Monday, October 25, 2004From the old site:G. Takamatsu's Book Review: John Steinbeck,Writer by Jackson Benson I'd like to look at just one aspect of this book alongside UNFIT FOR COMMAND. One can connect the dots. Steinbeck spent time in Vietnam as a reporter for Newsday magazine. Steinbeck spent at least six weeks in Vietnam. He also visited Thailand and Laos. I think his overall stay in Southeast Asia was about three to four months. Steinbeck had a completely different view of the American soldier in Vietnam than Kerry (the Kerry of 1971). Kerry portrayed the American soldiers as barbarians. Steinbeck had a high regard for the soldier, though he had doubts about our policy. He was offended by two misperceptions of the war: 1) that the American soldier was brutal, and 2) that the Viet Cong had the support of the people. Steinbeck viewed the Viet Cong as thugs. An associate said that whenever an incident which reflected badly on the Americans occured, reporters were all over the place; but when an attrocity was committed by the Viet Cong, no reporters were to be found. Steinbeck sent several pictures back home, but the news media would not print the pictures. Read the rest... 
posted by gbarto at 1:22 AM |
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