A former antiwar activist and author of M.I.A. or Mythmaking in America, Franklin (English and American studies, Rutgers) offers an all-inclusive cultural history of the Vietnam War and its continuing impact upon contemporary American society. Like Fred Turner in Echoes of Combat (LJ 11/15/96), Franklin shows how the proliferation of books, plays, films, and television programs whose scenarios reflected the conflict in Vietnam influenced a generation raised on superheroes and John Wayne stereotypes. Not just obvious examples such as the Rambo films or Coming Home but war-era sf such as Star Trek and underground comics are viewed in a Vietnam context. Franklin also demonstrates how mythmaking influenced support for the warDeven in the face of the harsh realities of what Vietnam had becomeDcausing a generation to protest government policies. Often citing underground sources and other antiwar activists, he shows how the divisive schisms took place within the power structures of government. This well-documented study presents another facet of this important and controversial period of American history and its cultural aftermath. Recommended for academic and large public libraries with lively Vietnam collections.

A calm and thoughtful book on a firestorm of a subject, by Franklin (English and American Studies/Rutgers; War Stars, 1988, etc.). Are there any POWs in Vietnam now? Does it matter to those who have made political capital of the POW cause? Franklin observes that while the US blatantly violated the Paris Agreement ending the war, ``about the only proviso...scrupulously carried out...was Hanoi's implementation with respect to POWs.'' He points out that there were proportionately far more MIAs in WW II and Korea, and that the Viet Cong had nothing to gain in holding postwar prisoners. Franklin suggests we consider, in proportion to this handful of ``supposed victims,'' the devastation of an entire land, civilians included, by state-of-the-art weapons. Going to specific cases, he concludes that there are no POWs, and he undercuts the demonizing of North Vietnam with anecdotal evidence that Vietnamese, despite being bombed out of their homes, took captured airmen to safety and performed other kind acts. As in his earlier work, Franklin digs deep: Why is the POW/MIA flag, he wonders, the only one other than Old Glory ever to fly over the White House? Why does every state fly this flag at capitals, toll plazas, and rest areas, and mandate observance of National POW/MIA Recognition Day- -when a 1976 Congressional committee concluded that ``no Americans are still being held.'' Because, says Franklin, quoting David Cline, left for dead on a Vietnam battlefield, ``Americans want to believe that we were the good guys....'' And also because, the author adds, of the power of a myth, now embodied in such culture- heroes as Chuck Norris and Sylvester Stallone--''a story of ostensibly historic events...that...no matter how bizarre...appears as essential truth to its believers.'' Intelligent, provocative, and courageous.

The editors of this important anthology participated in the ``teach-in'' movement of 1965, which mobilized the academic community against U.S. policy in Vietnam. Patterned after Gettleman's bestselling sourcebook of the period, Vietnam: history, documents, and opinions (1956), this work is chiefly designed to let the facts speak for themselves. Essential documents are reprinted, including the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, the 1954 Geneva Conference Declaration, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, and excerpts from the Pentagon Papers, together with well-researched notes, introductions, and an abstract preceding each piece. Controversial issues are explored (a whole chapter is devoted to the antiwar movement), but the selections are balanced fairly. Official statements by top political and military leaders on both sides are included. This convenient one-volume compilation of a wide range of largely primary source material is highly recommended for most libraries.