A common trope in the popular memory of the American experience of the Vietnam war is that when American soldiers returned home, they were scorned by the anti-war generation for being “baby-killers” complicit in mass atrocity. As one Vietnam veteran writes: “Vietnam vets were a bit crushed coming home. We were not honored, but were … Continue reading Vietnam, the Aftermath. Part III: Skip and the Myth of the “Baby-Killing” Vietnam Vet
New on Reading Watergate:
On my other blog: a look at David Priess's history of checking and removing bad presidents. "... More recently, Richard Nixon’s aides and Cabinet officials limited his acting out his worst impulses. Priess does not mention the oft-repeated story about how, in the dying days of the Nixon Administration, Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger ordered … Continue reading New on Reading Watergate:
This week in Doonesbury: In Search of Trump’s Brain
The most popular post that I have written is my look at how Garry Trudeau resurrected what is possibly his most famous comic strip, Mark Slackmeyer’s 1974 proclamation that Attorney General John Mitchell was “GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!” of crimes associated with the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up. GBT revived the gag in 1987 in reference … Continue reading This week in Doonesbury: In Search of Trump’s Brain
New Project: Reading Watergate.
Hey folks, I'm starting a new reading and writing project related to this blog: it's called Reading Watergate, and it's a history of the Watergate crisis, the fall of Richard Nixon, and the evolving memory of those times. You can bookmark the site here, and read my first post here. Build the Wall!. Doonesbury, 12 … Continue reading New Project: Reading Watergate.
Vietnam, the Aftermath: Part II, “Stuffed inside the Spare Tire Compartment of a Volvo.” The Draft Dodgers.
Vietnam remains America’s most divisive foreign war and the divides it caused shaped American politics and culture for decades after the fall of Saigon. Alongside questions about its rationale for getting involved in a senseless endeavour that was doomed to fail and its conduct during the war, a key question that America had to confront … Continue reading Vietnam, the Aftermath: Part II, “Stuffed inside the Spare Tire Compartment of a Volvo.” The Draft Dodgers.
This Week in Doonesbury: “What’s Gender-Fluid?”
(Note: This was actually last week in Doonesbury, but a nasty bike crash has slowed me down a bit.) This year, I reviewed two comics that told women’s stories as they experienced gender transition: Julia Kaye’s Super Late Bloomer, and Sabrina Symington’s First Year Out. Both books provide intimate and nuanced accounts of the triumphs … Continue reading This Week in Doonesbury: “What’s Gender-Fluid?”
Doonesbury Goes to War, Part V: Traded to Laos.
When we last checked in with Phred the Viet Cong terrorist, we saw how, after B.D.’s time in Vietnam, Garry Trudeau used Phred’s experience of the war to comment on some of the conflict’s most horrific dimensions, notably the slaughter of civilians from the relative safety of thirty thousand feet. We also have seen how … Continue reading Doonesbury Goes to War, Part V: Traded to Laos.
