Letters from the Southern Home Front: The American South Responds to the Vietnam War

by Joseph A. Fry (Editor)

Overview

Joseph A. Fry’s Letters from the Southern Home Front explores the diversity of public opinion on the Vietnam War within the American South. Fry examines correspondence sent by hundreds of individuals, of differing ages, genders, racial backgrounds, political views, and economic status, reflecting a broad swath of the southern population. These letters, addressed to high-profile political figures and influential newspapers, took up a myriad of war-related issues. Their messages enhance our understanding of the South and the United States as a whole as we continue to grapple with the significance of this devastating and divisive conflict.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807178560
Publisher:	Louisiana State University Press
Publication date:	10/05/2022
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Joseph A. Fry is Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is the author of numerous books, including The American South and the Vietnam War: Belligerence, Protest, and Agony in Dixie and Lincoln, Seward, and US Foreign Relations in the Civil War Era.

Editorial Reviews

A riveting new portrait of southern feelings about the Vietnam War drawn from letters of everyday citizens written amid that tortuous experience.

Tennant S. McWilliams

Collectively, they are the voice of a region that was united, at times, in its effort to serve but divided by race during a time of tremendous domestic and international strife. Individually, they are the tales of those whose emotions ran the gamut. I highly recommend Letters from the Southern Home Front for southern specialists and Vietnam War historians alike.

Journal of Southern History

Letters from the Southern Home Front is an indispensable primary-source guide to the divided America of the Vietnam War era. Fry’s careful curation of the correspondence sheds light on the complexities of both international affairs and lingering regional distinctions within the United States.

Tore C. Olsson

Letters from the Southern Home Front amplifies the voices of average Americans during the Vietnam War and takes the reader on an emotional rollercoaster. The letters in this volume are taut with feeling, and collectively they reflect the racial, class, and other distinctive cultural and economic markers that distinguish the American South. Ranging from hostile to pleading, desperate to grief-stricken, the anguished expressions that fill this book provide a valuable and intimate look at the cost of this tragic conflict.

Kari Frederickson

Andy Fry tells us in his newest book that Southerners had a lot to say about the Vietnam War. Much of what they wrote to national leaders and newspapers was in support of winning the war. But they also wrote a lot that was poignant, prescient, and heart-breaking, especially about the experience of losing loved ones in the war. . . . Letters from the Southern Home Front breathes life into the complex views Americans expressed about the Vietnam War. It is a great resource for teachers and anyone interested in better understanding the war from a Southern perspective.

Journal of East Tennessee History

In this unique and extraordinary collection, Joseph A. Fry expertly highlights the contours and complexities of the South’s broad engagement with the Vietnam War from every side of the debate. A remarkable achievement.

Andrew L. Johns