In this one-of-a-kind evening, The Ivy is delighted to bring together two writers with recent books, in different genres, about Americans on the peripheries of war in Vietnam: children and wives of American servicemen.

In his memoir, Diplomats at War: Friendship and Betrayal on the Brink of the Vietnam Conflict , Charles Trueheart threads his boyhood family experiences through the heart of a dramatic episode of Cold War power politics whose denouement hastened America’s ten-year military involvement in Southeast Asia.

Alice McDermott’s latest novel Absolution gives a riveting account from the perspectives of the wives of American servicemen, as they discover how their own lives as women on the periphery—of politics, of history, of war, of their husbands’ convictions—have been shaped and burdened by the same sort of unintended consequences that followed America’s tragic interference in Southeast Asia.

Robert Ruby, former foreign editor of The Baltimore Sun, will moderate this conversation.

The Ivy is beyond pleased to present this excellent panel for what’s sure to be an insightful evening of conversation.

RSVP Here

Click here to order Diplomats at War!

Click here to order Absolution!