View the Table of Contents
Read the Introduction
aThe letters collected contain an array of opinions about the
war, of both the hawk and dove variety. The scores of letters in
this collection both praise and vilify Dr. Spock for his antiwar
activism.a
--"The VVA Veteran"
"From thousands of letters written to Dr. Benjamin Spock during
the Vietnam War, Foley has carefully culled 218 missives from
America's silent majority. . . . Many may find the frustration,
fear and grief expressed here newly relevant."
--"Publishers Weekly"
"These letters--with Michael S. Foley's astute and informed
commentary--make clear why and how so many Americans trusted
Benjamin Spock. The body politic sorely needs a Doctor Spock
today."
--James Carroll, author of "Crusade: Chronicles of an Unjust
War"
"Foley has discovered a unique source on the American home front
during the Vietnam War, a perspective that moves us past the usual
images of angry polarization. These powerful letters help us to
consider how war-times induce people to look with new eyes at their
nation and their government."
--David Farber, author of "The Age of Great Dreams: America in the
1960s"
"Few documentary collections offer such an immediate connection
to the years in which the Vietnam War was fought. Reading these
letters now, when the U.S. is once again at war, is a profoundly
moving experience."
--Marilyn B. Young, author of "The Vietnam Wars, 1945-1990"
At the height of the Vietnam War, thousands of Americans wrote
moving letters to Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's pediatrician and a
high-profile opponent of the war. Personal and heartfelt,
thoughtful and volatile, these missives from Middle Americaprovide
an intriguing glimpse into the conflicts that took place over the
dinner table as people wrestled with this divisive war and with
their consciences.
Providing one of the first clear views of the home front during
the war, Dear Dr. Spock collects the best of these letters and
offers a window into the minds of ordinary Americans. They wrote to
Spock because he was familiar, trustworthy, and controversial. His
book "Baby and Child Care" was on the shelves of most homes, second
only to the Bible in the number of copies sold. Starting in the
1960s, his activism in the antinuclear and antiwar movements drew
mixed reactions from Americans-some puzzled, some supportive, some
angry, and some desperate.
Most of the letters come from what Richard Nixon called the
"silent majority"--white, middle class, law-abiding citizens who
the president thought supported the war to contain Communism. In
fact, the letters reveal a complexity of reasoning and feeling that
moves far beyond the opinion polls at the time. One mother of young
children struggles to imagine how Vietnamese women could endure
after their village was napalmed, while another chastises Spock for
the "dark shadow" he had cast on the country and pledges to instill
love of country in her sons.
What emerges is a portrait of articulate Americans struggling
mightily to understand government policies in Vietnam and how those
policies did or did not reflect their own sense of themselves and
their country.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!