Unencumbered by History: The Vietnam Experience in Young Adult Fiction

Cultures, like languages, need people for their continued existence. Belief systems and the construction of social identity are both perpetuated and changed by individuals acting within their cultural milieu. As we learn to be individuals, we also learn the parameters of the groups to which we belong. Unencumbered by History explores an element of this process: the formation of national identity and the attendant culture myths embodied in young adult fiction about America in the Vietnam war. As one of the most important twentieth century events in the American experience, Vietnam and the anti‐war protest movement had considerable influence on...