Lieutenant Christopher Shaw is scheduled to conclude his tour of duty in Vietnam in one month. He is also scheduled to lead an offensive against the Army of North Vietnam in five days. Having heard more than he has seen about warfare, he can only find one parallel within his experience: his hunting expeditions with his father, Conrad, and his black handyman, Barrel Bradford, in the south Arkansas delta. Conrad Shaw, a powerful, self-made farmer and politician, is for his only son a model of hard work, fair play and diplomacy. From Barrel, Christopher has learned to love the out-of-doors and to aspire to, despite his family's wealth, a simple, noble lifestyle unencumbered by material acquisitions. These lessons are uppermost in Christopher's mind as he takes a weekend leave in Saigon and attempts to reassimilate himself to "the World." His host, Monty Poltam, a former college roommate and now a high-level federal bureaucrat, has a vastly different perspective on war from Christopher's. In an attempt to reconcile the two points of view as he returns to the front, Christopher stays his mind on the one constant in his life, his native ground.

Native ground: A novel

McMath, Phillip H.

August House

Monty Poltam, a State Department aid officer stationed in Vietnam since 1968, finds the murdered body of his Vietnamese lover, Renee. It is just before the American evacuation of Saigon.Monty is convinced that Renee was murdered on the orders of the mysterious "Vladimir," a Russian spy operating in Vietnam. Determined to find Vladimir, Monty goes to Hong Kong where he enlists the help of the CIA in tracking down the elusive Russian. Surprise after surprise unfolds as Monty begins to understand Vietnam and what happened to Renee and why.

Arrival Point: A Novel (Arkansas Practice Series)

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

M & M Pr

Native Ground

Genre Fiction

Phoenix Intl Inc

Monty Poltam, a State Department aid officer stationed in Vietnam since 1968, finds the murdered body of his Vietnamese lover, Renee. It is just before the American evacuation of Saigon. Monty is convinced that Renee was murdered on the orders of the mysterious "Vladimir," a Russian spy operating in Vietnam. Determined to find Vladimir, Monty goes to Hong Kong where he enlists the help of the CIA in tracking down the elusive Russian. Surprise after surprise unfolds as Monty begins to understand Vietnam and what happened to Renee and why.

Arrival Point: A Novel

United States

Phoenix International

The Broken Vase is a roman à clef ("novel with a key," or novel based on real life) written by Phillip H. McMath based upon research done by his co-author, Emily Matson Lewis, and in close collaboration with Holocaust survivor Penina Krupitsky, who appears in the novel as the fictional Miriam Kellerman. With the help of the World Jewish Organization, Mrs. Krupitsky emigrated from the Soviet Union with her family to the United States and now lives in Arkansas. Born to middle-class parents in July 1924 in North Bukovina, Romania (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine), Miriam Kellerman grows up in an atmosphere of culture and privilege that is interrupted when her country is invaded―first by Stalin in July 1940, then by Hitler in June 1941. Fearing for their lives, Jews like Miriam begin to flee into the Soviet Union to escape the German advance. Separated from her parents, Deborah and Max, and later from her fiancé, Isaac, Miriam finds herself alone and on foot, trudging ever eastward. This novel's compelling narrative chronicles her incredible struggle to stay alive as World War II rages. Mrs. Krupitsky lives in Little Rock with her husband, children, and grandchildren. She remains active in Holocaust remembrance organizations around the world and says that she wants The Broken Vase "to help young people and become an inspiration to them. It will teach them how to build a world of love and not of hatred."

The Broken Vase: A Novel Based On the Life of Penina Krupitsky, a Holocaust Survivor

Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

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