Another review on this site claims this is a polemic, which is untrue and frankly insults the good writer Eliot Asinof was. This is comprehensive documentation of a tragedy and a community's reaction to it. Having lived through the turbulent years of Vietnam War protest myself, I've never seen a depiction of the time as accurate as this one. Asinof does not praise the children who have committed suicide as the other reviewer claims; he simply does not. Their act is depicted as just what it was -- a tragedy to the families and a mystery to most of the world in a time of national upheaval.

It's as sad a story as you're likely to come across, and Asinof reports the facts clearly and without prejudice of any kind. Your judgments are your own to make. ( )

I have never understood why the fact that someone is willing to die for something is a good argument for their point of view. Even before terrorism became such an issue, it was clear that people were willing to die for a variety of mutually exclusive religions and ideologies. Asinof praises Craig and Joan for committing suicide for "peace" in a car one evening. They killed themselves as a protest against the war in Vietnam. Why their deaths should have had any effect is a question that Asinof never explores. Soldiers who volunteered for two or more tours of duty in Vietnam might have been said to be willing to die for war. This is a tragic case where I would argue that it is frequently better to live for something than die for it. ( )