Chance and Circumstance; The Draft, The War, and The Vietnam Generation

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. Very good/Good. xix, [1], 312, [2] pages. DJ has wear, soiling and small tears/chips. Illustrations. Table. Includes Foreword by Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, Preface; The Vietnam Generation; Avoiders; Evaders; Deserters; Exiles; Amnesty; Legacies; Notes; Bibliography, and Index.
Also contains figures on Vietnam Generation; Civilian Avoiders; Military Avoiders; Evaders; Military Offenders; Military Punishment; Exiles; Amnesty--Civilians; and Amnesty-Military. Also contains a table on the Likelihood of Vietnam-Era Service; Avoiders; Evaders; Deserters; and Exiles. Lawrence M. Baskir (born January 10, 1938) is a Senior Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims serving since 1997. He was chief judge from 2000 to 2002 and a judge on the court from 1998 to 2013 before assuming senior status in 2013. Baskir received a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Princeton University in 1959 followed by an Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1962. Baskir joined the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary in 1965 and served till 1967 and then resumed service from 1969-1974 while becoming chief counsel and staff director from 1969-1974. He then was chief executive officer of the Presidential Clemency Board for The White House from 1974-1975. Baskir joined the Vietnam Project as a research professor and director at the University of Notre Dame Law School from 1975-1977. He was the Principal Deputy General Counsel for the United States Army from 1994-1998. William Strauss (December 5, 1947 - December 18, 2007) was an American author, playwright, theater director, and lecturer. As an author, he is known for his work with Neil Howe on social generations and for Strauss-Howe generational theory. He is also known as the co-founder and director of the satirical musical theater group the Capitol Steps. After receiving his degrees, Strauss worked in Washington, DC as a policy aid to the Presidential Clemency Board, directing a research team writing a report on the impact of the Vietnam War on the generation that was drafted. In 1978, Strauss and Lawrence Baskir co-authored two books on the Vietnam War, Chance and Circumstance, and Reconciliation after Vietnam. Strauss later worked at the U.S. Department of Energy and as a committee staffer for Senator Charles Percy, and in 1980 he became chief counsel and staff director of the Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, and Government Processes. This work is a compelling, revealing analysis of the generation of American males who came of draft age during the Vietnam War. The authors were high staff members on President Ford's clemency board. They demonstrate, among many other things, that wealthy, educated, well-connected men had many legal ways of avoiding military service in general and Vietnam in particular. There was a high correlation between low socioeconomic status and Vietnam combat service. An important book.