Meticulously examining different, but similar, modes of engagement, Schalk highlights three main phases. The first antiwar stage generally involves activities of a persuasive nature by means of teach-ins, scholarly writings, and petitions. When this fails, moral outrage follows, characterized by open letters and essays warning the homeland of its ethical lack. War and The Ivory Tower begins with a poignant frontispiece documenting the 1984 suicide note left by veteran Jerry Serino. America, don't forget Vietnam.
Future generations deserve to know.
Algeria was politically a part of metropolitan France governed by French law. Although never a colony, the Americans tended to treat Vietnam as such. Despite the different status of the national struggles, they caused similar effects on political, military, diplomatic arenas, especially concerning the nature of intellectual opposition. Noting the emergence of a conscious political stance associated with a particular group during the Dreyfuss affair, Schalk makes some interesting observations. There was, and perhaps remains, a symbiotic relationship between the intellectual and engagement.