A Professor on the Barricades

Abstract

This is daunting. What’s left to say about a book already hailed as “absorbing,” “astute,” and “fascinating” (Noam Chomsky), “fabulous” and “exceptional” (Richard Falk), and “stunning,” “exciting,” and “radically new” (Daniel Ellsberg)? If that’s not enough, consider the author, H. Bruce Franklin: degrees from Amherst College and Stanford University; Air Force officer and B-52 pilot; a legend in the field of American Studies; the premiere scholar of Herman Melville’s work; a onetime FBI-wanted opponent of the American war in Viet Nam; and the dean of Viet Nam War cultural studies. Still more, there is the intimidation felt by reviewing the autobiography of a role model, someone who inspired and encouraged my own inquiry into the myths and legends of the war in Viet Nam. At about the same time that stories of spat-on Viet Nam veterans began appearing in late 1990, I read his study of American M.I.A.s in Viet Nam, M.I.A., or, Mythmaking in America. Never having met Franklin, I nevertheless called to ask what he thought of the spitting stories. “Mythical,” he said, before adding, “and someone needs to write about that.” Heard as a call-to-duty, I began writing The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Viet Nam.