Elizabeth Partridge’s book, Boots on the Ground is a 2019 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Finalist. In what may be her best book yet, the author brings history to life, through first person interviews and photographs. Boots on the Ground brings the Vietnam War into sharp focus for our young adult readers.
In Boots on the Ground, the author presents first person interviews with people with very different perspectives on the Vietnam War, including soldiers, medical personnel, a protester state-side, and a refugee. These personal narratives are interspersed with facts of the U.S. government and societal views occurring at the time, as well as treatment of veterans after the war, and the creation of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. The book is a visceral immersion into the war.