Super Short Summary

Christian G. Appy's 2015 book American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity explores the conflict's impact on America's self-perception, dismantling the myth of American exceptionalism by highlighting the war's atrocities, including mass relocations, chemical warfare, and the My Lai Massacre. He examines the economic, cultural, and political factors driving U.S. intervention, critiques the portrayal of masculinity and heroism in popular culture, and traces the shifting narratives of victimhood associated with American veterans and Vietnamese civilians in the war's aftermath.