Don't Mean Nothing

<div>In this powerful story collection-the first such work of fiction by a woman who served in Vietnam-Susan O'Neill offers a remarkable view of the war from a female perspective. All the nurses who served there had a common bond: to attend to the wounded. While men were sent to protect America's interests at any cost nurses were trained to save the lives of anyone-soldier or citizen ally or enemy-who was brought through the hospital doors. It was an important distinction in a place where killing was sometimes the only objective. And since they were so vastly outnumbered women inevitably became objects of both reverence and sexual desire.<br> <br> For American nurses in Vietnam and the men among whom they worked and lived a common defense against the steady onslaught of dead and dying wounded and maimed was a feigned indifference-the irony of the powerless. With the assistance of alcohol drugs and casual sex Don't mean nothing became their mantra a means of coping with the other war-the war against total mental breakdown.<br> <br> Each or these tales offers new and profound insight into the ways the war in Vietnam forever changed the lives of everyone who served there.</div>