The Wages Of War Analysis

The aftermath of the Vietnam War brought attention to severe issues in multiple countries that the war had affected. America was largely impacted by the war, however, Vietnam and other countries nearby were affected the most drastically. “The Wages of War,” an essay by Michael H. Hunt, offers the most detailed perspective on the aftermath of the Vietnam War due to it explaining the effects of the war outside of the United States as well as inside, whereas while “Competing Memories,” by Arnold R. Isaacs, offers why views on the war may have differed in America, he neglects to include much detail on what occurred outside of the country.
“The Wages of War,” by Michael H. Hunt, published from the text Lyndon Johnson’s War: America’s Cold War Crusade …show more content…
“Competing Memorials,” an essay by Arnold R. Isaacs, from the text Vietnam Shadows: The War, Its Ghosts, and Its Legacy, was published after Hunt’s essay, in 1997. This text is different in the sense that it offers a different kind of multiperspectivity. While Hunt showed the perspectives of the losses in both America and Vietnam, Isaacs solely explored the mental effects of the war on America. He states that “Vietnam had split this country apart,” in reference to the United States, showing the clear difference in opinions of citizens about the war. He goes on to explain how he learned that the world was essentially “absurd,” although from World War II, his father’s generation that the world may be terrible at times, but it also contained rationality and justice for partaking in battle. Despite Isaacs detailed account of why an effect of a divide of opinion could have taken place in America, he fails to mention the perspective of how the war may have affected Vietnam, therefore making itself less detailed than “The Wages of War.” Hunt’s