Americas Vietnam War CL

Social science writer Becker's title aptly points out Americans' hubris: While our involvement in this war went back further than is generally realized (by the late 1950s South Vietnam received the fifth-largest amount of U.S. foreign aid), what we call the Vietnam War was but a short portion of the area's ordeal. Perhaps most engaging here are Becker's comments on her responses as a teen in the 1960s and her use of memoirs, arts and other documents. The book's chronological format efficiently presents aspects of those years that are most interesting to today's adolescents--among others, the horror of what emotions can lead to, such as fragging; the hypocrisy of governance and the futility of warfare. Becker amply succeeds in her goal of being ``narrative without being encyclopedic.'' Ages 12-up. (Apr.)