Until the Last Gun Is Silent: A Story of Patriotism, the Vietnam War, and the Fight to Save America's Soul

by Matthew F. Delmont

Overview

The untold story of the Black patriots—from soldiers in combat to peace protesters—who ended the Vietnam War and defended the soul of American democracy, from a pre-eminent civil rights historian and the award-winning author of Half American

As the civil rights movement blazed through America, more than 300,000 Black troops were drafted and sent to fight in the Vietnam War. These soldiers, often from disadvantaged backgrounds and subjected to the brutalities of racism back home, found themselves thrust onto the frontlines of a war many saw as unjust. On the homefront, Black antiwar activists faced another battle: Opposition to the Vietnam War, vilified by key allies in the media and government as anti-American, jeopardized the fight for civil rights. For Black Americans, the Vietnam War forced a generation to question what it truly meant to fight for justice.

Award-winning civil rights historian Matthew F. Delmont weaves together the stories of two Black heroes of the Vietnam War era: Coretta Scott King, who bravely championed the antiwar cause—and eventually persuaded her husband to do the same—and Dwight “Skip” Johnson, a Medal of Honor recipient whose life ended tragically after returning from battle to his native Detroit. Together, these extraordinary accounts expose the contradictions of Black activism and military service during the Vietnam War. Through rich storytelling, Delmont offers a portrait of this period unlike any other, shedding light on a fractured civil rights movement, a generation of veterans failed by the country they served, and the valor of Black servicemen and peace advocates in the midst of it all.

Vivid, revelatory, and meticulously researched, Until the Last Gun Is Silent: How a Civil Rights Icon and Vietnam War Hero Changed America is essential reading for anyone looking to understand the enduring legacy of Black military service, protest, and patriotism in the United States.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593655870
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/27/2026
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Matthew F. Delmont is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth College. A Guggenheim Fellow and expert on African American history and the history of civil rights, he is the author of five books, most recently Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and several academic journals, and on NPR. Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Delmont earned his BA from Harvard University and his MA and PhD from Brown University.

Editorial Reviews

“Until the Last Gun Is Silent is a remarkable and revelatory book. Matthew F. Delmont uses the stories of Coretta Scott King and war hero Dwight ‘Skip’ Johnson, along with many others, to give us a fresh look at the high and lasting costs of the Vietnam War and how Black Americans, as they did before and do now, navigated the tension between patriotism and protest, Americanism and activism.”
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., New York Times bestselling author of Stony the Road

“Matthew F. Delmont possesses the gifts of an adventurous historian and a lively writer. In this groundbreaking book, he weaves together two often overlooked stories that help us better understand the intersection of the civil rights struggle and the Vietnam War, vividly reminding us that protest was and must always be an important part of patriotism.”
—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of King: A Life

“African Americans have participated in every American war since the Revolution, demonstrating their patriotic fervor. Matthew F. Delmont’s Until the Last Gun Is Silent is a fascinating account of how the Vietnam War complicated Black people’s beliefs about military service and patriotism. Riveting and poignant, this is history at its best.”
—Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author of On Juneteenth

“Matthew Delmont braids together two lives: one of a man now forgotten, the other of a woman who, though familiar to us, had a fierce passion for justice far too little known. Their combined stories illuminate a crucial era whose wounds are still with us. An unusually moving and haunting book.”
—Adam Hochschild, author of American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis

“By narrating Coretta Scott King’s antiwar activism alongside the tragic story of Medal of Honor recipient Dwight ‘Skip’ Johnson, Matthew Delmont delfty explores the linkages between the ‘major evils’ of racism, poverty, and war, and how a group of Black patriots responded. At turns inspiring and devastating, nuanced and enraging, Until the Last Gun Is Silent is an extraordinary book.”
—Phil Klay, National Book Award–winning author of Redeployment

“Matthew F. Delmont has given us a great gift in Until the Last Gun Is Silent by restoring Coretta Scott King’s pivotal leadership of the antiwar movement. She didn’t just lead her husband, who stressed, ‘she educated me.’ She led the nation in challenging U.S. involvement in Vietnam and the misprioritization of resources to war that were needed at home. An essential read for our times.”
—Jeanne Theoharis, author of King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life of Struggle Outside the South

“Until the Last Gun Is Silent is a propulsive history book, admirable in its sweep, its intimacy, and its purpose. In telling the story of Coretta Scott King, a well-known, vocal opponent of the war in Vietnam, and Skip Johnson, a young man whose life is changed when he is drafted to fight in it, this book calls readers to rethink what it truly means to serve one’s country—and the sacrifices made when doing so.”
—Robert Samuels, Pulitzer Prize–winning coauthor of His Name Is George Floyd

“In Until the Last Gun Is Silent, his brilliant and timely book about race and America during the Vietnam War, historian Matthew F. Delmont has undertaken an important mission, illuminating the intertwined stories of two misunderstood and underappreciated figures of that era. A captivating book by a gifted storyteller.”
—David Maraniss, New York Times bestselling author of They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967

From the Publisher