"No one can understand the complete tragedy of the American experience in Vietnam without reading this
book. Nothing so underscores the ambivalence and confusion of the American commitment as does the composition of
our fighting forces. The rich and the powerful may have supported the war initially, but they contributed little
of themselves. That responsibility fell to the poor and the working class of America."
--Senator George McGovern
"Reminds us of the disturbing truth that some 80 percent of the 2.5 million enlisted men who served in Vietnam--out
of 27 million men who reached draft age during the war--came from working-class and impoverished backgrounds. .
. . Deals especially well with the apparent paradox that the working-class soldiers' families back home mainly
opposed the antiwar movement, and for that matter so with few exceptions did the soldiers themselves."
