Product Description
The Vietnam War was one of the most painful and divisive events in American history. The conflict, which ultimately took the lives of 58,000 Americans and more than three million Vietnamese, became a subject of bitter and impassioned debate. The most dramatic--and frequently the most enduring--efforts to define and articulate America's ill-fated involvement in Vietnam emerged from popular culture. American journalists, novelists, playwrights, poets, songwriters, and filmmakers--many of them eyewitnesses--have created powerful, heartfelt works documenting their thoughts and beliefs about the war. By examining those works, this book provides readers with a fascinating resource that explores America's ongoing struggle to assess the war and its legacies. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the prize winning work of the tragic collision between two cultures - the Vietnamese and the American. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Fire In The Lake
The condition of the book was as advertised and it arrived in the time frame as expected.

Dated, wrong, useless
"Fire in the Lake" is a hysterical book from a hysterical time. Whatever Frances Fitzgerald has to offer in terms of passion is overwhelmed in hindsight by appaulingly bad research, naive condecending attitudes and having gotten so many things so wrong about the war.

The book is incredibly derivative of the works of Paul Mus. Vietnam is seen through his eyes, his view of history and his biases. Fitzgerald, rather than doing research, simply parrots Mus.

She gets the NLF (Viet Cong) completely wrong. she treats all its wartime propaganda as unquestioned truth. Comparing what he said to the NLF postwar accounts, its clear that he was absolutely wrong. That doesn't make the pro-vietnam war side "right" or the vietnam war right. It just makes Frances Fitzgerald and her book wrong.

While this book is of use in understanding the psychology of the disputes in American society over the Vietnam War, it is worse than useless as any sort of account of events or history of the war. Almost any history written since 1979 or so is better than this dated nonsense.

A Work of Passion and Urgency
"Fire in the Lake" could have been written by Albert Camus or Hannah Arendt, but instead it was written by a 31-year old journalist Frances Fitzgerald, who in writing the book channeled all her society's fears and anger into passion and urgency to write this powerfully disturbing account of a young empire lost and corrupted.

The author analyzes the war through the viewpoints of its participants, and presents a sobering and poignant account of each player.There are the disciplined and organized North Vietnamese, who in knowing the righteousness of their cause have absolute faith in their victory.There are the hapless and hopeless South Vietnamese - the government, the military, the Buddhists, the Catholics, the sects, and political opportunists -- who at first struggle against each other, and then struggle against the Americans before finally resigning themselves to the destruction of their society, culture, and history.But Ms. Fitzgerald focuses her most critical eye on the American empire - the government at home who will sacrifice 45,000 American soldiers to "save face," the military who internalize "Heart of Darkness" and decide that to save the Vietnamese they must first kill every one of them, and the diplomats who in trying to democratize Vietnam end up turning it into a corrupt tyranny that disgusts even the corrupt tyrants who ran it.In the end, Ms. Fitzgerald's verdict is stunning in its absoluteness and in its objectivity:America corrupted and destroyed Vietnam, and America corrupted and destroyed itself.

"Fire in the Lake" is above all prescient.The Pentagon Papers had not yet been released, and Frances Fitzgerald had already expressed to the American public why the war was being fought:not for liberty or to stop Communism or to save the Vietnamese, but simply because powerful men in omnipotent positions had petty egos.Even before the American withdrawal and even as the Tet offensive devastated and depleted the ranks of the Viet Cong, she could already declare that the war was over, and the North Vietnamese were triumphant.Even before there was a full accounting of the war, she could already indict the American military and government for genocide against the people they were ostensibly trying to save.During the book Ms. Fitzgerald would continuously allude to "The Tempest," and she could have just as easily allude to "King Lear":how one man's pride blinded him into unleashing a tragedy where good must die at the hands of evil.

It will be difficult for another work as powerful and passionate as "Fire in the Lake" to appear in the American landscape.Today, there is the War on Terror, and Jane Mayer in "The Dark Side" could indict the Bush administration for crimes greater than the Nixon administration in Vietnam - but it's clear from her nuanced and well-crafted arguments that they're just nuanced and well-crafted arguments.American society is not involved in the War on Terror the way it was involved during the Vietnam War.At that time, the young could sincerely and powerfully feel their future disappearing into a black void, and it was only natural and necessary for one of their own to channel this urgent and passionate fear and hopelessness into "Fire in the Lake."That no one can do that today - despite what's happen at Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan - does not speak well for the fate of America and of humanity.

The BEST book about the US in Vietnam
If you want to begin to understand the US involvement in Vietnam read this book, then read "The Best and The Brightest" and then read "A Bright Shining Lie".

Book made irrelevant and untrue by history
It is difficult to give this book a critical look because it has become as unquestioned as the Bible is in certain circles.According to the author the Vietnamese are unknown and unknowable to westerners. (Somehow she has grasped their elemental essence.) They share so little in common with the rest of humanity that Stalinist communism is the only political system under which they will prosper and be true to their anthropological roots."The moment has arrived for the narrow flame of revolution to cleanse the lake of Vietnamese society from the corruption and disorder of the American war.It will have to come, for it is the only way the Vietnamese of the south can restore their country and their history to themselves."As it has been seen by the eyes of the world through the history of Southeast Asia since 1975 the South Vietnamese were truly fortunate to have been "liberated" and "brought back to their heritage" by a force as truly benevolent and peaceful as the government of the "Democratic Republic of Vietnam."

Overly academic in an elitist anti-anticommunist way, this book has been required reading in all "revisionist" undergraduate history seminars and lectures since its first publication in 1972. (What was "revisionist" in the 1970s is the Very Truth in 2005.) It has the obligitory academic but irrelevant references to "dead white men" (Shakespeare's Tempest) for mostly incomprehensible reasons.

As I watch the people of Vietnam being pimped by their government to enrich its coffers and those of the Nike Corporation, I think of how stupid, ignorant and ultimately vile this book is and was.As I watch the diaspora of Vietnam succeed and prosper I wonder how Frances Fitzgerald can sleep for all of their brothers and sisters left behind in that unfortunate and misjudged land. For all of its damage done it is regrettable that this book was not the end of Frances Fitzgerald's career, but its beginning. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

For the serious reader
This is a fantastic book which does a good analysis from both sides of the war. States clearly the underlying rationale to actions.A close analysis of the key events and decisions will go a long way to help people understand better about the true Vietnam War. ... Read more

Product Description

Christina Schwenkel's absorbing study explores how the "American War" is remembered and commemorated in Vietnam today -- in official and unofficial histories and in everyday life. Schwenkel analyzes visual representations found in monuments and martyrs' cemeteries, museums, photography and art exhibits, battlefield tours, and related sites of "trauma tourism." In these transnational spaces, American and Vietnamese memories of the war intersect in ways profoundly shaped by global economic liberalization and the return of American citizens as tourists, pilgrims, and philanthropists.

Product Description
The Vietnam War, which dominated American life during the 1960s, helped to create, radicalize, and alter social and political life in the US. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Useless
The author is clearly biased in some cases. Moreover, there's some shoddy history going on with "maybe" this and referring to Ho Chi Minh as a "nationalist" over and over but never as Communist, which he was. Sure, he was both but the failure to ever refer to him or the VC as communist simply strikes me as an attempt to sway his readers into a belief that they were harmless. They weren't. And while I don't think Vietnam was the right course of action for the US to take, I fail to understand why the author would refer to troops in Vietnam as "stoned" and "demoralized" implying they were always so. Yes, this is true after about '68, but to imply that it was the case for all troops is dangerous and disrespectful.

It's also faulty his assertion that the majority of the US was against US intervention in Vietnam. The majority of American were in favor of the US's policy of containment.

Read Stanley Karnow's _Vietnam_ or Michael Hunt's _Lyndon Johnson's War_. This book is pretty biased and seems to be an exercise in language to make Ho Chi Minh an Asian Abe Lincoln.

A Review of Vietnam
Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life, is very interesting and informative. It was definitely worth the time and the effort reading and working on it. Audiences of all backrounds should benefit from theinformation, including those of who lived during that time period. Manyyounger generation kids are oblivious to what actually happened during theVietnam War, and should be educated about the historical importance of thewar. The book itself helped the audience, especially those of who are ofVietnamese decent, understand how their ancestors survived and what theywent through during the course of the war.

Review of Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life
Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life designates the aspects of the Vietnam War as well as the political and social movements of the American people during the 1960's. Dr. Buzzanco's main thesis that he istrying to convey is divided into two parts, the Vietnam War and the issuesof the 1960's. His first theme on the Vietnam War subject is the UnitedStates after World War II tried to become the world leader during theirforeign affairs in the Indochina region but failed. The second theme, whichdeals with the domestic problems in America during this time period, is howthe people of the United States erupted into its domestic problems and howthey are linked with the war in Vietnam. In the first half of the book,Buzzanco announces his thesis statement, letting the reader know that thefirst half was all the details of the war. Then he comes back in the secondhalf of the book and describes what was happening at home on American soil.In essence, he has written two documentaries and combined them quite well.He has two points that he is trying to convey, broken up into two halves.Dr. Buzzanco did an astounding job in proving his points. He clearly andstrongly showed examples that lead people to believe him. In every majorpoint in both parts of his book, he used clear and precise examples toprove his words correct. He used all second hand information due to thefact that he was born too late to participate in the actual war. But hisinformation was all very accurate and strong. He really did not use anypoints that criticized anything he was trying to convey in his book. Butthere could be some rival opinions on various subjects throughout the book.For example in the second part of the book, on page 202 he is trying toblame much of the domestic uprisings on Martin Luther King and the march onWashington. He claims that the march got the African-Americans to stronglydisapprove of the war. But the march was more or less strictly on the civilrights issues, not on the war. He was, however, extremely successful ateffectively using his sources in a convincing manner. Starting on page 104and continuing, he shows how American foreign policy on the countriessurrounding Vietnam essentially escalated the conflict even further. Hedoes not however; use any examples of others that would give evidence thathis points are not true or inaccurate. Some of his issues are controversialand he leads the reader to think that they are not. For example on page 68,he makes it clear to the reader that the war was inevitable even in theearly 1960's under JFK's policy. But in reality much could have been doneto prevent the conflict from escalating. More or less he is trying toconvince the reader that his points are one sided and are notcontroversial. He seems biased on the fact that he offers nothing on theopposite side of him. All good writers usually give points to satisfy bothfor and against. All of his points, especially the first half of the book,help to prove his thesis. He pretty much uses strong logical reasoning anduses evidence to support that. Due to Dr. Buzzanco's education level andhis astounding credibility and awards his information can be trustworthy.He uses strong examples to prove his thesis and also uses several otherpoints throughout the book.

Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life-Review
Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life is an intelligent and informative look into the Vietnam War and how it influenced American life. This book helps you understand better the people, issues, problems, andtimes of the 1960's and early 1970's and how Vietnam influenced the people,issues, and the problems of that time.If you are not knowledgeable aboutthe Vietnam War, this book explains in great detail the events leading upto the war and the repercussions of the war on Americans and American lifeand, it will make you understand and create your own opinions about thewar.

Thumbs up for Buzzanco
The first part of the book explains the war itself.It starts off with a brief explanation for the war, which was to "...preserve an anticommunist government in Southern half of Vietnam."Buzzanco doesa great job of telling both sides of the war in great detail.He spends alot of time explaining to the reader how Ho Chi Minh emerged into a greatwar and political leader of the DRVN and maintained his popular supportfrom most of the Vietnamese society.He also tells of the events which ledup to the Vietnam War from the US point of view starting with WWII to theunrevealing exception to defeat.Buzzanco also does an exceptional job oftelling why the US felt the need to be involved with the Vietnam conflict. He also talks about the US supporting the French, who were against Vietnam. He further explains that the US did this in order to maintain Frenchsupport in the European Cold War, to contain Communism in Asia, and toencourage economic development in the US. Throughout his book, he does thesame thing, which is to give an extensive informational explanation of theevents, and then get to the main point at the end with just a simplesentence or two.Buzzanco also goes into Vietnam's communities and thepeople's aspect of the war.He lets the reader know that the Vietnamesepeople were for the most part on Ho's side, letting the truth of the mattershine through.The truth being that the DRVN was corrupt, and theVietamese people knew it, thus they mainly supported the DRVN. Among thebest aspects of the book was the detailed explanation of military moves anddecisions on both sides.He explains why each side made each move in thelong war, as well as the political moves.Which brings us to the secondpart of the book, "The Movements of the 1960's."Buzzanco usesseveral sources throughout his book.He lists them all at the end, far toomany to list.He used books as well as papers.He even used comic stripsthat were published during that period of the war.He also lists hissources in a bibliography as well as a notes section. Buzzanco does notchoose sides in his book.He merely tells the story and the events howthey happened.He does not skip around either, and it was easy to followas well as to understand.For every point in the book, he marks it with asource, which only enhances what he has already said. ... Read more

Product Description
"Coming to terms with the Vietnam War--the war thatAmerica lost--has been a long, grueling struggle, mired by historicaldenial and distortion and, as Franklin so formidably reveals, mythsthat have become entrapped in American culture. He presents ascholarly, yet personal and lucid investigation of how these mythsevolved and why people depend upon them to answer the confusingquestions that have become the legacy of the war."--ForeWordKey Points: America's war in Vietnam was based on fantasies about both nations. Now public memory of the war has been transformed into myth. The illusion that the United States originally intervened to stop "North Vietnam" from invading "South Vietnam," the belief that returning veterans were frequently spat upon, and the fiction that American P.O.W.s were abandoned after the war--all permeate contemporary American culture, deeply influencing politics in the twenty-first century. The history of the antiwar movement has been falsified so blatantly that few Americans today would believe that by 1971 there was a revolutionary newspaper being published on every aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin or that 1500 crew members of the aircraft carrier U.S.S.Constellation signed a demand that Jane Fonda's antiwar show be allowed to perform on board the ship.The antiwar movement actually began in the fall of 1945, when hundreds of American merchant seamen protested against their ships being used to transport a French army to recolonize Vietnam. The movement reached its climax when tens of thousands of the soldiers and sailors fighting the war actively resisted the Nixon administration's attempts to achieve "victory." Although the antiwar movement is today often depicted as campus-centered, it pervaded American society. And contrary to popular belief, opposition to the war actually ran higher among Americans with less income and less education while support for the war ran higher among those with more wealth and more education.Wartime images that called into question the legitimacy of America's Vietnam policy have been reinterpreted in the postwar years to whitewash the U.S. role in the conflict. In popular media such as film and comic books, for example, the famous photograph of Saigon police chief General Loan assassinating a prisoner during the 1968 Tet Offensive has been transformed into its opposite. Today many Americans actually interpret the photograph as a picture of a Communist officer caught in the act of killing a South Vietnamese civilian.American science fiction profoundly influenced how the Vietnam War was conceived and conducted as well as the way it has been remembered. Building on his work as an advisory curator for the Smithsonian exhibit, "Star Trek and the Sixties," the author shows how the Vietnam War was a subtext for early episodes of the TV series Star Trek and how space exploration has been replaced by the militarization of space.The U.S. policy of "Winning Hearts and Minds" reached its climax in 1968 and 1969, when the CIA conducted a gigantic carrot-and-stick campaign aimed at reestablishing control in some of the countryside lost during the Tet Offensive. The stick was Operation Phoenix, a massive program of torture and assassination designed to root out the insurgent infrastructure. U.S. intelligence officers subsequently testified to Congress that not one of the many "Viet Cong suspects" whose arrest they witnessed ever survived interrogation. The carrot was a "land reform" program designed and run by a University of Washington law professor who also drew up the document that asserted a legal basis for Operation Phoenix and then later published a science fiction story articulating the assumptions underlying both programs.The Vietnam War has been the matrix of the "culture wars" of the past few decades, and these culture wars are intertwined with both the Vietnamese revolution and the wars waged against it by France and the United States. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

just an awful ahistorical history
the tone and direction of this book is set in the prologue. some thirty years after Professor Franklin was fired by Stanford, he sat down with the intent to prove he was right. from his point of view, he probably is.

Franklin was America's greatest Melville scholar, and Stanford lost a great professor when he was purged. he is a genuine victim of the Vietnam war, and his victimhood lies in believing that history both started and stopped with Vietnam.

in his prologue, he is ecstatic that "the Vietnam War shattered many of the traditional narratives to formerly prevailing visions of the United States and its history." history is finished, yet he then links Vietnam with "various kinds of subsequent warfare, including bombings or invasions, in Grenada, Panama, Libya, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, Sudan, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia." this is supposed to be an acknowledgment by Professor Franklin of an historical web, and it seems compelling at first.

of course, this "shattering of narratives" forgets our own Indian Wars, not to mention the Spanish-American war and subsequent century-long involvement in Philippine politics. hardly an historical break.

the main problem remains Professor Franklin's inability to deal with the greater Cold War that is the context of Vietnam. nowhere is the former Soviet Union. his interminable mouthings of phrases like "anti-imperialism" -- totally detached from any cogent philosophical system to explain this termo -- seem to lead to the conclusion that history did end (for Franklin) in Palo Alto.

H. Bruce Franklin is a great reader. his reading of The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade is brilliance. this book also reads well. while compelling, it is failed history.

Franklin admits that Stanford was right to fire him. well, I disagree. he should have apologized and kept his job. he should not have taken such an agitational marxist tone against the campus cops. he got swept up in it.

also despite the nice cover, the qualities of the fotos in this book are awful, like they have been printed on paper towels -- a real disservice to Mr. Franklin and his reflections on culture and politics.

Compelling facts woven into a gripping narrative
Franklin's text reviews the history of military aggression against the Vietnamese and the efforts of U.S. citizens to stop this aggression from the end of World War II, beyond the official cessation of hostilities, into the economic warfare that followed the withdrawal of U.S. forces. Having been born several years after the aggression in Vietnam, my understanding of the war came primarily from history textbooks and popular accounts. If I were to regard this popular story of Vietnam as a repainting of the war, then Vietnam and Other American Fantasies revealed the canvas upon which these lies were printed. Franklin has completely redefined my understanding of what happened both in Vietnam and in the United States before, during and after this horrible war.

Franklin gives lie to many of the popular myths about the war against Vietnam. One of the first myths that he attacks is that the so-called "liberal media" was responsible for "losing" the war by attacking the leadership and turning the public against a noble cause. The text establishes the blatant lies in this claim by reviewing coverage of the war before and after the Tet "turning point". If anything, the mainstream media was simply a mouthpiece for government propaganda, forcing the substantial proportion of the population opposed to U.S. aggression to use alternate media resources. If the mainstream media truly "lost" the war against Vietnam, then it did so by failing to bring the truth to the people and by blocking the growing voices of dissent from the public forum.

A second common myth that Franklin undermines is that U.S. actions in Vietnam were driven by a misguided effort to protect the people of South Vietnam from communist aggression. Instead, Franklin offers information that implicates the U.S. as the aggressor. Rather than responding to pleas for protection from the people of South Vietnam, the U.S. leadership actually incited aggression against both parties in an attempt to prevent a diplomatic resolution that would have prevented the U.S. from exploiting the nation as military foothold on the Asian continent. Moreover, farms, villages and entire cities were decimated by aerial bombing and ground assaults on both sides of the 17the parallel, and the South Vietnamese had as much to fear from U.S. forces as did the North Vietnamese.

A third myth that prevails today is that of the "Prisoners of War" and "Missing in Action". The claim that the Vietnamese government was secretly holding U.S. personnel or the remains and refusing to hand them over apparently has no evidential support, and historical records indicate that North Vietnamese leadership maintained careful records of U.S. prisoners and casualties and supplied all of these records to U.S. leadership upon request.

Many other popular myths, such as the practice of spitting on returning soldiers or the infamous photograph of the prisoner being executed (in reality, by a South Vietnamese officer) are also discussed in this engaging text. As a first-hand observer of some of the events he describes, Franklin manages to weave the story into an engaging narrative that holds your attention throughout. While I had planned to spread the reading out over several weeks, I found the story so engrossing that I finished it two days after I began. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in examining the history of the war against Vietnam and the people who opposed it.

Utterly worthless
Party line leftism from a dedicated enemy of America.Nothing good about this book.

More lies from the Left
More BS from a true red commie. One fails to mention the 1950 conference in Moscow with Stalin, Mao, and Uncle Ho where they plotted the war. This imbessile's lies are completely refuted by Vietnam: The Necessary War. This book is selective history. Not all factors that lead into and event are represented, only hogwash from a nostalgic hippie. He is the part of the same group of people that distorted the infamous napalm burned girl picture. That girl was hit by napalm from an aircraft piloted by a South Vietnamese pilot in where also a few ARVN soldiers were killed. But for some reason nuts like this guy called it American barbarism. His ilk also left out the caption the South Vietnamese photgrapher wrote on the bottom of the picture.

"This never would have happened if the Communists stayed in the North."

American fantasies explained
As a Vietnamese living in America, I have always been puzzled by different historical accounts of what went on during the Vietnam war.One account was what I learnt while growing up there.Another account was the Vietnam that many Americans know from the media.This book explained some of those differences well.The two Viet Nam (North and South), the gulf of Ton Kin incidence, the liberal press, antiwar activists spitting on returning GI, and the emotionally afflicting POW/MIA myth were the few fabrications concocted by various imperialistic American administrations.With the help of the jingoistic corporate press, they brainwashed the ill informed American public to garner support for the genocidal war in southeast Asia.Four million Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians died from the "good intentions" of the United States.
Americans may have a free press.But are Americans free from the bias, prejudice, and bigotry of men who decide "all the news that's fit to print" and what is fit for us to read?Read the book and make up thy own mind. ... Read more

Product Description
Hundreds of memoirs, novels, plays, and movies have been devoted to the American war in Vietnam. In spite of the great variety of media, political perspectives and the degrees of seriousness with which the war has been treated, Katherine Kinney argues that the vast majority of these works share a single story: that of Americans killing Americans in Vietnam. Friendly Fire, in this instance, refers not merely to a tragic error of war, it also refers to America's war with itself during the Vietnam years. Starting from this point, this book considers the concept of "friendly fire" from multiple vantage points, and portrays the Vietnam age as a crucible where America's cohesive image of itself is shattered--pitting soldiers against superiors, doves against hawks, feminism against patriarchy, racial fear against racial tolerance. Through the use of extensive evidence from the film and popular fiction of Vietnam (e.g. Kovic's Born on the Fourth of July, Didion's Democracy, O'Brien's Going After Cacciato, Rabe's Sticks and Bones and Streamers), Kinney draws a powerful picture of a nation politically, culturally, and socially divided, and a war that has been memorialized as a contested site of art, media, politics, and ideology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A great author and a great teacher
Katherine Kinney's book is a miniature first class education.Having taken classes from Dr.Kinney I was eager to read her book and found every chapter a satisfying line of criticism.Ignore all negative or unappreciative reviews of this book or this author.

a fascinating read
In "Friendly Fire," Katherine Kinney offers a fascinating cultural analysis of the Vietnam conflict as it has been represented through popular media.Writing in a style accessible to the casual reader and the serious Vietnam scholar alike, she explores America's involvement in Vietnam by paying particular attention to how certain cultural fears and desires have been reflected through the portrayal of this historical conflict.

You may have read the only other Amazon review of this book, an embarrassing and cowardly hatchet-job by a disgruntled ex-graduate student at the University of California, Riverside, the university at which the book's author is a well-respected professor and scholar.As a former student at this university, I immediately recognized the author of this character assassination (despite the cowardice of the unsigned post), a student whose shoddy performance on their doctoral examinations was one of the truly embarrassing moments in recent, departmental history (the gulf between expectation and actuality was enormous).My recommendation would be to ignore this vindictive attack from an arrogant and unstable person who is pretty much viewed as a joke in the English Department at UC Riverside.

Oxford University Press, long noted for publishing interesting, relevant, and cutting-edge work, has done so yet again with "Friendly Fire."For those interested in the Vietnam War, post-WWII masculinity, or media studies, this book will provide a fascinating read.

Signed,

Andrew Howe

An interesting and important book
In "Friendly Fire," Katherine Kinney offers a fascinating cultural analysis of the Vietnam conflict as it has been represented through popular media.Writing in a style accessible to the casual reader and the serious Vietnam scholar alike, she explores America's involvement in Vietnam by paying particular attention to how certain cultural fears and desires have been reflected through the portrayal of this historical conflict.

You may have read the only other Amazon review of this book, an embarrassing and cowardly hatchet-job by a disgruntled ex-graduate student at the University of California, Riverside, the university at which the book's author is a well-respected professor and scholar.As a former student at this university, I immediately recognized the author of this character assassination (despite the cowardice of the unsigned post), a student whose shoddy performance on their doctoral examinations was one of the truly embarrassing moments in recent, departmental history (the gulf between expectation and actuality was enormous).My recommendation would be to ignore this vindictive attack from an arrogant and unstable person who is pretty much viewed as a joke in the English Department at UC Riverside.

Oxford University Press, long noted for publishing interesting, relevant, and cutting-edge work, has done so yet again with "Friendly Fire."For those interested in the Vietnam War, post-WWII masculinity, or media studies, this book will provide a fascinating read.
... Read more

Product Description
Viet presents a historically accurate and detailed account of the Vietnam War from the perspective of the South Vietnamese armor forces. Highly decorated for his valor and leadership of the armored units, the author spent ten years researchng this book. He interviewed hundreds of people, including all senior South Vietnamese officers involved and many of lesser rank. His efforts serve as an invaluable record of his army's organization, combat operations, and interaction with U.S. advisers.

Published in cooperation with the Association of the United States Army. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
At the outset of the Vietnam War American Army planners had pretty much decided that armor had no place in it. The Vietnamese and the US Marine Corps didn't buy that, and eventually, following the deployment of the 69th armor with the 25th Division, the army accepted that it had a role as well. As the war ground on, American armor became more visible, and the contributions it made to specific battles recognized. The Vietnamese, however, were never given any credit, but were instead routinely panned as "coup troops" or "garrison guards". This book sheds light on the far more complex reality of the Vietnamese armored units at war. It fills a serious gap in the history of the war by highlighting the operations of Vietnamese elements, rather than relegating them to a secondary position as most American authors do. ... Read more

Product Description
Despite their insistence that the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops was the condition for the release of prisoners of war, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam took little action to account for American POWs at the end of the Vietnam War. Almost two decades would pass following the end of the war before significant internal political changes, shifting regional alignments, changing Western interests, Sino-Soviet rapprochement, a nonmilitary settlement of the Cambodian conflict, and the collapse of the Soviet Union would bring Hanoi to the point of recognizing the importance of mending its relationship with the West. From the Paris peace talks to the U.S. government's decision in 1994 to lift the trade embargo against Vietnam, Hanoi's policy on American MIAs and POWs is examined, with particular focus on the influence of individual decision-makers on the process and the ways the Vietnamese leadership arrived at their negotiating strategies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A maximum reading experience for those involved with the War
This book unlocked hidden truths and falsehoods for me and broadened my knowledge of the Vietnamese policy concerning the American M.I.As.It was widely thought-provoking and educational.Anyone interested in the aftermath of the war will be glad they choose to read this book.It helps to illustrate the relationship between these two countries and the growth both have endured since that catastrophic era. ... Read more

Product Description
David Levy's widely acclaimed Debate Over Vietnam examines the bitter national discussion that raged over the propriety, the necessity, and the morality of America's longest war. Levy begins with a brief history of Vietnam under foreign rule and recounts the growing American military presence--and the increasing reaction it provoked. He explores the fundamental values and assumptions of Americans on both sides of the growing debate, contrasting Republican consensus with Democratic division and the split between intellectuals of the left and right. ... Read more

Product Description
An essential new resource for students and teachers of the Vietnam War, this concise collection of primary sources opens a valuable window on an extraordinarily complex conflict.

The materials gathered here, from both the American and Vietnamese sides, remind readers that the conflict touched the lives of many people in a wide range of social and political situations and spanned a good deal more time than the decade of direct U.S. combat. Indeed, the U.S. war was but one phase in a string of conflicts that varied significantly in character and geography. Michael Hunt brings together the views of the conflict's disparate players--from Communist leaders, Vietnamese peasants, Saigon loyalists, and North Vietnamese soldiers to U.S. policymakers, soldiers, and critics of the war. By allowing the participants to speak, this volume encourages readers to formulate their own historically grounded understanding of a still controversial struggle.
... Read more

Product Description
War veterans, journalists, poets and professors have contributed to this study which describes how US culture represented and continues to represent the Vietnam War on television, in newspapers, in military propaganda films, novels, plays and music. ... Read more

Product Description
Many came to see cold war liberals during the Vietnam War as willing to invoke the democratic ideal, while at the same time tolerating dictatorships in the cause of anticommunism. This volume of essays demonstrates how opposition to the war, the military-industrial complex, and the national security state crystallized in a variety of different and often divergent political traditions. Indeed, for many of the individuals discussed, dissent was a decidedly conservative act in that they felt the war threatened traditional values, mores, and institutions. ... Read more

Product Description
"With the first page the book explodes...a story of fortitude and patriotism to inspire generations of Americans to come."

—Philadelphia Evening Bulletin

"It's to our experience as Blackstone is to the law."

—Col. George E. "Bud" Day, USAF (Ret.), attorney, former POW and Medal of Honor winner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The Bible of the POW Experience
This book covers a lot of ground.It is generally considered to be one of the two (along with Honor Bound) major accounts of the POW experience in Vietnam.Unlike "Honor Bound" this book is not published by the Navy Press.

While writing a long article on a particular POW I was able to use this book as an excellent guide to the various timelines, facilities and actual implementations of the Code of Conduct.The book does not seek to be damning, except in one case where 8 men are named as total turncoats charged by their Sr. Ranking Officer with treason.

The book is smooth reading, but long.It is possible that this could be the only POW book many people will ever need.

1 of 2 Part Bible on Vietnam Captivity
As the title states, this is a definitive exploration of the experience of US heroes while in Vietnam captivity.Hubble's research is exemplary.The book is fact based with little bias.If one is interested in this topic, then this is the FIRST book they should read - from there, the reader can find particular people/topics of interest and branch out.The next book to read is "Honor Bound" by Rochester and Kiley - a later text using declasified sources.In reading these two books, a reader will come to understand the POW experience in Vietnam and appreciate America's TRUE heroes.Personnaly, I feel these should be required reading for ALL Americans - particularly our youth.

An Invaluable Rersource
As a POW researcher, I would have been lost without Hubbel having gone before me to pave the way.This book continues to be a resource for me, a one of a kind history that says it all.I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand what the 566 POWs who were repatriated to the US in 1973 endured.The books by and about individuals give their person accounts, but Hubbel offers an objective analysis and global persecptive.

Learn about moral courage practiced by the most vulnerable
I regretted loaning my Readers Digest Press hardcopy of this book and never seeing it return.I had to wait years for the re-publication of this marvelous book.

This book is the quintessential book on the POW experience in North Vietnam, and I have read many of them.The atrocities committed by the North Vietnamese captors were barbaric, horrific, and inhuman.The POWs mostly Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force pilots and crewmen were left with no guidance other than their consciences, their moral compass, their pride of service, their patriotism and an outmoded "Code of Conduct" to fight back against unspeakable tortures designed to win over and break the "American Enemy" and score political propaganda points.For these prisoners, the war was not over when they were shot down.A new and completely unexperienced war commenced upon their capture, a cold, calculating battle to exploit those most vulnerable in the Vietnam War in order to exact concessions from the United States of America.

Against the background of these torturous events, North Vietnam's enablers from the U.S. and international anti-war activists cravenly cooperated with North Vietnamese officials to further undermine the courageous efforts of our POWs who endured barbaric handling to not betray their country's honor.

Not all POWs held up to the rigors of the "Code of Conduct" as well as the greatest majority.However, fortunately not having walked in their shoes, I cannot judge their behavior.The activities of the most stalwart POWs as well as those who were less so are chronicled it this very readable and very moving book.These were the true "heroes" of the Vietnam War.They have never received due honor and recognition.This book attempts to do so in a very meaningful way.If you read ANY book on the Vietnam experience, this must be the one.

A monumental account of POW captivity.......
Researched over a 9 year time span using information gleaned from hundreds of interviews from Vietnam war POW's, this extensive saga of captivity is truly outstanding in its depth.

John G. Hubbell not only relates the stories of high profile POW's from North Vietnam, he explores the many aspects and rigors faced by U.S. servicemen in the brutal Southern Vietnamese prison camps.In helping the reader to truly understand the entire experience, this being a cautionary note to everyone, torture methods suffered by our U.S. servicemen are described very graphically throughout the text and may be difficult to read about at times.

Included in the superbly written and well researched narrative are maps of the various prison compounds, photographs of POW's and their captors, and the entire list of repatriated servicemen at Operation Homecoming in 1973.

"P.O.W. - A definitive history of the American Prisoner of War Experience, 1964-1973" is a very comprehensive and powerful study that makes for a lasting, memorable, and emotional reading experience.Upon recommending this book to everyone with interests in POW captivity, I would also like to suggest the brilliant and epic work "Honor Bound - American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Collection of Vietnam War Articles and Book Excerpts
This is a good collection of articles and book excerpts covering why the U.S. got involved in Indochina, what happened on the battlefield, the role of the press, the successes and failures of the anti-war movement and the long-term consequences of the war. There are mostly good articles and excerpts and only a few that didn't carry their weight. Many of the excerpts gave me a sneak preview of important books on the Vietnam war for future reading.
... Read more

Product Description
In February 1967, Air Force Lieutenant Vaughan arrived at Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in Taiwan to begin 14 months as a C-130 Hercules pilot, airlifting supplies and troops throughout southeast Asia. Feeling well suited, Vaughan had volunteered for the duty, but little had he realized the pressure associated with flying the heavy cargo plane under combat conditions and taking off and landing on the short runways that dotted the Vietnamese countryside. Among his most harrowing duties was the aerial resupply of the Marine base at Khe Sanh during the most intense action of the Tet Offensive. This is the story of an Air Force pilot's progression from inexperienced flyer to veteran crew member and how he came of age under combat conditions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Intense reading
I bought this book to find out and learn what my Dad went through as a flight engineer on C-130s in Vietnam (he had two tours there). He would very seldom speak of his experiences there; he did tell me of a time when mortar fire damaged the aircraft, how high the pucker factor got, the repair he and the loadmaster did, and taking off with the cargo ramp down with enemy fire coming up at them. Or the time he witnessed the aircraft in front of them crashing into a mountain. Or the time they had to carry body bags out. Though this is written from a pilot's perspective I felt a connection with my father. It is well written, but it helps to have some knowledge of aircraft (I served a career in the USAF as an aircraft mechanic) and of military procedures. The way the author describes his fears and anxieties will hold you in it's grip...especially when he describes "Runway Visions". Intense.

A rare airlifter's memoir of SE Asia
Runway Visions is the appropriately titled story of Captain Vaughan's experiences and "bringing up" as a C-130 aviator in Southeast Asia from February 1967 to April 1968, from a newly ordained aircraft commander (AC) at Dyess AFB to "new guy" novitiate in the right seat, progressing to the left seat as AC with a crew, and both seats as an instructor pilot, to check out the "new guys".Early in his fifteen-month tour, he is introduced to the harrowing landing required of An Khe Golf Course, relieved by the construction of a new runway nearby (An Khe Main), then back to the dread of the Golf Course when the new runway is closed for further improvement.Missions to Khe Sanh during his tour are described, the crew's Christmas dinner at the chow hall providing signs of the future siege.
Airlift operations during this time in that part of the world have been little documented, so this journal of a C-130 pilot is a welcome addition to the literature of military aviation for the period.Most pilots seem to have the most vivid impressions of their landing strips, regardless of time, place, or aircraft flown, and this book would be welcomed by many, especially those who know that runways are not always straight and level, or paved and lighted.Perhaps it would prove an awakening for those who don't, and should, as well.

Very good - if you are into C-130 stuff.
I bought this book because I am going into the Air Force Reserves as a C-130 pilot.I, of course, found it very interesting and informative, but I don't think I would recommend it to any non-pilots and would hesitate to recommend it to a non-airlift military pilot.A lot of people would find the topics he discusses very boring as compared to a fighter or bomber type memoir book.Nevertheless, I thought the stories he told were awesome - he talks about almost every mission the Hercules performs - hauling mail, booze, troops, dead bodies, ammo, and medical litters of injured troops.He also details the short-field capability of the C-130 flying into all of those fields in 'Nam.There are several hair-raising stories that he depicts where they are supplying the Marines at Khe Sahn during Tet and others where he is landing in bad weather, runways with craters, dirt strips, etc.He also mixes up the book with some details of the social life in Thailand, Taiwan, and the Philippines (he parallels the airlifting stories with stories about a chick he "hangs out" with in Bangkok.)

Anyway, I thought it was a great read, but I doubt most folks would think so unless they were very into the C-130 - like me.

A "must buy"
I found David Kirk Vaughan's book about his experiences as an airlift pilot in Vietnam impossible to put down.His descriptions of action in and out of the cockpit are done such that they are very easy to understand, even if one is not a pilot.Yet, even the experienced military aviator will find some intriguing action there for him too.

Vaughan's description of landing at the "golf course" is but one example.Written in such a manner that the novice can appreciate the extreme difficulty of such a task, an aviator will nearly be in disbelief, especially after seeing the landing strip in one of the several photos that the author took during his tour and which are included in the book.

Of course there is plenty of action outside the cockpit, too.Again, I found Vaughan's descriptions superb as he related his travels throughout Thailand, Vietnam, the Phillipines and back "home" in Taiwan.

If one wishes to have a better understanding of the life of a military transport pilot or to have a record of Vietnam war airlift action, then this is a must buy!

An air transport pilot comes of age in the Viet Nam war
Runway Visions is a memoir of a young pilot who volunteers to go to SE Asia and fly Hercules C-130supply missions during the Viet Nam war.

David Vaughan tells a compelling tale, one that haunts me. It is nota story full of heroic rescues, though there is a little of that. It is thetale of a man looking back at himself and trying to make sense of what hedid and saw. He holds little back.A difficult book to describe, but onethatthis reader found very satisfying. One of the best books I have readin a long time. ... Read more

Product Description
"The lessons, legacies, and implications for future conflicts are the purpose of this collection of work on The American War in Vietnam. This is an assemblage of ten superb papers which outline why America failed in Vietnam. . . . Military readers will find the section on How the War Was Fought especially interesting in that the authors suggest that had we pursued a more exhaustive air campaign against the North early in the war, then it could have been won. . . . This book is for serious students of the Vietnam War, for historians looking for a complete picture, it has a superb bibliography, and the authors have outstanding credentials." Armor ... Read more

Product Description
Few historical events divided the American public like the war in Vietnam. Protest Movement: The War at Home gives a detailed accounting of the growing Vietnam anti-war movement from the peaceful protests in 1964 to the violent confrontations with authorities in the late sixties and early seventies. (20010801) ... Read more

Product Description
In Two Countries: A Small Town Faces the Vietnam War (formerly titled, Touched by the Dragon) details wartime accounts of average servicemen and women-some heroic, some frightening, some amusing, some nearly unbelievable. The work is a historical compendium of fascinating and compelling stories woven together in a theme format. What makes this book truly unique, however, is its absence of literary pretentiousness. Relating oral accounts, the veterans speak in a no-nonsense, matter-of-fact way. As seen through the eyes of the veterans, the stories include first-person experiences of infantry soldiers, a flight officer, a medic, a nurse, a combat engineer, an intelligence soldier, and various support personnel. Personalities emerge gradually as the veterans discuss their pre war days, their training and preparation for Vietnam, and their actual in-country experiences. The stories speak of fear and survival: the paranoia of not knowing who or where the enemy was; the bullets, rockets, and mortars that could mangle a body or snuff out a life in an instant; and going home with a CMH--not the Congressional Medal of Honor, but a Casket with Metal Handles. The veterans also speak of friendships and simple acts of kindness. But more importantly, they speak of healing-both physical and mental. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent format for a war book.
Vietnam Veteran Frank Gryzb came up with an excellent way to convey the many details of the Vietnam war. He interviewed 15 Veterans ranging from infantry men to nurses to cooks and more.The Veterans tell us in theirown words what they felt and experienced every step of the way.Gryzb'sformat took us from the day these kids first enlisted, or were drafted, tothe day the book was published some 30 years later. There was a section onnearly everything you could think of. Gryzb would briefly preface eachsection with some quality information and then the various Veteran quoteswould follow. All the bases are covered here, everything from smells tosights to comic relief and everything in between. There is no bias herewhatsoever. It's very up close and personal. You really feel like you knowthese people by the end of the book. But, more importantly you have anaccurate account of the various things that happened in that time period asa result of the war. What a great book! This book is highly recommended. ... Read more