WHAT SHOULD WE TELL OUR CHILDREN ABOUT...

WHAT SHOULD WE TELL OUR CHILDREN ABOUT VIETNAM? by Bill McCloud (Berkley: $4.50). McCloud, a junior high social-studies teacher, wrote to politicians, authors and veterans asking how to explain the Vietnam War to his students; the book contains the 128 replies he received. A few of the writers seem eager to re-fight the conflict: on the left, embittered veterans and activists; on the right, angry military officers and G. Gordon Liddy. A reluctant consensus emerges from these pages: The United States must learn to accept the limits of its power; the United States should not enter another war unless it has been declared by Congress, a threat to the nation’s security is present and the country is totally committed to the conflict.