
In That Time
Description
Through the story of the brief, brave life of apromising poet, the president and CEO of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Artevokes the turmoil and tragedy of the Vietnam War era.
In That Time tells the story of the American experience in Vietnam through the lifeof Michael O'Donnell, a bright young musician and poet who served as a soldierand helicopter pilot. O'Donnell wrote with great sensitivity and poetic force,and his best-known poem is among the most beloved of the war. In 1970, duringan attempt to rescue fellow soldiers stranded under heavy fire, O'Donnell'shelicopter was shot down in the jungles of Cambodia. He remained missing inaction for almost three decades.
Althoughhe never fired a shot in Vietnam, O'Donnell served in one of the most dangerousroles of the war, all the while using poetry to express his inner feelings andto reflect on the tragedy that was unfolding around him. O'Donnell's life isboth a powerful, personal story and a compelling, universal one about howAmerica lost its way in the 1960s, but also how hope can flower in the marginsof even the darkest chapters of the American story.
More details
Person
Daniel H. Weiss has been the CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for eight years. He is an art historian, former college president and dean of arts and sciences. He researched and wrote this book over a decade, after reading a poem by O'Donnell and committing to telling his story, one of the 58,000 American GIs who died in the Vietnam war. He is the author of six books, including Why Museums Matter (Yale University Press, October 2022). He lives in New York City.
Content
A Note from the Author
Prologue: Arlington
Part One
1. An Ice Cream Season
2. A Soldier in the Spring
3. Vietnam Winter
4. The Mission
Part Two
5. Left Behind
6. Aftermath
7. Recovery
8. Reconciliation
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index