Reviews of Home to War Why I Wrote Home to War
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VETERANS AND POLITICS

Gerald Nicosia spent 12 years researching and writing his massive history, HOME TO WAR, a comprehensive, 33-year chronicle of Vietnam veteran activism, readjustment, and healing. It was cancelled by three consecutive publishers in the mad publishing decade of the 1990's, which saw one corporate buyout after another, and the wholesale firing of editors and dumping of books-in-progress. HOME TO WAR came out in April, 2001 from Crown/Random House and will be reissued in August, 2004 by Avalon Publishing. It garnered great praise, including starred reviews in PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (March 12, 2001) and LIBRARY JOURNAL (March 15, 2001), which wrote: "The frequently heroic, more often tragic saga of the veterans who fought in the war and then fought against it is told in this gripping narrative, which takes hold of the reader with its haunting cover and doesn't let go for almost 700 pages.”

It has been called “an epic, narrative history that chronicles, for the first time, the experience of America’s Vietnam veterans, who returned home to fight a different kind of war.”

The 3.4 million Americans who served in Vietnam fought two wars: one on the other side of the world and one for the hearts and minds of their countrymen when they returned home. Based on 600 interviews and 12 years of research, HOME TO WAR is the definitive history of that second war.

HOME TO WAR paints a fresh picture of the American war heroes who were rejected by the nation in whose name they fought and by the government that sent them to risk life, limb, and spirit in Southeast Asia. It chronicles their heroic—and ultimately victorious—battle on the home front, from their role in the anti-war movement to their campaign for medical help and compensation for Agent Orange exposure and post-traumatic stress wounds.

This powerful work of contemporary history is an essential addition to the literature of America’s Vietnam experience.

Reviews of Home to War Why I Wrote Home to War
Back to Veterans and politics