The Wages of War: When America's Soldiers Came Home : From Valley Forge to Vietnam
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The Wages of War: When America's Soldiers Came Home : From Valley Forge to Vietnam
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THE WAGES OF WAR is a landmark work - the first major comprehensive social history to explore what happened to the men and women of America's armed forces after our ten major wars, from the Revolution to Vietnam. As irreverent as it is meticulous, as unpredictable as it is richly detailed, this ground-breaking work puts the post-Vietnam years in the perspective of other postwar periods, not just for soldiers but for all of us. It is a story of greed, of guilt, of government corruption, of sexism, racism, and bias of every description, of imperialism and class envy and national shortsightedness. But is also a story of selfless heroism that has gone unsung fir too long, of patience and compassion, and of some of the most enlightened examples of social responsibility in the history of our nation. The authors show that the hostility that greeted Vietnam veterans was the American norm, not an aberration. Indeed, the exception to the rule was the warm welcome and generous benefits awarded to those who served in WWII, although, even then, service women continued to be denied their due. Severo and Milford examine the ancient distrust between intellectuals and veterans and debunk the long-standing myth that veterans are a monolithic group primarily interested in government handouts and political extremism. And they provi8de totally fresh, news breaking information on the Agent Orange debacle - an investigation that documents, for the first time anywhere, serious conflicts of interest at the highest levels of government. Provocative and compelling, THE WAGES OF WAR is a historical achievement that will be hailed as a classic. It is must reading for anyone who would understand the true cost of war - not just in money and not just for those who have done the fighting, but the toll of war on the spirit and culture of a nation, on the very resources that determine if it will be a nation at all.