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"Looking into the underlying factional divide between pro-war "hardliners" and anti-war "dissidents" among the POWs, authors Wilber and Lembcke delve into the postwar American culture that created the myths of the Hero-POW and the dissidents blamed for the loss of the war. What they found was that it was the class backgrounds of the captives and their pre-captive experience that drew the lines. After the war, the hardcore hero-holdouts, like John McCain, moved on to careers in politics and business, while the dissidents faded from view as the antiwar movement, that might otherwise have championed them, disbanded"--
About the author
Tom Wilber (Author) Tom Wilber investigates documentation regarding U.S. detainees in the Democratic Republic of Vi¿t Nam from 1964 until 1973. His research is the source for the 2015 Hà N¿i National Film Festival award-winning documentary, The Flower Pot Story, produced by Ng¿c Dung. A visiting lecturer at Hà N¿i University in 2018, his opinion pieces have been published in Vi¿t Nam News. Wilber represents a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization that works on humanitarian projects with Vietnamese organizations.
Jerry Lembcke (Author) Jerry Lembcke grew up in Northwest Iowa. He was drafted in 1968 and served as a Chaplain's Assistant in Vietnam. He is the author of eight books including The Spitting Image, CNN's Tailwind Tail, and Hanoi Jane. His opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, Boston Globe, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He is presently Associate Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, at Holy Cross College and Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians.
