Filmmakers Dave Merlino and Dustin Sweet follow their acclaimed 2023 documentary Apache Blues: Welcome Home, about U.S. soldiers returning home from the Vietnam War, with this release of the100-plus hours of interviews they conducted, mostly with GIs who served in the Apache troop, a reconnaissance platoon also involved in aircraft rescue and quick reaction support.

Essentially a second chance for these impactful stories to reach the public and divided into four sections, this book follows the course of four road trips researchers took to make the documentary, beginning in Seattle and circling the U.S. A map preceding each section shows where the directors stopped for interviews and filming; photographs of those interviewed are also included. This isn’t a making-of story. The directors’ reflections about the film are confined to brief behind-the-scenes commentaries introducing each section.

For those who saw Apache Blues, there won’t be much overlap. Only 80 minutes of this lengthy transcript survived the final cut. As in the film, the main theme is healing through talking (and listening). Overall, the interviews offer an intimate, unedited look into the veterans’ lives and their combat and coming-home experiences. Readers should be aware, however, that the interviews are dense and intense; they could become wearying for anyone not seriously interested in war stories.

Although this compilation appears casually produced, with narrow margins and no front and end-page details, it seems a labor of love, both a tribute to the men who volunteered their stories and a feat of oral history. It’s unclear to what extent Merlino and Sweet fact-checked the material, and there are no footnotes, glossaries, or background information to help with military terminology. The filmmakers edited the transcripts themselves to preserve “the authentic voices of those we interviewed.” As a result, “sentences run on, thoughts trail off, and grammar is not always correct.”

Still, the result is readable and important. For a niche audience, particularly veterans and war historians, this is a keepsake.

Also available in paperback.