Outstanding book of short stories revealing and sometimes contrasting the worldviews of the Vietnam generation and the WWII generation. One short story in particular has the Vietnam-protesting sons of a WWII vet finally listening to what their father endured on the island of Bougainville. The sons are amazed and try to sort out their hatred of war with their father's own question, "The only thing I can say is what I thought of then and what I still believe. I can't see how you turn your cheek to Hitler and the Japanese." The author is a master of dialogue and the inner workings of several generational minds. ( )