Probing the effect of the Vietnam War on the American self-image, the author uses popular culture, literature, and film to study how the myths and symbols of the war reflected the politics of Americans.

Albert Camus called her "the only great spirit of our time." She was one of the most prominent French political thinkers of this century. She was a brilliant social activist, a vigilant and critical Marxist. Her religious and philosophical writings are remarkable in their originality. And yet Simone Weil died without ever writing a complete book and without ever formulating a major intellectual testament.
In this study of her life and thought, John Hellman synthesizes insights drawn from her varied, fragmentary writings-notebooks, essays, and letters-into a single, highly original view of the...