Overview

""Intense and absorbing... If you buy only one book on the Vietnam War, this is the one you want."" -Chicago Tribune Christian G. Appy's monumental oral history of the Vietnam War is the first work to probe the war's path through both the United States and Vietnam. These vivid testimonies of 135 men and women span the entire history of the Vietnam conflict, from its murky origins in the 1940s to the chaotic fall of Saigon in 1975. Sometimes detached and reflective, often raw and emotional, they allow us to see and feel what this war meant to people literally on all sides: Americans and Vietnamese, generals and grunts, policymakers and protesters, guerrillas and CIA operatives, pilots and doctors, artists and journalists, and a variety of ordinary citizens whose lives were swept up in a cataclysm that killed three million people. By turns harrowing, inspiring, and revelatory, Patriots is not a chronicle of facts and figures but a vivid human history of the war. ""A gem of a book, as informative and compulsively readable as it is timely."" -The Washington Post Book World

Full Product Details

Author:   Christian G. Appy
Publisher:   Penguin Books Ltd
Imprint:   Penguin Books Ltd
Dimensions:   Width: 14.00cm , Height: 3.20cm , Length: 21.20cm
Weight:   0.535kg
ISBN:  

9780142004494

ISBN 10:   0142004499
Pages:   608
Publication Date:   28 September 2004
Audience:   Children/juvenile ,  Children / Juvenile
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Inactive
Availability:   In Print  
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

Table of Contents

PatriotsPreface Part One: Introductions Commanders Bernard Trainor: It turned out the major of Danang was a double agent Dang Vu Hiep: With all those choppers they seemed terribly strong War Heroes Roger Donlon: We were babes in arms in every way Tran Thi Gung: I was stuck in a tunnel for seven days Paying the Price Ta Quang Thinh: They carried me the whole way back to the North George Watkins: That sand was probably the only thing that saved me Phan Xuan Sinh: Ail my ancestors are buried here Where is Vietnam? Jo Collins: I just thought I was going to Europe Deirdre English: How can my country be at war and I don't know about it? Part Two: Beginnings (1945-64) History Is Not Made with IFS Henry Prunier: These were not ragtag farmers Yo Nguyen Giap: The most atrocious conflict in human history Deliver Us From Evil Daniel Redmond: The doctor who won the war in Indochina Rufus Phillips: Tell 'em I'm not French before they lynch me Ngo Vinh Long: If they're making maps, they're preparing for war Kick the Tires and Light the Fires Richard Olsen: It was like 'Terry and the Pirates' Malcolm Browne: You could smell the burning flech Le Leiu Browne: There was one coup after another Paul Hare: My cock lost the fight The Emporor Has No Clothes Paul Kattenburg: What's good for Peru is good for Vietnam Evelyn Colbert: Dissent which contradicted the public optimism was ignored Chester Cooper: Boy, you speak just like an American Sergei Khruchchev: The Vietnamese had their own ideas Paradise Island John Singlaub: We sent them all back with a generous gift package Luyen Nguyen: She divorces her second husband and waited for me Part Three: Escalations Trails to War Vu Thi Vinh: The Truong Son jungle gave us life Nguyen Thi Kim Chuy: We came home hairless with ghostly white eyes Helen Tennant Hegelhimer: I was their wife, their sister, their girlfriend You Want Me to Start World War III? James Thompson: This was crazy and deceitful policy making Seth Tillman: We could stop this war tommorrow Charles Cooper (I): He used the f-word more freely than a marine in boot camp Walt Whitman Rostow: Take the North Vietnamese of Vinh hostage Central Highlands Dennis Deal: Man, if we're up against this, it's gonna be a long-ass year Ward Just: It approached the vicinity of the spiritual Le Cao Dai: Sometimes I operated all night while the staff took turns pedaling the bicycle From Civil Rights to Antiwar Julian Bond: They said I was guilty of treason and sedition General Baker Jr.: When the call is made to free the Mississippi Delta...I'll be the first one in line The Ultimate Protest Anne Morrison Welsh: It was like an arrow was shot from Norman's heart Free-Fire Zone Jim Soular: A goddamn chopper was worth three times more than David Triage James Lafferty: No draft board ever failed to meet its quotas David M. Smith: The knife man Sylvia Lutz Holland: We saved their lives, but what life? Chi Nguyen: Being wounded was not considered the worst thing that could happen Morale Boosters Bobbie Keith: I got a butterfly right on the butt. So that's my war story James Brown: After they got the funk they went back and reloaded Quach Van Phong: An artist ca be as important in war as a soldier Nancy Smoyer: I can't believe the Donut Dollies got us to do that Vu Hy Thieu: Nothing was more essential than our sandals Joe McDonald: I was president of my high school marching band Air War Jopnathan Schell: I had my notebook right there in the plane Harlan S. Pinkerton Jr.: Good luck and good hunting Luu Huy Chao: Before I trained as a pilot I had never been in an airplane Nguyen Quang Sang: That was the first time I ever saw an American Fred Branfman: What would it be like to hide in a cave all for five years? Prisoners of War (I) Porter Halyburton: I don't see how you've got a worse place than this Troung My Hoa: They tried to make us say, 'Down with President Ho!' Randy Kehler: Friction against the wheel Cameras, Books, and Guns Philip Jones Griffiths (I): Go see what they did to those people with your money Larry Heinemann: We had this idea that we were king of the fucking hill Doung Thanh Phong: We didn't need a darkroom Joan Holden: The counterculture was visible everywhere Oliver Stone: He lived to kill. He was like a real Arab Nguyen Duy: Whoever won, the people always lost Yusef Komunyakaa: Soul Brothers, what you dying for? H.D.S. Greenway: We would write something ans the magazine would ignore it if it wasn't upbeat Antiwar Escalations Todd Gitlin: A rather grandoise sense that we were the stars and spear-carriers of history Tom Englehardt: It was like Vietnam had somehow come all the way into our living rooms Vivian Rothstein: What? Meet separately with women? They Slept At Our House Paul Warnke: We fought for a separate South Vietnam, but there wasn't any South Part Four: The Turning Point (1968-70) Tet Tran Van Tan: He asked me for directions to the police sensations Barry Zorthian: Then-boom!-Tet comes along Philip Jones Griffiths (II): You're not safe in those cities Nguyen Qui Duc: I was living a double life Bob Gabriel: We buried our own men right there Tuan Van Ban: Attack! Attack! Attack! Memorial Day 1968 Clark Dougan: He Was Only 19-Did You Know Him? From Johnson to Nixon John Gilligan: Our only shot was to help Humphrey break away from Johnson Peter Kuznick: Political conversion was the greatest ahprodisiac J. Shaeffer: The Palace Guard Samuel Huntington: You had to be pretty stupid to stay out in the countryside Douglas Kinnard: While we had the power, it turned out they had the will A Three-Square-Mile Piece of the United States Tom O'Hara: It was like being in a minimum-security prison Familes At War John Douglas Marshal: You will not be welcome here again Huynh Phuong Dong: Recieving a letter was a mixed blessing Richard Houser: They told me I needed to choose between my country and my brother Nathan Houser: A sign this country has grown up will be when there is a memorial erected to the war resisters Suzie Scott: This nice young man from the FBI was here Lam Van Lich: I was away from home for twenty-nine years My Lai Larry Colburn: They were butchering people Michael Bernhardt: The portable fire-free zone You Look Like a Gook Vincent Okamoto: Damn, I'm a Gook Wayne Smith: I was thinking God they didn't have air support Charley Trujillo: It sure as hell wasn't 'English only' in Vietnam An Acute Lack of Forgetfulness Gloria Emerson: Before the war, I was Miss Mary Poppins Nguyen Ngoc Luong: To get their ID cards, the girls had to go to bed with the police From Cambodia to Kent State Anthony Lake: Quitting wasn't heroic A.J. Langguth: I think they pictured it as a kind of huge bamboo Pentagon Tom Grace: As much as we hated the war on April 29, we hated it more on April 30 Part Five: Endings (1970-75) The End of the Tunnel Alexander M. Haig Jr.: Even the tough guys...caved in Morton Halerin: Kissenger did not trust anybody fully Judith Coburn: Vietnamization wasn't working any better than Americanization We Really Believes... Beverly Gologorsky: God forbid my boss finds out I'm here Nguyen Ngoc Bich: Why should my son die for your country? Chalmers Johnson: The campus was turning into a celebration of Maoism Steve Sherlock: Steve Sherlock, bronze star with a V. Watergate Daniel Ellsberg: We're eating our young Egil ""Bud"" Krogh: Let's circle the wagons The World Was Coming to An End Frank Maguire: The whole attitude was, stand back little brother, I'll take care of it Charles Cooper (II): All this area was Indian country Everybody Thought We'd Won the War Charles Hill: Reporters just kept writing as if it were Tet Paris Daniel Davidson: I wouldn't buy a used car from that man Nguyen Thi Binh: The longest peace talks in history Nguyen Khac Huynh: It wasn't a mistake, it was an inexplicable crime Prisoners of War (II) Jay Scarborough: I read Anthony Adverse about four times Tran Ngoc Chau: The curriculum was designed to detoxicate us John McCain: Americans like conspiracies Patty and Earl Hopper Sr.: What mushroom do they think we were hatched under last week? Gloria Coppin: The government wanted to control the POW/MIA movement Copllapse Frank Snepp: There was classified confetti all over the trees Troung Tran: We could either lose or tie, but not win The Merriment was Short-Lived Le Minh Khue: The letters remain, but the senders are gone forever Part Six: Legacies (1975- ) Missing In Action Tran Van Ban: We saw so many parents crying for their lost children Tom Corey: Why do you hate the Vietnamese? War-Zone Childhoods Tran Luong: I never got there in time to capture an American pilot Bong Macdoran: It's not worth my energy to lay blame on anybody Luong Ung: People just disappeared and you didn't say anything Silences Toshio Whelchel: i didn't her to worry, so I lied R. Huynh: Your real self was only for you Jayne Stancavage: I just want to know what happened Souvenirs Hoang Van Thiet: They bought Zippos as a kind of birth certificate Taps Leroy V. Quintana: Old geezers...playing taps on a tape recorder William Westmoreland: I was leading an unpopular war Thai Dao: The first time I ever encountered the Vietnam War was in Hollywood movies Tim O'Brien: You can't talk with people you demonize Huu Ngoc: We no longer hate the Americans Wayne Karlin: The roof that hasn't been built Duong Tuong: Because love is stronger than enmity Acknowledgments Index

Reviews

Intense and absorbing... If you buy only one book on the Vietnam War, this is the one you want. ( Chicago Tribune )

Intense and absorbing... If you buy only one book on the Vietnam War, this is the one you want. ( Chicago Tribune )<br><br>A gem of a book, as informative and compulsively readable as it is timely. ( The Washington Post Book World )<br><br>

Author Information

Christian G. Appy is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the author of two previous books on the Vietnam War. His oral history of the war, Patriots, was a main selection of Book of the Month Club and won the Massachusetts Book Award for nonfiction. His most recent book is American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity. He lives in Amherst.

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