The Sweden File

Autorentext

Bruce Stevens Proctor received a bachelor's degree from American University in International Relations in 1965, and soon after graduation joined the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) where he worked with colleagues in the Pentagon. In 1968 he joined the Air National Guard and pursued a PhD but left the United States and moved to Stockholm as a war resister. After four years in Sweden, he immigrated to Canada in 1972. As a new Canadian in Winnipeg, he involved himself in community organizing, and then joined the public service. Bruce was a 30-year veteran of the Manitoba Department of Advanced Education, managing Aboriginal access to post-secondary education, and was one of several Under Secretaries of Education. He died at his home in Winnipeg surrounded by family and friends in 2011.

Klappentext

What leads a top-secret war-policy insider to desert during the Vietnam War? In the case of Bruce Proctor, it was reconnaissance photos: images which showed the bombing of civilian villages in Southeast Asia, despite the administration's claims otherwise. Appalled by his discovery, Bruce suddenly quit his job at the Defense Intelligence Agency. To avoid the draft, he joined the Air National Guard, but his unit was activated for service in Vietnam. Rather than fight in an immoral war, Bruce went AWOL, seeking refuge in Sweden. A hybrid memoir set against a half century across two continents, The Sweden File is composed of letters to and from Bruce from 1968 to 1972, his reminiscences forty years later, and his brother Alan's reflections in 2014. Despite his best attempts, Bruce was never able to learn Swedish, necessary for employment, and he struggled with poverty, a series of difficult jobs, drugs, and alcohol. After four years of trying to fit into a foreign culture, Bruce and his wife emigrated to Canada. At a time when the US has been in constant conflict for eighteen years-longer than the Vietnam War-Bruce's musings on peace, war, and government deception have a vital urgency.