SUMMARY

 

When Kenneth Levin unexpectedly gained possession of the diary his brother Ralph kept from 1965–1966 as an army doctor in Vietnam, Levin didn’t know what to do with it. The tattered book wasn’t much to look at, and Ralph’s chicken-scratch handwriting proved virtually indecipherable.

 

But Levin, the author of two popular Vietnam-era fictional works, kept returning to Ralph’s account over and over again. There are few known Vietnam War diaries, and personal narratives by doctors are virtually nonexistent. Despite the difficulties inherent in transcribing the diary, Levin threw his heart into the project. In his brother’s words, he discovered a priceless account of a pivotal time in the war’s long, sorrowful trajectory. He also came to a fuller understanding of his brother—not to mention the rest of their eclectic Jewish family. The subsequent discovery of a North Vietnam woman doctor’s diary added another, startling dimension.

 

Written in Levin’s boisterous, brutally honest voice, Salami and the White Horse isn’t just another historical account of a war that defined a generation’s ideals and culture. It’s an intimate look at a family’s wartime experience and their unique circumstances. Levin’s observations are at times hilarious and at times heartbreaking…but always thought provoking.