Introduction; 1 The Healed Wound; Habeas Corpus and Common Sense; The Wound That Dare Not Speak Its Name; Stab Wounds; "Us" and "Them"; Healing; Vietnamnesia; The Personal Imperative; Rituals of the Community; The National Allegory; The Unhealed; 2 The Vietnam Veteran as Ventriloquist; Silencing the Messenger; "If I Only Had the Words"; A Unique War; You Had to Be There; Teaching the Truth; The Voice of Unity; Talking Back; 3 Bringing the War "Home"; The Home Front; Repatriation; The Therapeutic Family; Nostalgia; There's No Place Like It; Articulating Difference and Unity.

At the height of the Vietnam War, American society was so severely fragmented that it seemed that Americans may never again share common concerns. The media and other commentators represented the impact of the war through a variety of rhetorical devices, most notably the emotionally charged metaphor of "the wound that will not heal." References in various contexts to veterans' attempts to find a "voice," and to bring the war "home" were also common. Gradually, an assured and resilient American self-image and powerful impressions of cultural collectivity transforme.

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