Indiana University Press blog

Memoir examines Vietnamese man's experience in war

Thirty-seven years ago today, the Viet Nam war ended when Saigon fell on April 30, 1975. But the memory of the war lives on for one man who served in the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam. In Nationalist in the Viet Nam Wars, Nguyen Cong Luan recalls his experience of the wars of Viet Nam from the time he was old enough to be aware of war in the 1940s until his departure for America 15 years after the collapse of South Viet Nam. This honest and impassioned account is filled with the everyday heroism of the common people of his generation.

Read an excerpt about the fall of Saigon

Women's History Month interview with Sylvia D. Hoffert

In honor of Women's History Month, I'm taking a closer look at Sylvia D. Hoffert's new biography, Alva Vanderbilt Belmont: Unlikely Champion of Women's Rights.

As a New York socialite, Alva was known to be domineering, temperamental, and opinionated. In the later half of her life, she converted to feminism and became the most generous donor to the National Woman's Party.

I talked with Professor Hoffert about the history of the women's rights, how issues have changed (or, how they haven't), and how Alva became a remarkable promoter of the women's social movement.

This year’s theme for Women’s History Month is “Women’s Education—Women’s Empowerment.” In your personal experience and professional studies, how have you seen women’s education change?

The changes have been dramatic. When I applied for admission to college in 1961, many elite colleges including the University of North Carolina, the University of Virginia, and the Ivy League schools did not admit women as undergraduates. Now they all do. 

One of the accomplishments of second wave feminism was to force the introduction of courses about women across the liberal arts curriculum—in such fields as history, sociology, anthropology, communication, political science. ... And female scholars created programs and departments in women’s studies... Essentially there was a re-evaluation of what constituted an appropriate focus of study. The result was an inclusiveness that was unprecedented. 

That is not to say that those changes came easily or that women were treated well when they invaded what had previously been almost exclusively male professional space. ...Remember, if you will, that within the last ten years Larry Summers, President of Harvard University, was fired partly because he publicly denigrated the ability of women to excel in science.

Continuing with this year's theme, do you believe that women's empowerment is a direct result of education? How else can young women feel empowered?

The only way for women to achieve power in American society is through education and organization. Education provides them the intellectual tools they need to identify the structural barriers that prevent women from achieving justice and equality and from controlling their own bodies and lives. Organizing provides them with the strength in numbers needed to challenge those structural barriers and destroy them.

How has the women's rights movement progressed in the past century?

Originally, feminists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton had a fairly broad agenda for improving the status of women in the United States. The Declaration of Sentiments signed at the 1848 Seneca Falls [New York] Woman’s Rights Convention contained provisions for advancing the status of American women in all aspects of economic, social, political, legal, and religious life. By the time Alva Belmont became a feminist in the early twentieth century the agenda had been reduced to the right to vote.

What issues should modern-day feminists pay attention to?

The issues haven’t changed much. At all levels of society and in all aspects of economic, political, and religious life, women are still second class citizens. Many women are still denied the right to control their bodies. Many women are still the victims of abuse. Many women and their children still don’t have adequate health care. Women are still underrepresented in male dominated fields such as engineering, chemistry, and physics. Most women still make less money than most men. Fortune 500 companies still do not typically appoint women to be their CEOs or to serve on their boards of directors. There are still denominations that refuse to allow women to become full-fledged ministers. Only a few members of congress are female. I could go on and on.

In your book, you discuss how all biographies have a sense of autobiography to them, since the biographer reads their subject’s life through their own lens of personal experiences. Could you expand on this?

It is impossible to spend the time necessary to write a biography and not develop some sort of personal relationship with the subject of your work. You may end up liking or disliking that individual. You may respect or not respect what they did and approve or not approve of the way they did it. It takes years to do the research for a biography and then write it. By the time you have finished, you have an opinion about such matters. 

The point I was trying to make is that we inevitably see the world through our own lens and interpret the actions of others through our own experience. Thus the issue is not whether what we write is true but whether our representation of the life of someone else is based solidly on the evidence available to us. That’s as close to the truth as we are ever going to get.

In addition to her generous financial support to the women’s suffrage movement, Alva’s celebrity status was an important part of the social campaign’s success. Would those donations have been as impactful without Alva’s socialite reputation?

Money, and lots of it, always has an impact whether or not it is attached to a celebrity. Alva’s celebrity was important to the woman’s rights movement because it served as an incredibly important form of free advertising. She was a public relations executive’s dream.

Finally, what words of wisdom do you have for the future generations? Or, what do you suppose Alva would say if she saw the world today?

As for words of wisdom—never assume that women will gain and then maintain their rights without a struggle. There has always been and will continue to be a backlash against women’s progress that is supported and organized by those whose interests are served by women’s subordination. 

I think Alva would still support women’s rights and be willing to give money to women’s causes. And, given her incredible ego, I think she would still be trying to take credit for the advances that women have been able to gain for themselves.

Author interview: David M. Jordan (FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944)

Although the presidential election of 1944 placed FDR in the White House for an unprecedented fourth term, historical memory of the election itself has changed. Today most people assume that FDR’s reelection was assured. Yet, as the new book FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944 reveals, neither the outcome of the campaign nor even the choice of candidates was assured. On this 67th anniversary of the election, I talked with author David M. Jordan to learn more about the fascinating campaign between FDR and Dewey.

Many assume that FDR’s 1944 re-election was a given, but the presidential race was much closer than many recall. Why has the historical memory of this election changed?

I believe that the historical memory of FDR as a candidate who never lost is part of it—“how could FDR even have a close election?”—and the fact that it was very much a part of the war and the war effort. Also perhaps the fact that Dewey lost again four years later tends to lower him in the historical memory.

What were the reasons that the election was so close?

The country seemed to be trending toward more conservatism and the liberalism of the New Deal was fading as the economy improved. A lot of folks were also unhappy with the government-imposed restrictions of the war effort, and the rumors about Roosevelt’s health had some effect, as did all the Communism talk by the Republicans. And, while it didn’t affect the electoral college vote, FDR’s popular vote in the South went down, as the Democratic strength in the South started on its way down.

What is one of the most interesting aspects of the election?

The most interesting aspect of the election in my eyes was the struggle for the selection of the Democratic vice-presidential nominee: the down-grading of Wallace, the push for Byrnes and others, the reluctance of Truman, and, most of all, the “hands-off” and sometimes duplicitous attitude of Roosevelt.

In the preface, you write about some of your childhood recollections of this presidential election. What is your most vivid memory from that time?

What I remember most is my mother’s constant talk about how bad FDR was. I also have a vivid memory of going to my local barber shop and, while waiting, picking up and reading LIFE magazine and a feature on Senate races across the country; I particularly recall reading about Leverett Saltonstall of Massachusetts and Wayne Morse of Oregon.

FDR’s personal physician made misleading statements about the president’s health to keep the public in the dark about the seriousness of his condition. Do you think it’s possible to keep this kind of information a secret today?

No, I think today’s media would never stand for something like what Dr. McIntire did. Even then, the reporters could see that Roosevelt looked a lot different from before and they felt that there was something they weren’t being told, but they had nowhere else to turn. Today, even if the mainstream media were to go along with some kind of a cover-up, all those magazines that turn up next to the supermarket check-out lines would have a field day with the president’s health secrets.

How did Dewey, who has been described as “cold,” “humorless,” and having “little natural political endowment,” end up securing the 1944 Republican nomination?

The main reason he got it was the fact that Republican politicians across the country felt that Dewey was the only one who could carry New York State against Roosevelt. They looked at what he had done in the 1938 and 1942 statewide elections and they figured he had a good chance of carrying NY (as well as the other eastern states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, etc.). Most of them liked Bricker much better than Dewey, but they didn’t think Bricker had any real chance to crack the eastern-states bloc. And, of course, Dewey had very persuasive agents like Brownell and Jaeckle going around the country pushing his (invisible) candidacy and getting delegates lined up.

What were some new or surprising facts you learned while doing research for your book?

I never knew about Willkie and the Wisconsin primary until I started on the book or the Warren VP-boom that he scuttled or the struggle to permit some sort of military voting.

How long did it take you to complete the research for the book?

Looking back, I would say it was some six or seven years, with my first research trip to Notre Dame to go through the Frank Walker papers.

In addition to this book, you’ve also written several others on a range of topics, including politics, history, and sports. Are you working on any other books? What will the next one be about?

The publisher of my 2001 history of the Philadelphia Phillies, Occasional Glory, has me doing a second edition, bringing it up to date through 2011. I have also started a history of the Athletics franchise from coast to coast, from Philadelphia to Kansas City to Oakland. And I’ve been giving thought to my next non-baseball work.

Six IU Press books recommended for public and secondary libraries

We are pleased to announce that six of our books were selected for this year's University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries. A popular and trusted acquisitions resource, the university press bibliography is the product of a longstanding and successful collaboration between the Association of American University Presses (AAUP), the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), and the Public Library Association (PLA). The IUP titles are among 350 books by AAUP members included in this bibliography. Featuring many diverse subjects, the bibliography provides librarians with valuable scholarship to match any interest. Three of the IUP titles featured were given an "outstanding" rating, including:

Conversations with Great Teachers

“[A]n important reminder that all people have something to teach and everyone still has something to learn.” —Hilary Albert (PLA)

“This wonderful title is full of surprises for any reader interested in education in the broadest sense of the term.” —Judith Repman (AASL)

Life Lessons Through Storytelling

“I found [this book] very engaging. The basic idea of drawing children’s ideas out through storytelling may not be new, but discussing their ethics, getting them to think about right and wrong in the context of stories and their own communities can have such a lasting impact on how they grow as citizens.”—Hilary Albert (PLA)

Extraordinary Circumstances

“This was not only thoroughly researched but it was well written. The text actually reads more like a story than the chronicle of a war. ... This book is a great asset to any collection.”—Elizabeth Willoughby (AASL)

Other books listed in the bibliography are Wreck of the Carl D., Guard Wars, and Bush on the Home Front.

Book review: Al Capone and His American Boys

"Readers will find Winkeler’s story compelling if a bit self-aggrandizing. Her writing style is easy to read, and her slight snootiness and melodrama over the stress of being a mobster’s wife amuses. ... For true crime and gangster story fans." —Library Journal

Book review: The American War in Contemporary Vietnam

"The American War in Contemporary Vietnam makes a compelling, significant, and long-overdue contribution to a growing body of recent scholarship that is interrogating the Vietnam War—or the American War—in increasingly innovative and complicated ways. This well-researched and provocative book is a fine example of transnational, interdisciplinary scholarship that adds an essential dimension to consideration of the war’s legacy. It is essential reading, and it is difficult to imagine teaching a course on the legacy of U.S. involvement in Indochina without including it." —H-1960s

Book review: Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary

"Boomhower's account of the 1968 Indiana primary is a highly readable monograph that contextualizes the campaign quite well. ... The book is a valuable contribution to RFK scholarship and sheds new light on the inner workings of one of Kennedy's most important political endeavors." —Presidential Studies Quarterly

Daniel Greene to lecture at the University of Chicago

Daniel Greene, author of The Jewish Origins of Cultural Pluralism, will give a lecture based on his book Wednesday, May 18 at 5:30 p.m. (CST) at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His book traces the emergence of the idea of cultural pluralism to the lived experiences of a group Jewish college students and public intellectuals, who founded the Menorah Association.

For more information on the lecture, visit the University of Chicago's Event page.

Book review: Refugees and Rescue

"[The book] ... sheds considerable light on [James McDonald's] tireless efforts to secure refuge for Jews fleeing Nazi persecution..." —Journal of Palestine Studies

Read an excerpt from Wreck of the Carl D.

On this day back in 1958, a 623-foot limestone carrier—caught in one of the most violent storms in Lake Michigan history—broke in two and sank in less than five minutes. Four of the 35-person crew escaped to a small raft, to which they clung in total darkness, braving 30-foot waves and frigid temperatures. As the storm raged on, a search-and-rescue mission hunted for survivors, while the frantic citizens of nearby Rogers City, Michigan, the hardscrabble town that was home to 26 members of the Carl D. Bradley's crew, anxiously awaited word of their loved ones' fates. In Wreck of the Carl D., Michael Schumacher reconstructs the terrible accident, perilous search, and chilling aftermath for the small Michigan town so intimately affected by the tragedy.

Read an excerpt from the book.