Frances FitzGerald Livres

Sensitively examines the American intervention in Vietnam against its Vietnamese historical setting.

FitzGerald's polemic analysis argues that contemporary texts reflect current social quarrels, frequently distorting history into propaganda

“Remarkable. . . . A gift from a heroine who was killed at twenty-seven but whose voice has survived to remind us of the humanity and decency that endure amid—and despite—the horror and chaos of war.” —Francine Prose, O, The Oprah Magazine Brutally honest and rich in detail, this posthumously published diary of a twenty-seven-year-old Vietcong woman doctor, saved from destruction by an American soldier, gives us fresh insight into the lives of those fighting on the other side of the Vietnam War. It is a story of the struggle for one’s ideals amid the despair and grief of war, but most of all, it is a story of hope in the most dire circumstances. “As much a drama of feelings as a drama of war.” —Seth Mydans, New York Times “A book to be read by and included in any course on the literature of the war. . . . A major contribution.” —Chicago Tribune “An illuminating picture of what life was like among the enemy guerrillas, especially in the medical community.” —The VVA Veteran, official publication of Vietnam Veterans of America

"We must consider that we shall be a City Upon a Hill, the eyes of all people upon us," John Winthrop told his Pilgrim community crossing the Atlantic to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Four centuries later, Americans are still building such cities. In Cities on a Hill Pulitzer Prize-winner Frances FitzGerald explores this often eccentric, sometimes prophetic inclination in America. With characteristic wit and insight she examines four radically different communities: a fundamentalist church, a guru-inspired commune, a Sunbelt retirement city, and a gay activist community. All embody a visionary drive to shake off the past and build anew. Each regards itself as an exemplar of a new consciousness, or a new way of living, or both. FitzGerald here gives eloquent voice and definition to a quintessentially American impulse. It is a resonant work of literary imagination and journalistic precision.