It shows how the culture of America was changing, and that unrest was beginning all across the nation because of the war, the companies and government behind it, and the inequity of it all. It combines all these people and allows the reader to meet them, understand them, and then make up their own mind about them. For example, the author compares two of the profiles in the book, an Army commander, and a college protester. He writes, "Just as Army commander Terry de la Mesa Allen Jr. was shaped by the traditions of his father and grandfather before him, so too was antiwar activist Paul Richard Soglin" (Maraniss 94). It seems these two young men, so far apart in time, place, and outlook, would have nothing in common, and yet, the author shows they do, and it is this commonality that proves to be the backbone of this book....
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