Paul Densmore

The Fall of '68 Paul Densmore

The title is "The Fall of '68" (that is 1968). The main character of the book is a Vietnam War vet who has returned to college. The entire book is set on a moderate-sized private college campus in Ohio. The veteran was a freshman at the campus starting in the fall of 1965. He has an unhappy romance during his freshman year, the spring of 1966. He is drafted into the army the summer of 1966. He returns to the same campus in the fall of 1968. He is exposed to the turmoil sweeping the nation but has a different perspective as a result of being a combat vet. He meets a new love interest but is cautious. His best friend is a brilliant physics student he roomed with his freshman year and with whom he is again living with in an off-campus apartment. His second best friend is also a vet, but this friend cannot adjust and is expelled. The main character also has disciplinary problems and, in an unusual twist, starts the process of reenlisting to get back to Vietnam. The new love interest saves him from that fate, and there is the possibility that they live happily ever after (no sunset scene). Major Themes Explored Combat fatigue (post-traumatic stress) Politics (LBJ quits, MLK is assassinated, RFK is assassinated, worldwide student and labor protests, Nixon elected) Social rebellion as typified by hippies and drugs Love