Women journalists who covered the Vietnam War are often not given their proper due when the history of the conflict is told. Joyce Hoffmann (Old Dominion University) is the author of On Their Own: Women Journalists in Vietnam. She shares stories of women who won esteemed prizes for their reporting and several who broke new ground covering the war.
Also featured: More and more military mothers are being deployed throughout the world. Mona Ternus (George Mason University) says there is a connection between the length of time military mothers are deployed and an increase in drug use, attempted suicide, and other risk factors for their children.
A recent article about Ternus’s research in the Washington Times
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After hearing this segment last year, I tracked down Hoffmann’s book. Just finished it. What a powerful, dramatic, insightful work. I’ve read many books, fiction and nonfiction, about Vietnam War, and I consider this one of the best, even indispensable, as she does a great job of putting the journalism of these women in larger context of the war and conduct of disastrous American foreign policy. Frankly, I can’t think of a better introduction to that tragic war. The combination of personal stories and global events makes for compelling reading. Her description of final days of Saigon is riveting, recreated the experience of watching those events on news at the time. (I was 21 at time, stationed in Europe with Army, and remember well how angry the Vietnam vets in my unit were with photos in Stars and Stripes of battlefield littered with M16s tossed aside by ARVN troops fleeing from advancing NVA troops closing in on Saigon. Some felt like their time in Vietnam had been a waste. An ugly truth, but one redeemed by the work of women Hoffmann describes with such eloquent and insightful candor.)
Hello Tom,
Thanks for getting in touch with us. We’re very gratified to hear that this edition of With Good Reason led you to Joyce Hoffman’s book. I think you would also be interested in hearing a recent show we did on Vietnam War called “Messages From a Forgotten Troopship”. You can find it using the ‘Search WGR” link at the top right hand part of this page. Again, thanks for your insightful comments on “Women at War”.