Yom Kippur
Sep. 28th, 2004 04:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deguspiceThis year we fasted but we didn't go to temple for Yom Kippur. Friday night, we ended up going to Ann's office so she could catch up on some important work (I went along with her to provide an escort, Chinatown is not a good place to walk around at night on your own).
Saturday, I didn't go anywhere near the computer (which for me was a major sacrifice :). Instead I spent part of the day reading a non-fiction book about the problems faced by returning Vietnam Veterans. The book is called "Spoils of War". It was written by my father, Charles Levy, a sociologist. I've known about the book since my father started researching it (I was less than 10 at the time) but I never read it. A couple of years ago, I bought a copy of the book off the Internet for $5. Last week I came across the book again. For some reason I decided that it would be a good book to read during Yom Kippur (Honor thy Father and Mother?).
Most of the book is a bit scary, not just because of the topic (the problems that returning Vietnam soldiers faced) but because when the book written in 1972, the VA and the soldiers' families didn't know how to cope with the changes that occurred to the soldiers because of their experiences. In the early 70s PTSD had not yet been defined, but my father recognized that major psychological changes had occurred and attempts to describe them in the book.
The book is based on three years of interviewing Vietnam veterans and their families. So most of the text in the book comes from them.
While conducting research for the book, my father ended up testifying before Congress about the psychological changes that occurred in the Vietnam soldiers. One of the Republicans on the committee lead the attack my father, challenging the information he presented, but six months later the Congressman saw for himself the changes that occurred when his own son returned from Vietnam and soon the Congressman became a strong opponent of the war.
If you are interested, you can find the book for $3-$30 through http://www/bookfinder.com.
Saturday, I didn't go anywhere near the computer (which for me was a major sacrifice :). Instead I spent part of the day reading a non-fiction book about the problems faced by returning Vietnam Veterans. The book is called "Spoils of War". It was written by my father, Charles Levy, a sociologist. I've known about the book since my father started researching it (I was less than 10 at the time) but I never read it. A couple of years ago, I bought a copy of the book off the Internet for $5. Last week I came across the book again. For some reason I decided that it would be a good book to read during Yom Kippur (Honor thy Father and Mother?).
Most of the book is a bit scary, not just because of the topic (the problems that returning Vietnam soldiers faced) but because when the book written in 1972, the VA and the soldiers' families didn't know how to cope with the changes that occurred to the soldiers because of their experiences. In the early 70s PTSD had not yet been defined, but my father recognized that major psychological changes had occurred and attempts to describe them in the book.
The book is based on three years of interviewing Vietnam veterans and their families. So most of the text in the book comes from them.
While conducting research for the book, my father ended up testifying before Congress about the psychological changes that occurred in the Vietnam soldiers. One of the Republicans on the committee lead the attack my father, challenging the information he presented, but six months later the Congressman saw for himself the changes that occurred when his own son returned from Vietnam and soon the Congressman became a strong opponent of the war.
If you are interested, you can find the book for $3-$30 through http://www/bookfinder.com.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-28 01:31 pm (UTC)I read the book at the start of the Iraq War. The parallels were scary then; they are even scarier now.
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Date: 2004-09-28 10:43 pm (UTC)