The full impact of the Vietnam War on America has yet to be completely

The full impact of the Vietnam War on America has yet to be completely understood. As divisive as the Civil War, Vietnam continues to be debated, analyzed, and portrayed in countless films, nonfiction books, and novels. This is the first look at the war's impact on veterans who are visual artists, men and women for whom Vietnam will never be a closed subject. Nearly 200 works in a wide range of mediums are drawn from the extraordinary collection of the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago. Begun as a collective in 1981, the museum gathers, preserves, and exhibits art in which veterans--including nurses and doctors, a former POW, men and women who were in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, and Vietnamese soldiers and guerrillas--have explored and revisited their experiences. The long-overlooked art of Vietnam War veterans offers a unique perspective on a momentous event in American history. The works are set in context by two essays and accompanied by artist's statements, as well as by excerpts from diaries, letters, poems, memoirs, and novels from the museum's archives. The long-overlooked art of Vietnam War veterans offers a unique perspective on a momentous event in American history. Nearly 200 works in a wide ranges of mediums are highlighted from the extraordinary collection at the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago. 307 illustrations, 123 in color.