The Long Way Home Project: Series I

Using almost exclusively military and newsreel footage, The Long Way Home Project: Series I offers a conservative revisionist history of the Vietnam War, beginning with Chinese and French involvement and ending fifty years later with the fall of Saigon. Volume one, “Men Versus Myth” attempts to dispel the "myths": that most men were drafted into the war rather than volunteering; were poor, uneducated, minorities who couldn't arrange for deferments; and that those who returned were mentally deranged. We're told that eight million soldiers volunteered while two million were drafted, that many educated young men served from all classes of society, and that Vietnam vets have done better in life than those who stayed home (a rather vague, unsubstantiated observation). Unfortunately, the program fails to differentiate between the beginning and end of the war: by 1972 rolled, many parents were trying to keep their sons from being drafted; the American people could see no progress, nor clear governmental objectives; and because of educational deferments, those who could afford college were able to avoid being drafted, while those who were poor could not. Volumes two and three, “How We Won the War” and “How We Lost the War,” discuss the objectives that were accomplished in Vietnam (although on a temporary basis) and why the un-winnable war was ultimately lost. The best and most credible volume is the fourth, “The New Diaspora,” which examines what happened to the people of Southeast Asia after the American withdrawal, and the efforts of Vietnamese refugees to create a new life in the U.S. Presenting an alternate viewpoint for consideration that illustrates the diverse historiography on the subject (it will most certainly promote discussion), this is an optional purchase. Aud: H, C, P. (L. Stevens)