They Marched Into Sunlight

This meticulous work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Maraniss examines the Vietnam Era in Southeast Asia and at home. The war portions focus on specific locations, military companies, and individuals, telling their personal stories down to the details of body posture and emotional reactions. The result is vivid, but occasionally over-whelming--a bit of editing would have helped. At home Maraniss focuses on the students at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (Maraniss's alma mater), who worked to prevent Dow Chemical, makers of napalm, from recruiting on campus. L.J. Ganser enters into the spirit of what is essentially a recreation of an entire period, taking care to give equally dramatic voice to individuals on all sides of the issues. Ganser handles period chants, slogans, and foreign vocabulary with equal ease. The only weakness in the narration is an occasional nasal tone, which makes strong emotion seem unintentionally strident. G.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine