Approximately 80% of those who bore the brunt of combat in Vietnam, young, non-career men in the Army and Marines, were from working class or impoverished backgrounds. To get at their stories, Appy interviewed about 100 Vietnam veterans, mostly in veteran 'rap group' weekly meetings, from a variety of backgrounds (volunteers and draftees, right wing and left wing).
"No one can understand the complete tragedy of the American experience in Vietnam without reading this book. Nothing so underscores the ambivalence and confusion of the American commitment as does the composition of our fighting forces. The rich and the powerful may have supported the war initially, but they contributed little of themselves."
Senator George McGovern
"[Appy's] treatment of the subject makes it clear to his readers--almost as clear as it became for the soldiers in Vietnam--that class remains the tragic dividing wall between Americans."
Boston Globe
"Reminds us of the disturbing truth that some 80 percent of the 2.5 million enlisted men who served in Vietnam--out of 27 million men who reached draft age during the war--came from working-class and impoverished backgrounds. . . . Deals especially well with the apparent paradox that the working-class soldiers' families back home mainly opposed the antiwar movement..."
