1 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
RESOURCES
Primary Works
Kevin Bowen and Bruce Weigl, eds., Writing between the Lines: An Anthology on
War and Its Social Consequences (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press,
1997).
Includes works by veterans from both sides of the battle lines.
Maxine Hong Kingston, ed., Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace (Kihei, Hawaii: Koa
Books, 2006).
Autobiographical accounts and fictional writing collected from Kingston’s heal-
ing workshops; written by veterans and victims of other trauma (substance abuse
and gang and domestic violence).
Stewart O’Nan, ed., The Vietnam Reader: The Def initive Collection of American
Fiction and Nonf iction on the War (New York: Anchor, 1998).
An essential collection with works written mostly by veterans. The introductions
to each section provide a useful chronology of war literature that charts changes
in thematic and stylistic interests.
Criticism
Carol Acton, “Dangerous Daughters: American Nurses and Gender Identity in
World War One and Vietnam,” War, Literature, and the Arts: An International
Journal of the Humanities, 13, 1–2 (2001): 87–113.
Discusses the way female writers challenge the marginalization of women in liter-
ary accounts of war.
Ronald Baughman, ed., Dictionary of Literary Biography Documentary Series, vol-
ume 9: American Writers of the Vietnam War: W. D. Ehrhart, Larry Heinemann,
Tim O’Brien, Walter McDonald, John M. Del Vecchio (Detroit: Bruccoli Clark
Layman/Gale, 1991), pp. 275–340.
Provides unique perspectives on the work and lives of five veteran-writers through
previously unpublished material documenting their military service, including
letters, drafts for published works, and service records.
Deborah Butler, American Women Writers on Vietnam: Unheard Voices: A Selected
Annotated Bibliography (New York: Routledge, 1989).
An exhaustive list of entries with informative annotations identifying works fea-
turing the perspective of women.
Catherine Calloway, “Vietnam War Literature and Film: A Bibliography of Sec-
ondary Sources,” Bulletin of Bibliography, 43 (September 1986): 149–158.
A useful and exhaustive resource for locating reviews and critical essays about
film and literature.
Marc Jason Gilbert, ed., The Vietnam War: Teaching Approaches and Resources
(Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1991).