A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial by Reston, James

A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781948924634)

Vendor: James Reston
Product type: Books
Format: Paperback
$16.99
$16.99
$16.99
Subtotal: $16.99
A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial by Reston, James

A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial

$16.99
A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial by Reston, James

A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial

$16.99
Format: Paperback
Description
Description
x
A Distinguished and Bestselling Historian and Army Veteran Revisits the Culture War that Raged around the Selection of Maya Lin's Design for the Vietnam Memorial

A Rift in the Earth tells the remarkable story of the ferocious "art war" that raged between 1979 and 1984 over what kind of memorial should be built to honor the men and women who died in the Vietnam War. The story intertwines art, politics, historical memory, patriotism, racism, and a fascinating set of characters, from those who fought in the conflict and those who resisted it to politicians at the highest level. At its center are two enduring figures: Maya Lin, a young, Asian-American architecture student at Yale whose abstract design won the international competition but triggered a fierce backlash among powerful figures; and Frederick Hart, an innovative sculptor of humble origins on the cusp of stardom.

James Reston, Jr., a veteran who lost a close friend in the war and has written incisively about the conflict's bitter aftermath, explores how the debate reignited passions around Vietnam long after the war's end and raised questions about how best to honor those who fought and sacrificed in an ill-advised war. The book is richly illustrated with photographs from the era and design entries from the memorial competition. The paperback edition has a new foreword by Jan Scruggs, the founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

"The memorial appears as a rift in the earth, a long polished black stone wall, emerging from and receding into the earth." --Maya Lin

"I see the wall as a kind of ocean, a sea of sacrifice. . . . I place these figures upon the shore of that sea." --Frederick Hart


Author: James Reston
ISBN-10: 1948924633
ISBN-13: 9781948924634
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Language: English
Published: 04/07/2020
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.90d
By James Reston
By James Reston
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James Reston, Jr. was an assistant to Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall before serving in the US Army from 1965 to 1968. He is the bestselling author of seventeen books--including The Conviction of Richard Nixon: The Untold Story of the Frost/Nixon Interviews, which helped inspire the film Frost/Nixon (2008)--three plays, and numerous articles in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times Magazine. He won the Prix Italia and Dupont-Columbus Award for his NPR radio documentary, Father Cares: The Last of Jonestown. He lives with his wife in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Jan Scruggs is a former infantry corporal who was wounded in Vietnam at age nineteen. In 1977 he became a recognized authority on what is now called Post-Traumatic Stress by publishing his graduate school research on Vietnam veterans in Military Medicine and the Washington Post and testifying before Congress. In 1979 he decided to seek a national memorial honoring the service of Vietnam veterans, engraved with the names of the fallen, on the National Mall. Scruggs had $2,800 from an inheritance. He struggled until a team of talented Vietnam veterans, some with degrees from the Harvard Business School, emerged. A plan was developed to have the memorial dedicated in November 1982. Despite extraordinary efforts to derail the project by well-funded detractors of the Maya Lin design, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in 1982.

Upon retiring in 2015, he began planning for a Global War on Terror Memorial and raised significant funding and political support to get the effort underway. He now serves in an advisory capacity. He was appointed Chairman of the Selective Service National Appeal Board by President Obama in 2012. Now semi-retired in Annapolis, he remains a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association. He enjoys public speaking and writing on topics such as the battle of Gettysburg. He can be reached at www.janscruggs.com.

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