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'''Fred A. Wilcox''' is ana retired associate professor in the writing department at [[Ithaca College]]. He is the author of fivesix books on issues including the [[Vietnam War]], [[nuclear power]], and the [[Plowshares Movement]].<ref name= "Ithaca">[http://faculty.ithaca.edu/fwilcox/ Ithaca College: Faculty]</ref> He teaches classes on the Vietnam war and its aftermath, and twoTwo of his books discuss the effects of [[Agent Orange]], a [[defoliant]] used extensively during the war.
 
==Life and career==
Wilcox was born in [[Des Moines, Iowa]]. He graduated from the [[University of Iowa]] where he studied Sociology and English. He earned an MFA from the [[Iowa Writers' Workshop]] and a doctorate in English and Expository Writing from the [[SUNY Albany]].<ref name="Ithaca" />
 
==Books on Agent Orange==
 
His first book on the subject, ''Waiting for an Army to Die,'' ({{ISBN|978-0932020680}}), recounts the effects of the chemical defoliant [[Agent Orange]] on US troops during and after the Vietnam War. The chemical was used to eliminate the dense foliage of the forests in [[Vietnam]], which the US military believed provided cover to enemy fighters. Wilcox follows the lives of US veterans who argue that the chemical was toxic, citing health conditions including cancer and fetal deformations. The book helped bring to light the issue of [[Agent Orange]] in the United States when it was first published in 1983.<ref name="prwatch">Rebekah Wilce, [http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/09/10983/through-toxic-mirror-vietnamese-and-americans-continue-suffer-effects-agent-orang "Through the Toxic Mirror: Vietnamese and Americans Continue to Suffer Effects of Agent Orange"] PRWatch. September 12, 2012.</ref>
 
Jon W. Mitchell wrote in ''[[The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus]]'': "In 1989, Fred A. Wilcox chronicled the struggles that US veterans faced in receiving recognition for their exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War in the book ''Waiting For An Army to Die.'' Twenty-two years later, the title still encapsulates the attitude adopted by the Pentagon and the VA towards former service members citing exposure to dioxins on Okinawa."{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}
In 2011, Wilcox published ''Scorched Earth,'' a continuation of the issues he addressed in ''Waiting for an Army to Die''. In the book, he discusses the effects of Agent Orange on Vietnamese veterans of the Vietnam War, as well as their families and other survivors. Wilcox travels with his son to Vietnam to meet individuals and families suffering from a number of health issues believed to be related to Agent Orange exposure. The conditions include [[Hodgkins lymphoma]], [[chloracne]], severe birth-defects and various types of [[cancer]], among others.<ref name="prwatch"/>▼
George Claxton, Chair Emeritus of the National Agent Orange/Dioxin Committee of [[Vietnam Veterans of America]], wrote in a book review in Agent Orange Zone, "In the past thirty three years I have read every book published on the tragedy of Agent Orange and dioxin. Beyond a doubt, ''Scorched Earth'' ... is one of the most informative works of truth released on the market."<ref name="Agent Orange Zone">[http://agentorangezone.blogspot.com/2011/09/book-review-scorched-earth-by-fred.html George Claxton]</ref>
 
▲In 2011, Wilcox published ''Scorched Earth,'' ({{ISBN|978-1609801380}}), a continuation of the issues he addressed in ''Waiting for an Army to Die''. In the book,it he discussesexamines the effects of Agent Orange on the Vietnamese veteranspeople ofand thetheir Vietnamnatural War,environment. asWilcox welltraveled aswith theirhis familiesson, andBrendan otherWilcox, survivors.whose photos accompany Wilcox's travels with his sontext, to Vietnam to meetinterview individuals and families suffering from a number ofmany health issues believed to be related to Agent Orange exposure. The conditions include [[HodgkinsHodgkin's lymphoma]], [[chloracne]], severe birth-defects and various types of [[cancer]], among others.<ref name="prwatch"/>
==Books==▼
 
About the book, Evaggelos Vallianatos wrote in ''The World Post'' (a partnership of [[The Huffington Post]] and [[Berggruen Institute on Governance]],"It is eloquent, thought provoking, absorbing, daring, moral, and necessary. It is a jolt to historical amnesia. It tells what chemical warfare did to Vietnam -- and, to a lesser degree, America."<ref name="Huffington Post">{{Cite web |date=2013-04-03 |title=Vietnam in the Aftermath of a Chemical Holocaust |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vietnam-in-the-aftermath-_b_2989215 |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}</ref>
=== Written by Wilcox ===▼
 
==Books on peace and activism==
''Waiting for an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange'' (Random House 1983, [[Seven Stories Press]] 2011)▼
Wilcox's 1991 book ''Uncommon Martyrs: The Plowshares Movement and the Catholic Left'' is a portrait of some of the primary figures in the movement named from the biblical command to "beat swords into plowshares." Led by radical priests Philip and Daniel Berrigan, it included many well-known Catholic peace activists who engaged in many acts of civil disobedience in their attempts to stop the Vietnam War.<ref name="Kirkus">{{Cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/fred-wilcox/uncommon-martyrs/|title=UNCOMMON MARTYRS &#124; Kirkus Reviews}}</ref>
 
Wilcox cowrote [http://www.openisbn.com/isbn/9781567511000/#review ''Fighting the Lamb's War,''] ({{ISBN|1-56751-101-5}}) the autobiography of Philip Berrigan, published in 1996.
''Chasing Shadows: Memoirs of a Sixties Survivor'' (The Permanent Press 1996)▼
 
==Other works==
''Uncommon Martyrs'' (Addison-Wesley 1991)▼
 
Wilcox is also the author of a novel, ''Secrets'', a memoir, ''Chasing Shadows: Memoirs of a Sixties Survivor'', and shorter essays and nonfiction works.
''Fighting the Lamb's War: Skirmishes with the American Empire'' (the autobiography of Philip Berrigan) (Common Courage Press 1996)▼
 
▲==Books==
''Scorched Earth: Legacies of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam'' ([[Seven Stories Press]] 2011)▼
 
=== EditedWritten by Wilcox ===
 
▲*''Waiting for an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange'' (Random House 1983, [[Seven Stories Press]] 2011)
''Grass Roots: An Anti-Nuke Source Book'' (Crossing Press 1982)▼
▲*''Uncommon Martyrs'' (Addison-Wesley 1991)
▲*''Chasing Shadows: Memoirs of a Sixties Survivor'' (The Permanent Press 1996)
▲*''Fighting the Lamb's War: Skirmishes with the American Empire'' (the autobiography of Philip Berrigan) (Common Courage Press 1996)
▲*''Scorched Earth: Legacies of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam'' ([[Seven Stories Press]] 2011)
 
[http://splitoakpress.net/product/secrets/%20Split%20Oak%20Press ''Secrets''] (Split Oak Press 2012)
 
▲=== WrittenEdited by Wilcox ===
 
▲*''Grass Roots: An Anti-Nuke Source Book'' (Crossing Press 1982)
*''Disciples & Dissidents'' (Haleys 2000)
 
== References ==
<!--- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags which will then appear here automatically -->
{{Reflist}}
Reference 2: Note that Wilce makes the incorrect assertion that Wilcox "broke" the story of Agent Orange. He did not, but this book uncovers much new information about its use and effects on U.S. soldiers and personnel in Vietnam during and after their service there.
 
== External links ==
* [http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/213053/waiting-for-an-army-to-die-by-fred-a-wilcox/ "Waiting for an Army to Die"]
* [http://www.sevenstories.com/book/?GCOI=58322100565630 Scorched Earth]
* [http://www.sevenstories.com/book/?GCOI=58322100565630 ''Scorched Earth''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105040240/http://www.sevenstories.com/book/?GCOI=58322100565630 |date=2011-11-05 }}
* [http://faculty.ithaca.edu/fwilcox/ Ithaca Faculty Page]
*[http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/09/10983/through-toxic-mirror-vietnamese-and-americans-continue-suffer-effects-agent-orang PR Watch]
 
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilcox, Fred A.}}▼
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| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American activist
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Historians of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Anti-nuclear movement]]
[[Category:PeopleWriters from Des Moines, Iowa]]
[[Category:University of Iowa alumni]]
[[Category:Ithaca College faculty]]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_A._Wilcox"