A young American soldier's personal account of his devastating experiences in Vietnam and, in spite of those experiences, his enduring faith in love and justice

And a Hard Rain Fell: A Gi's True Story of the War in Vietnam

History

Ketwig, John

Americas

Macmillan Pub. Co.

A classic, must-read Vietnam war memoir
The classic Vietnam war memoir, ...and a hard rain fell is the unforgettable story of a veteran's rage and the unflinching portrait of a young soldier's odyssey from the roads of upstate New York to the jungles of Vietnam. Updated for its 20th anniversary with a new afterword on the Iraq War and its parallels to Vietnam, John Ketwig's message is as relevant today as it was twenty years ago.
"A magnetic, bloody, moving, and worm's-eye view of soldiering in Vietnam, an account that is from the first page to last a wound that can never heal. A searing gift to his country."―Kirkus Reviews
"Solidly effective. He describes with ingenuous energy and authentic language that time and place."―Library Journal
"Perhaps as evocative of that awful time in Vietnam as the great fictions...a wild surreal account, at its best as powerful as Celine's darkling writing of World War One."―Washington Post

...and a hard rain fell: A GI's True Story of the War in Vietnam

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Sourcebooks

I didn't set out to write a book. It was 1982, fourteen years after I had last set foot in Vietnam, and thirteen years after I returned to The World. I had a family and a career. I'd never written more than an occasional letter to the editor in my life. My twisted insides had spawned ulcers. The nightmares were more frequent. I needed to get Vietnam out into the open, but I couldn't talk about it. Not after all those years. Thus begins John Ketwig's powerful memoir of the Vietnam War. Now, over 15 years after its initial publication, Sourcebooks is proud to bring ...and a hard rain fell back into print in a newly updated edition, with a new introduction by the author and eight pages of never-before-published photographs. From the country roads of upstate New York to the jungles of Vietnam, and finally to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., ...and a hard rain fell is a gripping and visceral account of one young man's struggle to make sense of his place in a world gone mad.

Sourcebooks, Inc.

Very few of the many books about the Vietnam War fully address why the fighting was conducted in such a cruel manner, why it was prolonged far past its logical end, or what, ultimately, went wrong. American literature has been reluctant to emphasize the fact that between 3.5 and 5 million Southeast Asians died--many of them peasants--that the majority of the bombs dropped from American planes landed on South Vietnam--our ally and an impoverished agricultural society--or that the use of napalm and Agent Orange was, in reality, chemical warfare. Americans have been reluctant to acknowledge the damage done, but after 17 years of another, very similar conflict in Afghanistan, many Americans are beginning to wonder why our highly financed and supported military isn't more effective. This book strongly suggests that the lessons of Vietnam are relevant and worthy of being reconsidered as today's wars are debated. From Captain Kangaroo, Roy Rogers, and Walt Disney to space travel, muscle cars, and The Beatles, the generation that would be sent to fight in Vietnam was uniquely influenced by times that were a-changin'. Like square pegs in a round hole, the post-World War II baby boomers were brought up with values that made widespread social outcry against the horrors of the war predictable and necessary. Those influences and values have long been ignored, but this book revives a spirited discussion and analysis of the first war America lost.

Vietnam Reconsidered: The War, the Times, and Why They Matter

Asia

Trine Day

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Books by Ketwig, John

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ketwig, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

And a Hard Rain Fell: A Gi's True Story of the War in Vietnam

...and a hard rain fell: A GI's True Story of the War in Vietnam

And a Hard Rain Fell: A Gi's True Story of the War in Vietnam

Vietnam Reconsidered: The War, the Times, and Why They Matter