Until the last man comes home
Subtitle: POWs, MIAs, and the unending Vietnam War
By: Michael J. Allen.
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Chapel Hill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 433
ISBN-13: 9780807832615
Subjects: Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Prisoners and prisons, North Vietnamese; Prisoners of war -- United States; Political activists -- United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Missing in action -- United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Influence; Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Political aspects; United States -- Relations -- Vietnam; Vietnam -- Relations -- United States; United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1989; United States -- Politics and government -- 1989-
Description: Despite their small numbers, American POWs and MIAs inspired an outpouring of concern that slowly eroded support for the war. Bringing exhaustive archival research to an arena where Americans consistently struggled over the causes and consequences of their nation's defeat in Vietnam - the recovery of lost warriors - Michael J. Allen reveals how wartime loss transformed US politics well before, and long after, the war's official end.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: The politics of loss; title: Go public : the construction of loss; title: For us the war still goes on : the limits of homecoming; title: As it has in the past : a short history of oblivion; title: Fullest possible accounting : the persistence of the past; title: The wilderness years : life after death; title: Highest national priority : resurrection and retribution; title: Not to close the door, but to open it : the ambiguity of recovery; title: Conclusion: This thing has consumed American politics for years.