jjares reviewed The Battle of Khe Sanh: The History and Legacy of the Major Battle that Preceded the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War on + 3275 more book reviews
One thing that I learned from 'reading' this book with my ears, is that it is not as easy to understand. I would recommend reading this instead of listening. I wound up reading all the reviews and the summary to make sure I understood the whole book. This is not the author's fault; I just found it difficult to process so many facts and ideas in such a short period of time (about such a complex subject).
Although a female, I received a draft notice to the Vietnam War. Of course, I did not serve. From that point on, the war became an interest of mine. I find this book to be fairly balanced and showed how attitudes changed in America as the body counts started to rise. The questions really started to fly when the photos of dead soldiers hit the small-town papers.
Even to this day, most Americans are not really geographically knowledgeable about Southeast Asia. So the beauty of a book like this is to explain the history of a region and set the stage for the subject of the book/article. So Charles Rivers tells about the French control of Vietnam. Then the book shows how we slipped down the slippery slope of the 'domino theory' that dominated thought amongst the military elites ('if you let one nation fall to communism, they will all fall like dominoes').
I remember when the news started to complain about General Westmoreland's body counts of the Vietcong as being rather amazing. Then we found out that they counted all dead bodies (North and South soldiers -- and civilians) as Vietcong. Before long, General Westmoreland's word wasn't valued -- or believed. The Johnson White House also talked with cheery confidence about a war that was costing $2 billion/month.
This is such an interesting story that I read it in one sitting. Like today's unrest, this is a piece of our history that isn't so pleasant to relive. However, we have learned some lessons. During the Gulf of Tonkin incident, I remember that people felt that America shouldn't let that incident slide. So we didn't, and look where it got us. If such a thing happened today, I think we have learned enough to talk it out, not look for ammo.
Although a female, I received a draft notice to the Vietnam War. Of course, I did not serve. From that point on, the war became an interest of mine. I find this book to be fairly balanced and showed how attitudes changed in America as the body counts started to rise. The questions really started to fly when the photos of dead soldiers hit the small-town papers.
Even to this day, most Americans are not really geographically knowledgeable about Southeast Asia. So the beauty of a book like this is to explain the history of a region and set the stage for the subject of the book/article. So Charles Rivers tells about the French control of Vietnam. Then the book shows how we slipped down the slippery slope of the 'domino theory' that dominated thought amongst the military elites ('if you let one nation fall to communism, they will all fall like dominoes').
I remember when the news started to complain about General Westmoreland's body counts of the Vietcong as being rather amazing. Then we found out that they counted all dead bodies (North and South soldiers -- and civilians) as Vietcong. Before long, General Westmoreland's word wasn't valued -- or believed. The Johnson White House also talked with cheery confidence about a war that was costing $2 billion/month.
This is such an interesting story that I read it in one sitting. Like today's unrest, this is a piece of our history that isn't so pleasant to relive. However, we have learned some lessons. During the Gulf of Tonkin incident, I remember that people felt that America shouldn't let that incident slide. So we didn't, and look where it got us. If such a thing happened today, I think we have learned enough to talk it out, not look for ammo.
