Dress Whites - by John Phillips (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A powerful collection of short stories that shines a light on a tumultuous time in America's history that forever changed our nation.

A freshly made Marine Corps officer, with his new bride in tow, visits his family one last time before shipping out to Vietnam. A group of lost souls living in a seedy Las Vegas hot-sheet motel find solace in each other, only to be devastated when one of them is unable to escape his demons. A teenager tries to convince his mother that his Amerasian girlfriend is worthy of the American Dream. A boxer returns from the war and takes a desperate fight to try to make a name for himself and enough money to look for his daughter. A brother left behind seeks his own random, brutal revenge.

They are some of the characters of Dress Whites, a debut short-story collection by John Phillips, whose powerful fiction has been described as both "muscular" and "sensitive."

They are the stories of people who have been left behind in the years during and after the Vietnam War. Whether they served or remained at home, they are haunted years later by the far-off war that many of them still struggle to recover from today.

Review Quotes

"Beneath the nostalgic memories of lava lamps and tie dye of the 1960's was a grittier era unfolding in the blue-collar bars of Staten Island, the swamplands of the south and the jungles of Vietnam. John Phillips' new book Dress Whites is a cinematic collection of fascinating interlocking stories told in the styles of Quentin Tarantino and Raymond Chandler. It's a new, must-read look at how the Vietnam era shaped the lives of those who served and those left behind."-Jody Heaps, TV producer, writer; five-time Emmy winner

"Not since Hemingway's 'Twenty Grand' and Algren's 'A Bottle of Milk for Mother' have I realized how much power is in the mastery of a short story. With Phillips it is the people-a woman becomes a war widow at age 23, a returning Vietnam vet turns to the brutal world of boxing to fund the search for his missing daughter left behind in Vietnam, the occupants of a run-down Vegas hotel battle their private demons. It's not fancy. It's not pretty. It's a journey through the dark end of real life, where people battle for a second chance. It makes you want more."-Jerry Izenberg, award-winning columnist and author of Once There Were Giants

"Evocatively and poignantly written, Dress Whites recreates slices of life in America as it was a half century ago."-Thomas Hauser, author of Missing and Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times