Bobby Muller
When you realize the average age of a combat soldier in Vietnam was 19, you can better appreciate how music would be indelibly written into the experiences of that powerfully formative time. This amazing book does justice to conveying the power and emotional impact of music throughout that era.
Sonia Outlaw-Clark
Doug and Craig's program based on their book We Gotta Get Out of Here: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War is outstanding. They grab your attention from the start and the music transports you. It's amazing to hear the music and the effect it had on the soldiers. You come away with a whole new perspective on the war and the music of the era.
Country Joe McDonald
We all love popular music and we all love soldiers. All we have left is memories. Maybe there is something to learn from this book, from their experiences, from the music. God, I hope so.
Doug Moe
I spoke with Doug Bradley and Craig Werner before apacked house at Mystery to Me about their extraordinary new book,We Gotta Get Out of This Place,whichtakes an insightful and nuanced look atthe music of the Vietnam War. Doug and Craigplayed the music, and talked about the vets and musicians they had interviewed. I think it'ssafe to say no one who was there that night will soon forget it.
TomásF. Summers Sandoval Jr.
Through the testimonies Bradley and Werner collect we see, firsthand, how music provides a window into the war and tensions over generation, region, and race. Music becomes much more than an artifact of culture; it is the stuff of memory and part of the complex ways we all make meaning.
Heather Marie Stur
By letting the veterans and the music do the talking, Werner and Bradley take readers on a journey through the tension, sorrow, fear, and hope that defined American men and women's service in Vietnam. The diversity of voices and songs reminds us that the home front and the battlefront are always connected and that music and war are deeply intertwined.
David Maraniss
Of the many ways to relate the story of the Vietnam war, few are more vibrant and accessible than the way Doug Bradley and Craig Werner tell it. I devoured this book.
Karl Marlantes
If you want to understand what it felt like, outside of combat itself, to live through and be part of the Vietnam War, read this book. Then, go listen to the music. I did both and I urge you to do the same.
Michael J. Kramer
We Gotta Get Out of This Place is chock full of materials that present multi-voiced memories of how popular music related to the experiences of American GIs in and after the Vietnam War. The book will appeal to veterans, and in many ways is written by, for, and to them. But students and fans of popular music history, the history of the 1960s, and the history of war will also find it an engaging and worthwhile read.
Dave Marsh
Bradley and Werner understand more kinds of music, more songs, and more troops of more kinds than anyone else who's written about the American military experience in Vietnam. Whether you read it because you are interested in the war, the music, the politics, or because you're still trying to figure out what Hell was going on, We Gotta Get Out of This Place will be a revelation.
