ADVANCE PRAISE
“Elise Lemire focuses on one of the most interesting protests in the latter years of the U.S.’s engagement in its war in Southeast Asia, when using the hallowed sacred spaces of the martial birthplace of the nation, a group of Vietnam vets sought to contrast what they understood as a disastrous, criminal war with what they understood as the founding principles of the nation.” — Edward Linenthal, author of Sacred Ground: Americans and Their Battlefields
“Battle Green Vietnam is a vital piece of America's national history, written with passion and care.”— Gerald Nicosia, author of Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans’ Movement
“Lemire offers a citizen's handbook on the importance of active participation in our democracy to keep it alive for future generations.” — The Honorable John Kerry
“Powerful and beautifully written, this is one of the most important books to come out of the Vietnam War.” — Ron Kovic, author of Born on the Fourth of July
REVIEWS
Lemire’s Battle Green Vietnam comes at a good time. While the public image of the Vietnam War veteran has improved considerably since the 1970s, the anti-war veterans in Lemire’s study have not always been remembered well. The “swiftboating” of Kerry during his presidential run in 2004 – an effort at disputing his military record while questioning his national loyalty – exposed the lingering strains of hostility that some still harbor for veterans who pursued patriotic dissent, even when they directed it at protecting the lives of American soldiers. More recent political fights over the history of our colonial past, notably the vehemence leveled at the contributions in Nikole Hannah-Jones’ The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, are further reminders of the sacred place that our creation story holds in the national imagination and the righteous anger aimed at those seen to be tampering with it. Battle Green Vietnam is a lucid and well-researched study that should be read by scholars of the Vietnam War and America’s history in the post-WWII era. — Richard A. Ruth, Professor of Southeast Asian history at the U.S. Naval Academy, for the Society for U.S. Intellectual History
“Battle Green Vietnam is an excellent read for those looking to broaden their knowledge of the antiwar movement in the United States…. This is a must-read for modern-day activists and the future generation of change-makers.” — Journal of Military History
“Readers who protested the war in Vietnam will appreciate the unearthing of a noteworthy yet little-known event, while younger activists will draw inspiration from the example of a “breathtakingly creative protest march.” This well-told deep dive packs in plenty of rewards.” — Publisher’s Weekly
“The brilliance of VVAW’s political performance is captured by Lemire through photographs, newspaper archives, and oral histories. She tells how the Lexington authorities denied VVAW space on the town Green and how the 100 veterans rallied hundreds more residents to their cause. Each of her six core chapters introduces an individual VVAW organizer or Lexington activist. The chapters, written as parallel histories of the Paul Revere legend and the VVAW action, are a walk through history as we see historical memory in the making.” — Jerry Lembcke, author of The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam, for Choice Reviews (Scholarly Reviews for Academic Libraries)
For a relatively slim volume, Lemire covers considerable ground. Writing with a storyteller’s appreciation for the dramatics, she draws the reader into her narrative, regularly pulling back to provide contextual details and textual analyses of the region’s many statues, obelisks, and parks…. Lemire is a gifted writer with keen insights. At her best, she illustrates the symbolic weight VVAW brought to its protests and its deft deployment of creative performance in service of peace. — Peace & Change: A Journal of Peace Research
“With this volume, Lemire has eloquently captured the spirit and practice of VVAW, an organization whose history has much that is important and relevant for today." Her "eminently readable book would be excellent for course adoptions and would interest anyone wanting to learn about how place and performance are employed by social activists.” — Martin Blatt, Professor of the Practice and Director Emeritus of the Public History Program at Northeastern, for The Public Historian
“Lemire brings the story of this three-day-long demonstration to brilliant Technicolor life. It’s a story that well deserves that treatment.” — The VVA Veteran (a publication of Vietnam Veterans of America)
“[T]he writer displays the diligence of the historian combined with the skills of a novelist. Events depict drama, actions build tension, outcomes yield understanding…. At the heart of this literary trip is an explanation of how place and performance, sacred historic battlefield space and the reenactment of an immoral war mission are used by a band of ex-soldiers to enlighten the country about the war. The book honors these men while paying tribute to VVAW for its determination to right a horrible wrong….. Dr. Lemire's work is worth reading for the history, the abundant details of the event and most importantly for the message of hope one can receive. Truth can prevail in a country where there is liberty that allows for its expression.” — The Veteran (a publication of Vietnam Veterans Against the War)
“Battle Green Vietnam is a great book, highlighting an event that should be better known and remembered by students of history. Concord takes great pride in its history of civil disobedience, from the minutemen in 1775 to Henry Thoreau in 1846, and Lemire’s book adds another story to that proud history of dissent and resistance. And the veterans understood that history of resistance when they announced at the beginning of their protest, ‘Just as the Minutemen gathered freely in 1775, we gather freely in 1971.’ Lemire’s book is the telling of a single event, while honoring a long history of participation in the democratic process.” — Richard Smith for Discover Concord Magazine
PRESS
“Vietnam Veterans Transformed Memorial Day Weekend into a Holiday about Peace.” Washington Post.
“The National Bicentennial Erased Antiwar Activism by Vietnam Veterans,” History News Network. (Republished in LA Progressive.)
“The Night Vietnam Veterans Stormed Bunker Hill,” History News Network. (Republished in LA Progressive.)
“The Vietnam Veterans’ Movement.” The Academic Minute on WAMC and other NPR stations.
“The Real Patriots Invaded the Nation’s Capital Fifty Years Ago.” History News Network. (Republished in LA Progressive.)
“Lincoln-Sudbury Alum Writes Book on Largest Mass Arrest in State History.” MetroWest Daily News.
“How Lexington Became the Site of the Largest Mass Arrest in State History.” Lexington Minuteman.