In the 1960s and 70s nothing in the United States fueled divisions between race, class, and culture like the military draft. It drove young men to the altar, to college, to Canada, and to the jungles of Vietnam. These stories form part of America’s long, contentious relationship to the draft, culminating now in demands to reinstate it. The Draft covers this history, from the origins of conscription to its turbulent peak in the Vietnam War, exploring the unintended consequences—for soldiers and for citizens—of eliminating mandatory service. Vivid, contemporary, and probing, The Draft features searing stories and intimate interviews with the people who fought the draft, supported it, and lived its realities, telling the story of how a single, controversial issue continues to define a nation.