Saigon, Illinois

The story of how one man wound up fighting the Vietnam War from a Chicago hospital

Young slacker Jim Holder wants no part of the draft, the army, or Vietnam. So he registers as a conscientious objector and gets ready for alternative service. He’s assigned to work as a unit manager at a downtown Chicago medical center, worlds apart from his rural roots. A wild assortment of patients and colleagues awaits him at Metropolitan Hospital. As Jim’s life swings from the chaos of his job to the fervor of a revolutionary moment, he balances his beliefs with the everyday business of life and death.

In this richly comic novel, Paul Hoover crystallizes the strange days of the conflict in Vietnam with a memorable cast of characters.