I haven’t read too much recently on Vietnam. The last book I had read on the subject was years ago when I took a class at college. However I recently got a copy of Vietnam Zippos by Sherry Buchanan. It is a really nice book.
This book is filled with photographs of a large number of Zippo lighters that belonged to American soldiers fighting in Vietnam. The various inscriptions and engravings are fascinating and give a view into the thoughts of the owners. Customizing their lighter was a way for many of them to express themselves. With each set of photos is a list of any information known on the previous owner such as where they were stationed and when. There are even notes explaining any slang or acronyms used on the engravings or the meanings of any symbols or pictures.
The book is 180 pages long and about 9 ½ by 8 ½ inches in size. It’s full color (except for a few B&W photos) and overall is a beautiful book. There are a few places where I don’t like the typesetting, but it does not take away from the book as a whole. Additionally it is reasonably priced with a cover price of $25 and I was able to get mine for about a third off. The binding seems pretty good (I have an extreme dislike of books with shoddy bindings) and was printed in Italy.
If you have an interest in the Vietnam War this would be a great book to add to your library. As I stated earlier I never really spent much time in the past really studying it but I still found myself compelled to purchase this book and don’t regret it.
FYI: There are a number of naughty words and pictures on many of these lighters.
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