MSI Press Blog

  Chris Richards' book,   Nothing So Broken , reached  #182 in Vietnam War biographies, #99 in disability biographies, and #194 in Vietnam War History. Book description:  In the shadow of loss, a path to healing begins. Chris Richards grew up in a small New England mill town, where life was tough and loyalty ran deep. At just 19, his world was shaken when a close friend was left permanently disabled by a devastating accident. At the same time, Chris’s father began to show troubling symptoms linked to his service in the Vietnam War—unseen wounds that would slowly unravel the man he once knew. The weight of watching two people he loved unravel under the strain of trauma and physical decline left deep scars—ones Chris carried silently into adulthood. For years, he buried his grief and fear, never imagining that one day, facing his own crisis, he would turn to their stories for strength. This powerful and moving memoir explores the enduring impact of trauma, the qui...

    Chris Richards' book,   Nothing So Broken , reached  #182 in Vietnam War biographies, #99 in disability biographies, and #194 in Vietnam War History. Book description:  In the shadow of loss, a path to healing begins. Chris Richards grew up in a small New England mill town, where life was tough and loyalty ran deep. At just 19, his world was shaken when a close friend was left permanently disabled by a devastating accident. At the same time, Chris’s father began to show troubling symptoms linked to his service in the Vietnam War—unseen wounds that would slowly unravel the man he once knew. The weight of watching two people he loved unravel under the strain of trauma and physical decline left deep scars—ones Chris carried silently into adulthood. For years, he buried his grief and fear, never imagining that one day, facing his own crisis, he would turn to their stories for strength. This powerful and moving memoir explores the enduring impact of trauma, ...

  For young men coming of age in the 1960s, the Vietnam War wasn’t a distant headline. It was a countdown clock. It shaped their choices, their friendships, their sense of safety, and the very architecture of adulthood. Whether they served, resisted, or found themselves somewhere in between, the war pressed itself into the grain of their lives. A Generation Raised on One Promise, Delivered Another These were boys raised on the mythology of World War II—clear enemies, clear victories, clear heroes. Their fathers came home to parades and mortgages. Their teachers told them America always fought for freedom. Their churches prayed for the nation’s righteousness. Then Vietnam arrived with no such clarity. Suddenly, the same institutions that had shaped their moral compass were asking them to fight a war that many couldn’t explain, justify, or even locate on a map. The Draft: A Sorting Hat With Consequences The draft didn’t just send men to war—it sorted them by class, race, geogra...