Instructions: Get a copy of any edition of Bernard Edelman’s Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. (Careful if you’re ordering online, there is a movie by the same title.)

Look at the table of contents, you will see that the book is divided into eight sections. Begin by reading the introduction in its entirety to give you some context. You will then pick and read five letters from each section of the book, for a total of 40 letters. Don’t just pick the shortest ones – you won’t be doing yourself any favors. You’ll want to skim all the letters and pick the ones that have some depth to them.

Assignment: Your goal is to use these letters as a window into what the average soldier faced during his service in Vietnam. What impressions about the war do you get through reading these letters? Are these soldiers supportive of the war? How do these letters evolve as the war progresses, and what does that tell us about the nature of the Vietnam War?

Write a four page reflection paper in essay form. (Double-spaced, 12pt font, 1 inch margins.) You’ll want to engage with these letters and make an argument of your own about what they teach us about the experience of the Vietnam War, don’t just summarize the letters.

Citations: If you’re directly quoting any of the letters and need to cite them, simply cite the name of the letter’s author and the page number of the book the letter can be found on.