Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 01/01/2018 *Starred Review* This fascinating, comprehensive plunge into the Vietnam War finds its heart and soul in six rich, diverse interviews that Partridge conducted with veterans, each of whom recounts their experience with such effortlessness that it’s as if they never left the war—and, in some ways, perhaps they haven’t. Their stories are woven into a sweeping, chronological narrative of the war, which delivers the facts, nicely pitched for the age range, while taking significant looks at notable protesters, politicians, and presidents, whose beliefs and, at times, misguided patriotism dramatically affected America’s involvement in the conflict. Partridge is highly conscious of diversity, bringing a wide scope of voices to the table—readers will hear from foot soldiers, refugees, medics, singers, Vietnam natives, and memorial creators—while constantly alternating the action between the American home front and what’s happening on the ground in Vietnam. Partridge excels at interconnecting themes and illustrating connections between the global and the personal, and, along the way, lightly explores PTSD and the mental health effects Vietnam vets suffered, often in silence, after they returned home as scarred men and women. With an impressive amount of well-chosen photographs, this is a necessary, conscientious look at a factious time in American and world history. - Copyright 2018 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 04/01/2018 Gr 7 Up—Rather than offering a history of the causes and effects of the Vietnam War, Partridge brings the conflict to a personal level, with accounts of eight men, two women, four U.S. presidents, Martin Luther King Jr., and Maya Lin. Chapter by chapter, the author introduces an unseasoned Marine tasked with life or death decisions, a nonviolent follower of King who fires at the enemy until his machine gun is red hot, and an 18-year-old South Vietnamese woman who must flee the encroaching North Vietnamese Army. Partridge's interviewees all survived their year in-country, but what they saw and participated in haunted them long after. Late chapters on the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial and an epilogue provide closure. Photos of exhausted soldiers, pensive presidents, a helicopter evacuating the wounded, and stacks of coffins add visual immediacy to the emotional stories of young people at war and the protests stateside. Occasional racial slurs and strong language fit the circumstances of their use. VERDICT A stirring choice. Pair with DK/Smithsonian's The Vietnam War: The Definitive Illustrated or portions of the documentary The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick for a more complete picture of the war and its surrounding circumstances.— - Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.