In 1965, Gene Basset, a well-known political cartoonist, was sent to Vietnamby his newspaper publishing syndicate. His assignment: to sketch scenes of theincreasingly controversial war in order to help the newspaper-reading publicbetter understand the events occurring in Southeast Asia.In much the same way that M.A.S.H. gave viewers an irreverent, wry view ofwar and its devastating effects on citizens as well as soldiers, Basset’s sketchesportray the everyday, often mundane, aspects of wartime with an intimate touchthat eases access to the dark subject matter. In this affectionately curated collection,author, doctor, and longtime friend of the artist, Thom Rooke, deftlyleads us through more than eighty of Basset’s cartoons, organizing his insightsaccording to the well-known stages of grief, from denial to acceptance, anddemonstrating how Basset’s images convey moments of trauma, coping, andhealing. From scenes of American GIs haggling with Vietnamese street vendorsto a medic dressing the wounds of a wide-eyed soldier, Basset’s endearingsketches and Rooke’s friendly prose humanize life during wartime. The seriocomicvignettes and analyses are delivered with wit, compassion, and subtlecharm sure to please academic, artistic, and casual readers alike.