Vietnam and Beyond

Vietnam and Beyond is a collection of wartime letters written home by Jim Markson from March 1967 to March 1968 along with added reflections decades later. After his tour of duty, he then returns to life back home, where he finds that his family has functioned without him, his kids have kept busy, and his spouse has been handling everything.

He is told to find his place back home, yet he closes his eyes and sees a different world and life that he left behind, a life that was surreal in the setting of war, a life of which people cannot even begin to imagine.

He was diagnosed with night terrors 39 years after he left Vietnam and 20 years after his divorce from his wife. It was a relief for him to finally speak to people about this and share with those who are interested.
 
Order a copy now!
 

Reviews

DR. PHILIP F. NAPOLI

JIM MARKSON AND JENNY LA SALA have collaborated to produce a powerful book that combines Jim’s letters home from Vietnam with his later recollections. While Jim served in a supposedly ‘safe’ position, providing security for various American air bases during his tour, the letters and memories demonstrate that in Vietnam no place was safe and that everywhere was the ‘front line.’ This became especially clear during the 1968 TET Offensive. This book helps us understand that the American war in Vietnam needs to be understood not only from the perspective of the leadership, the infantry and the others involved in combat on a daily basis, but also from the point of view of the many thousands of Americans who did their duty in relatively unheralded ways.

DR. PHILIP F. NAPOLI
Author of Bringing It All Back Home
and assistant professor of history
at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York