Bibliograph

Return to Vietnam, an oral history of American and Australian veterans' journeys, Mia Martin Hobbs

Type

Label

Return to Vietnam, an oral history of American and Australian veterans' journeys, Mia Martin Hobbs

Language

eng

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Return to Vietnam

Medium

electronic resource

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Oclc number

1255521563

Responsibility statement

Mia Martin Hobbs

Series statement

Studies in the social and cultural history of modern warfareCambridge Social Sciences eBooks

Sub title

an oral history of American and Australian veterans' journeys

Summary

Between 1981 and 2016, thousands of American and Australian Vietnam War veterans returned to Việt Nam. This comparative, transnational oral history offers the first historical study of these return journeys. It shows how veterans returned in search of resolution, or peace, manifesting in shifting nostalgic visions of 'Vietnam.' Different national war narratives shaped their returns: Australians followed the 'Anzac' pilgrimage tradition, whereas for Americans the return was an anti-war act. Veterans met former enemies, visited battlefields, mourned friends, found new relationships, and addressed enduring legacies of war. Many found their memories of war eased by witnessing Việt Nam at peace. Yet this peacetime reality also challenged veterans' wartime connection to Vietnamese spaces. The place they were nostalgic for was Vietnam, a space in war memory, not Việt Nam, the country. Veterans drew from wartime narratives to negotiate this displacement, performing nostalgic practices to reclaim their sense of belonging.--, Provided by publisher

Table Of Contents

Part I: Return -- Reconciliation, 1981-1994 -- Normalization, 1995-2005 -- Commemoration, 2006-2016 -- Part II: Việt Nam -- Relics and Remnants -- Meeting the Enemy -- Remembering the American War in Việt Nam -- Part III: Legacies -- Revisiting Vietnam -- Veteran Legacies in Việt Nam

Creator