Super Short Summary

They Marched into Sunlight by David Maraniss interweaves the harrowing events of the Battle of Ong Tranh during the Vietnam War with the intense anti-war protest at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in October 1967. The book explores the ambush of U.S. soldiers in the Long Nguyen Secret Zone and the violent clash between police and students protesting Dow Chemical's recruitment on campus, against the backdrop of President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration grappling with the unpopular war. The narrative meticulously reveals the stark contrasts and connections between the battlefront in Vietnam and the rising dissent on American soil. The book depicts graphic violence and emotional trauma experienced by those involved.