The American Moment
1 total work
Nearly a quarter-century after the fall of Saigon, the memory of America's defeat in Vietnam continues to haunt the national psyche. In this text, former war correspondent Arnold Isaacs turns his reportorial eye to the conflict since Vietnam, covering the skirmishes and firefights of a cultural battle - some would say stalemate - that refuses to end. Isaacs takes on the popular myths and misconceptions about Vietnam - among them the mistaken belief that the US military lacked clear goals. He exposes the myth of the MIAs - a myth sustained not only by grieving relatives but also by professional con men - and shows how the many false MIA stories may nonetheless reveal a deeper truth: "We lost something in Vietnam and we want it back." The text explores the class divisions deepened by a conflict in which the privileged avoided service that an earlier generation had embraced as a duty. And he shows how the "Vietnam Syndrome" continues to affect nearly every major US foreign policy decision, from the Persian Gulf to Somalia, Bosnia, and Haiti.
Capturing the ironic legacies of a war that abounds in them, Isaacs introduces the "new Americans" - the Vietnamese, Thais, and Cambodians - who fled Indochina to settle in the US, where fashion spreads in the "New York Times Magazine" feature models photographed in Vietnamese settings wearing "Indo-chic clothes" that sell for four to five years' income for the average Vietnamese. He also recounts the experiences of Americans who have returned to Vietnam, only to find their former enemies turned entrepreneurs - such as the operators of a popular Saigon bar called "Apocalypse Now".
Capturing the ironic legacies of a war that abounds in them, Isaacs introduces the "new Americans" - the Vietnamese, Thais, and Cambodians - who fled Indochina to settle in the US, where fashion spreads in the "New York Times Magazine" feature models photographed in Vietnamese settings wearing "Indo-chic clothes" that sell for four to five years' income for the average Vietnamese. He also recounts the experiences of Americans who have returned to Vietnam, only to find their former enemies turned entrepreneurs - such as the operators of a popular Saigon bar called "Apocalypse Now".