Sometimes there is a book that takes me a while to read it. Not because it is a difficult read, but because I want to be able to fully understand all that is in there. As someone who grew up with the news full of Vietnam, just as it is today full of Iraq, there was much that was put across in the TV news and over the radio and in the papers that has become rather ingrained in our look at Vietnam.

Naturally, this is also so much more the case as the US failed in that conflict. Not because of a lack of ability, or tactics, or trained and dedicated soldiers, but because it was treated by many as a 'little WWII' and it was far from that.

Within these 336 pages are fifteen different essays on different areas of the war. One really has to be able to understand the many  nuances of what went on and that starts with a look at what happened right after WWII. There are sections on the French involvement, how the soldiers of North Vietnam saw things, the importance of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the wars in Cambodia and Laos, the views of the South Vietnamese soldiers and the civilians caught in the middle. Australia and New Zealand's contributions are included as are how the Free World troops conducted their operations and tactics. The views of US soldiers are included as is how the air war affected things. Riverine warfare is given a goodly section as is the impact (or lack of it) by the various news media. Finally a section on how things turned out. What allowed the North Vietnamese to so quickly overrun the south and what has become of many of the players in this event.

You'll read about things you may not like and have your eyes opened to other aspects of the conflict. You'll find out that what you thought were major causes for failure were really not as important as they seemed at the time. You'll also see that much of the dynamics of what was going on in Vietnam during the 60's is also playing itself out in Iraq today. The place is different, the tactics are not the same, but there are a large number of similarities between the two.

It is a book that I think all children of the 60s and early 70s have to read, just to get a greater perspective on something that definitely shaped the way we think and do things. A book that I most highly recommend to you.

June 2007

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