"Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the plight of African-American soldiers in the Vietnam war, as told by the soldiers in their own words. The paper explains that many of them felt they were fighting a war they did not understand, while they were subjected to racism at home. The paper describes how this book changed or confirmed the writer's understanding of war. The ethical questions raised by the book are examined in the paper. Implications of the Vietnam war for our present situation in the Middle East are presented briefly. The paper concludes with the writer's personal evaluation of the book.

From the Paper:

"The book "Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans"{ Wallace, 1980} is packed with many educative information for those of us too young to understand what happened in South East Asia during the Vietnam war. First of all the book is a collection of 20 war stories from enlisted African American soldiers taking part in the war. Most of the stories in the book show how divided America was about fighting the war. While there were demonstrations in the United States particularly on College campuses, many Americans failed to realize at that time that there were similar divisions among American soldiers in the Vietnam War. The experiences of the African American soldiers were influenced by the racism they experienced at home. According to Terry, the rage among African American soldiers in Vietnam was very high, one black soldier said, that what they been through in the Vietnamese jungles, in addition to their experiences in America is a terrible injustice. Some African American soldiers said they should even go back to America and start another civil war. Some soldiers asked why they should be fighting for prejudice of the Whiteman."

More papers on "Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War":

• Persuasive Essay # 1570 : "Analysis of Vietnam War Tensions Through Theory and Song"
• Cause and Effect Essay # 6951 : "The Explosive Causes and Effects Of The Vietnam War"
• Essay # 40037 : "Group Ideology"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: