The Hardest Year

A Love Story in Letters During the Vietnam War

Carole Lynn Wagener, William Jon Wagener

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English

Wise Media Group
30 May 2023

Memoirs; Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000; Military history; Vietnam War; Military veterans

This memoir is based on handwritten letters, cards, and newspaper clippings sent between Carole and Bill Wagener from September 1968 to August 1969. The vernacular is accurate to that time, using words that are no longer politically correct. The letters, based on actual events, may have been compressed. Please note there was a time lapse between these letters due to a lag in the mail. Some names and identifying characteristics were changed to protect privacy, and some dialogue was recreated. The remainder of the book is based on Carole and Bill's memories to the best of their recollection over time and their letters. Because this is a war story, some chapters are very graphic and may not suit those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other trauma-related disorders. In addition, the book contains some offensive language and sexual references. Finally, there are several military terms, and various German, French, and Vietnamese phrases mentioned in this book. These terms are defined in the glossary and copious historical endnotes follow. The Hardest Year is not entirely composed of letters as Carole has taken some of her letters and turned them into narrative or dialogue. She seamlessly weaves her stories in with the letters to create a flow in the narrative, keeping the reader engaged through the final Epilogue which takes place in 2007 at anti-Iraq war demonstration..

By: Carole Lynn Wagener, William Jon Wagener
Imprint: Wise Media Group
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 386g
ISBN: 9781629672588
ISBN 10: 1629672580
Pages: 286
Publication Date: 30 May 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Carole Wagener has been an author for ten years. She worked for fifty years as a registered physical therapist in Wisconsin and California. She originated from the Midwest, and many of her stories take place in Wisconsin. With her husband, William, she co-authored The Hardest Year: A Love Story in Letters During the Vietnam War, which was her first book. Their memoir won an award as a Military-History finalist in the 2023 International Book Awards. In 2024, Carole wrote an award-winning screenplay, The Girl with the Dark Red Hair, which is a fictionalized version of The Hardest Year. Carole received the 2023 Jack London Award from the California Writers Club (CWC) and attended the 2024 Glendale International Film Festival where her screenplay was a semifinalist. William Wagener is a disabled Vietnam veteran who has authored two family genealogy books. In 2023, he and his wife, Carole, co-authored The Hardest Year based on many of his saved letters from Vietnam. Bill produces two talk-TV shows, ""On Second Thought"" and ""Take Back America,"" on public access TV in Santa Barbara County, California.

Reviews for The Hardest Year: A Love Story in Letters During the Vietnam War

""A personal snapshot of the turbulent 1960s as framed through the hearts of two souls divided by a war that would ultimately divide a country. An engrossing memoir of the struggle to hold a marriage together, highlighted by the actual contemporaneous exchanges of love, anger, and hope of two people trying to maintain balance as the world was literally shifting beneath their white nursing shoes and muddy combat boots."" Tom Avitable, best-selling author of Give Us This Day and The Devil's Quota ""This book was as revealing as it gets for a couple. Carole and Bill held nothing back in their letters."" Grace Tiscareno-Sato, Reviewer, Military Writers Society of America ""Carole's and Bill's The Hardest Year is one for the history books. Carole's and Bill's correspondences exemplify the raw emotions, new and fleeting love, and moral injury that soldiers endure. Bill's heroic time at war and Carole's tumultuous encounters on the UW-Madison campus during the riots and protests parallel each other as they maneuver through the infancy of their marriage."" Laura Naylor Colbert, Iraq War Veteran, author of Sirens: How to Pee Standing Up