The Vietnam War in Popular Culture: The Influence of America's Most Controversial War on Everyday Life [2 volumes]

by Ron Milam (Editor)

Overview

Covering many aspects of the Vietnam War that have not been addressed before, this book supplies new perspectives from academics as well as Vietnam veterans that explore how this key conflict of the 20th century has influenced everyday life and popular culture during the war as well as for the past 50 years.

How did the experience of the Vietnam War change the United States, not just in the 1950s through the 1970s, but through to today? What role do popular music and movies play in how we think of the Vietnam War? How similar are the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—and now Syria—to the Vietnam War in terms of duration, cost, success and failure rates, and veteran issues? This two-volume set addresses these questions and many more, examining how the Vietnam War has been represented in media, music, and film, and how American popular culture changed because of the war.

Accessibly written and appropriate for students and general readers, this work documents how the war that occurred on the other side of the globe in the jungles of Vietnam impacted everyday life in the United States and influenced various entertainment modes. It not only covers the impact of the counterculture revolution, popular music about Vietnam recorded while the war was being fought (and after), and films made immediately following the end of the war in the 1970s, but also draws connections to more modern events and popular culture expressions, such as films made in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Attention is paid to the impact of social movements like the environmental movement and the civil rights movement and their relationships to the Vietnam War. The set will also highlight how the experiences and events of the Vietnam War are still impacting current generations through television shows such as Mad Men.

• Addresses an especially eventful time in American history with long-lasting consequences—a period that has parallels with more recent events involving military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan
• Provides coverage of Norman Lear, creator of the popular 1970s sitcom All In The Family, including information from a recent interview
• Includes viewpoints from Vietnam combat veterans regarding how film and television portrayed the war they participated in and lived through
• Supplies a chapter on the Vietnam veteran biker movement

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440840463
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/07/2016
Pages:	824
Product dimensions:	6.95(w) x 9.85(h) x 2.30(d)

About the Author

Ron Milam is associate professor of history at Texas Tech University, where he teaches courses on military history, World War II, and the Vietnam War.

Editorial Reviews

"A possible option for pop culture studies. . . . Most high school use will likely be related to class assignments. Consider for large collections." - School Library Journal

"This highly recommended set is . . . suited for circulation in both academic and public libraries with collecting interests in popular culture or the history of the Vietnam War." - ARBA

"Bypassing this two-volume set by 37 authors . . . would be a mistake. . . . Undergraduates and general readers will benefit from access to the essays. . . . Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduates, faculty, and general libraries." - Choice

From the Publisher

03/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—Combat veteran and professor Milam (Not A Gentleman's War: An Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War) has compiled 37 essays on what George Herring calls in the foreword "the war that never seemed to go away." In "Missing Home," Milam points out that popular culture can fill a gap for soldiers far from home and living under the stress of war. In addition, the war influenced American culture throughout active fighting and long after. Each chapter contains between three and five essays that range in length between 15 and 25 pages, and most contributors are connected with universities. The pieces explore movies and television extensively, as well as books, music, magazines ("The Cult of Playboy"), and miscellaneous topics. Some individual articles have a narrow focus (Werner Herzog movies; All in the Family), but taken as a whole, the two volumes (>During the War; After the War) are diverse, tackling, for instance, segregation, race and gender, and Chicano pop culture. Topic coverage ranges from a fairly scientific examination of the chemical elements of Agent Orange to a look at comic book heroes Iron Man and Super Green Beret. Individual entries include notes and, in some cases, a bibliography and/or further reading. The volumes are indexed separately and contain no photos or illustrations. VERDICT A possible option for pop culture studies; less valuable for history-oriented classes. Most high school use will likely be related to class assignments. Consider for large collections.—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX

School Library Journal