Since the end of the Vietnam War, histories, films, novels, and poetry have sought to come to grips with the conflict's devastating effect on Asians and Americans, both those who fought and those who did not. Although standard histories and cultural studies have been written, Walter Capps's new anthology is the first book to examine the war in a strongly philosophical way, ranging far beyond the usual, narrowly political assessment of its propriety. The Vietnam Reader thoughtfully and provocatively addresses the war's impact on our individual and collective lives. Approaching the war as an actual event, rather than as a subject of ongoing debate, Capps traces its meaning in terms that embody much more than political controversy. The works included cover not only the familiar debate about the appropriateness of the U.S. presence in Vietnam, but also provide insightful commentary from people directly involved in the war: combatants, army nurses, gold-star mothers, even Vietnamese refugees living in the U.S. Such testimony is placed side by side with classic' philosophies and moral statements which first appeared from the early Sixties - essays by writers as varied as Robert Jay Lifton, Thomas Merton, Robert Bly, Martin Luther King Jr., Clark Clifford, former Nebraska senator Bob Kerrey, and Rene Girard. Of special interest are the testimonies of Vietnam veterans, published here for the first time.