"Into Sunlight They Marched..."

So begins Bruce Weigl's searing "Elegy," the poem from which David Maraniss took the title of this poignant, powerfully evocative, brutally honest, and scrupulously balanced telling of two days in October 1967 and how they figured in the larger social, economic, political, and military contexts of the Vietnam War, both on the home front and in the jungles and armed enclaves of Southeast Asia. This is history beautifully written and brilliantly conceived and executed, reconstructing pivotal events in lapidary detail, from many points of view, as they played out in four locales: Binh Long Province, Republic of Vietnam; Madison, Wisconsin; Washington, D.C.; and Midland, Michigan.

Tells it like it was

As someone who grew up in the 60's in Wisconsin, I remember well the war protests at UW in Madison. The author, a native of Madison, takes one short span of time and tells the reader what was happening on those dates with an Army unit in Viet Nam, the war protestors in Madison, and the politicians in Washington DC. The book includes wonderful pictures as well. The Viet Nam and Madison segments are especially interesting. This is a must read for anyone interested in what was going on in the country at that time. It would be especially good for college age students.

Disjointed Narrative

I had originally seen this book as a subject of PBS' Frontline several months ago. I was enthralled by the subject matter and decided to get a copy from the local library and read about it myself. What a mistake. The PBS Frontline TV program was so much better than the book. I found Maraniss' switch from the Viet Nam story to the University of Wisconsin protest story very aggravating; and, as another reader mention, it made for a very disjointed narrative. The juxtapositioning of the two narratives does not work!