A blog of the 乐鱼 体育
乐鱼 体育 Global Fellow James Reston, Jr. recently published a new edition of his book entitled A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial.
James Reston, Jr., a distinguished and bestselling historian and army veteran as well as a Global Fellow at the 乐鱼 体育, published a paperback edition of his well-received book A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial on April 7, 2020.
The book, with a new foreword written by founder and president emeritus of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Jan Scruggs, revives the story of the Vietnam Veteran鈥檚 War Memorial and the immense tensions that surrounded Yale architecture student Maya Lin鈥檚 design. The dramatic and personal recounting received praise from all over the country. Calling it "superb and unexpectedly affecting鈥 The New York Times Book Review claimed it to be the 鈥渄efinitive history of the memorial.鈥
Reston the bestselling author of seventeen books, three plays, and a plethora of articles. He won the Prix Italia and Dupont-Columbus Award for his NPR radio documentary, Father Cares: The Last of Jonestown.
"Reston retells the story dramatically, dredging up material that many of the players in this drama might wish to remain forgotten."鈥擶ashington Post
鈥淚n A Rift in the Earth, Army veteran James Reston details the controversy surrounding the creation of the Vietnam War Memorial -- an undertaking that reopened political, moral and cultural divisions about the war long after its end. Deeply personal, as moving as it is instructive, Reston鈥檚 account captures the complicated struggle that ensued over how to honor our Vietnam War veterans, and reminds us that in the decades following that bloody and protracted conflict, a generation of Americans continue to find healing at the powerful memorial in our nation鈥檚 capital.鈥濃擲enator John McCain
"The Vietnam Memorial Wall would never have existed if a handful of angry Vietnam Veterans and their influential allies had won their fight to kill the project a generation ago. Reston's riveting history of the battle for Maya Lin's unconventional and moving monument brings to life the personalities on both sides as well as the emotions that galvanized such intense disagreement and mirrored the deep rift of the war itself. Equally powerful is Reston's final "Author's Reflection," about his journey to Vietnam today to recapture the last days of a friend killed in Hue whose name is on the Wall."鈥擬yra MacPherson, author of the bestselling Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the Haunted Generation and the award-winning All Governments Lie: The Life and Times of Rebel Journalist I. F. Stone
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