"What should we tell our children about Vietnam?" That was the question facing junior high school teacher and Vietnam veteran Bill McCloud as he prepared to teach his students about the war. To find the answers, he went straight to the people who were involved in the war: soldiers, politicians, military officers, POWs, nurses, refugees, writers, and parents of soldiers who died in the war. He sent them handwritten letters, and responses poured in from all over the country. A collection of these responses, this book represents a unique and heartening outpouring of national conscience, hindsight, reflection, sorrow, and wisdom.

Respondents included here are: George Bush, Jimmy Carter, Geraldine A Ferraro, Allen Ginsburg, Barry Goldwater, Tom Hayden, Henry Kissinger, Timothy Leary, Robert S. McNamara, George S. Patton, Oliver Stone, Gary Trudeau, Kurt Vonnegut, and Caspar W. Weinberger.