam Wa r. They grudgingly yet persistently trudged on knowing that war is a â€Å"constant factor in this world and it has been since the beginning of time†. Keeping this in mind kept them fighting for month and months to come. All the while these brave soldiers wrote to their loved one seeking the emotional support that was so easily lost, fighting their silent, hidden enemies. However, in another letter from Bruce McInnes, the delicate side of these soldiers are exposed. In this letter Bruce tells his mother about the astonishingly â€Å"unimprovable conditions† that the Vietnamese live in. He tells her that the elders of the society are tired of the war and having endured the hardships associated with it, are convinced that there is no other way of life. But, the young are eager to learn and have hope for a peaceful future. He goes on to say how these children slept on the plain floor and got hardly anything to eat. Bruce tells her mother about a time visited an orphanage run by just eight nuns in Vietnam. 1200 children belonged to the orphanage and it was astonishing to imagine how a few nuns could oversee such a large effort. However, the biggest tragedy was that these children hadn’t brought their misfortune