Review date:
01/11/2006
A fabulous book!
I recently finished a fabulous book, With Love Stan, by Karen Ross Epp This book should be required reading by every junior in high school in America. In addition, anyone who whats to understand what really happened on the ground in Vietnam needs to read this book.
Karen Ross Epp grew up in Iowa. In 1968, her brother Stan joined the US Army. He went through basic training and then was shipped over to Vietnam. He served seven months as an infantryman before being killed by a sniper in October 1969.
As a US History teacher at Hesston High School, in Hesston, Kansas, what I particulary like about Epp's book is that after every couple of letters, she includes excerpts from other books about foot soldiers experiences in Vietnam. This is what makes it such a signifcant and universal book. With Love Stan becomes not just one person's story, but every infantryman's story.
In addition, Epp contacted many of the soldiers who served with Stan and included their reollections about their service and what they are doing now. This brings the reader painfully full circle by examining what Stan's life, and by extension, all Vietnam soldiers who were killed, would have been like had he lived.
With our country currently engaged in a protracted, inceasingly unpopular war, in a country whose citizens are inceasingly hostile to us, this book is eeily appropriate.
Kurt Harder, US History teacher, Hesston, Kansas
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