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Fighting on Two Fronts - African Americans and the Vietnam War (Hardcover, New)
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Fighting on Two Fronts - African Americans and the Vietnam War (Hardcover, New)
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A very powerful account of a significant aspect of recent American
military history. --Journal of Military History Westheider has
researched very thoroughly-an effort including extensive interviews
with Vietnam veterans-and he possesses a rare gift for narrative
that makes the result of all this research eminently readable. A
highly desirable addition for both African American studies and
military affairs collections. . . . an] invaluable history.
--Booklist Highly recommended. --Library Journal James E.
Westheider persuasively argues that black soldiers were the key
factor in bringing about a more egalitarian military. This book
significantly advances our understanding of both race relations and
armed forces. --Charles Moskos, Northwestern University With this
meticulous investigation of how institutional racism operated in
the military of the 1960s and 70s, James Westheider provides us
with a model for making sense of institutional sexism in the
Tailhook-era military. --Cynthia Enloe, author of The Morning
After: Sexual Politics at the End of the Cold War The racial
tensions that have long plagued American society exist to a much
lesser extent in the military where the bond of common pursuit and
shared experience renders race less relevant. Or so conventional
wisdom has long held. In this dramatic history of race relations
during the Vietnam war, James E. Westheider illustrates how
American soldiers in Vietnam grappled with many of the same racial
conflicts that were tearing apart their homeland thousands of miles
away. Over seven years in the making, Fighting on Two Fronts draws
on interviews with dozens of Vietnam veterans--black and white--and
official Pentagon documents to paint the first complete picture of
the African American experience in Vietnam. Westheider reveals how
preconceptions and petty misunderstandings often exacerbated racial
anxieties during the conflict. Military barbers, for instance, were
often inexperienced with black hair, leading black soldiers to cut
each other's hair, an act perceived as separatist by their white
counterparts. Similarly, black soldiers often greeted one another
with a ritualized handshake, or dap, as a sign of solidarity, the
unfamiliarity of which threatened many white soldiers and was a
source of resentment until it was banned in 1973. Despite ample
evidence of institutional racism in the armed forces, the military
elite responded only when outbreaks of racial violence became
disruptive enough to threaten military discipline and attract
negative attention from the civilian world. A crucial addition to
our understanding of Vietnam, Fighting on Two Fronts is a
compelling example of the new military history at its finest. James
E. Westheider is a Lecturer in African American history at Northern
Kentucky University. He received his Ph.D. in History from the
University of Cincinnati.
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