Among all the movies and books that I have read bout the Vietnam war(my father and uncles were officers in the Vietminh and later the North Vietnamese army), only one film truely depict the war and its effect on the Vietnamese. That movie is called "We want to Live", directed and written by Vinh Noan. This book is no less accurate as the film that Vinh Noan have made.

Frank Vinh Noan has written a winsome and marvelous book that captures one's imagination. Part of the charm of the book is simply the story the author tells. However, the real charm is the way the author leaves the questions of love of country, love of culture, love of religious commitments, and love and devotion to families, both of one's birth and of one's marriage, as mysteries to be resolved by the reader's thought and imagination. This is not just a book of fiction. It also is a profound history of different cultures, different religions, and different countries, and the forces that brought them together. Then ending is both gripping and convicting, and must be read and felt to begin to understand what happened at the conclusion of the war in Vietnam. Anyone who lived through the period known as the war in Vietnam will have to re-examine assumptions and come to terms with importance of that period of history, both on Vietnam and on the United States. After having read the book several times, I felt I knew the author and his family in a deeply personal way. This is what good reading is all about.

Although a novel, much of this book seems derived from facts. It tells a story of two people, from seemingly different cultures, united by the power of love but cruely torn apart by the war in Vietnam. The book is artistic and descriptive, and will be of interest to anyone who has any feelings about Vietnam. The passages about the attrocities and conditions suffered by the Boat People are very moving and are likely to bring you to tears! Does the story have a happy ending? You'll have to read it to find out!

I loved this book very much and to anyone who reads this i hope that they will also take this wonderful opertunity to read this book. I have read this book 3 or 4 times and i really enjoyed it very much. It was EXTREAMLY detailed and Richard Guidry captured every detail to each blade of grass. A MUST READ LOVED THE BOOK.

The viewpoint of the author made me wonder how I would have stood up in his place...I cared about the people in it.

This book is a rollercoaster ride...It is both exciting and very revealing.

Full of adventure! Colonel Ross has many missions in combat and exciting happenings!
I really enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to anyone looking for something fun to read!

I bought this for my dad, and he encourage me to read it! I'm not a Military buff or History for that matter, but this was a very interesting book that captured my attention! Great adventure story!

I highly recommend this book to anyone!!!!

From the first chapter on, it reads like an great American soldier memoir. I was captured from the start!

(Thanks for suggesting this interesting book, Dad!)

This is a great book for anyone who wants background and details regarding Skyraider deployment and operations in Vietnam. There are not the typical detailed specifications and profile drawings - although detailed appendices account for assignment, and often disposition, of every A-1 type that server in theater (listed by tail number) during the 60s and 70s, as well as Navy, Air Force and VNAF Skyraider deployments and order of battle and carrier/air field assignments.

After brief historic background chapters the book has sections on Navy Skyraider attack and SAR-support operations, the two Navy incidents that resulted in MIG kills, USAF ground support, interdiction and SAR-support, and VNAF operations.

There are dozens of color and B&W photographs in each section. One interesting section had several pages of A-1 pilot photos (mostly USAF but some Navy and VNAF) taken in the country or aboard ships.

This volume is highly recommended for the A-1 buff or modeler as well as those interested general military aviation history as well as Vietnam air warfare history.

The latest from the pen of Wayne Mutza is a highly readable history of the Douglas Skyraider's service during the wars waged across Southeast Asia in the 1960s and early 1970s. It functions on several levels, being the story of the aircraft, its service with all combatants and in often obscure areas, and the courage of the men who flew and maintained it.
Mutza's text, from an overview of the Spad's genesis to appendices guaranteed to delight the most detail-oriented historian, shows him at the top of his form as both researcher and writer. The selection of illustrations, photographs, and patches is superior to anything available to date on the Spad regardless of the period considered.
If there are any negative points, they are minor within the overall work and rest squarely on the publisher's head. Schiffer has once again yielded to temptation, negating a careful selection of cover photographs made by the author, being miserly with space and color for photos, and even changing the title on a whim.
As with any title carrying Wayne Mutza's name, this one is worth buying and keeping.

"Spads Last War" is the real thing. Mutza gathered a great collection of photos taken by the guys that were there, doing it, and stories written by them. He also includes a concise history of USA involvement in South-East Asia, of the Spad itself, and the diverse operations it was involved in.

Wayne also managed to capture the essence of the Spad Driver brotherhood. Vietnam was probably the last war to see manned propeller-driven tactical aircraft. Sorta like being part of the last horse cavalry. I can't describe the emotional bond, not sure anyone has, but Wayne comes as close as I've seen.

Well done Wayne, and thanks.

A former VA-165 "Boomer"

What better time to read this passionate and harrowing story of a young soldier in combat than right now when the Army special forces have carried the day in Iraq? Manny Garcia was trained to do this same kind of killing work. We read of the glory in the headlines. Garcia tells us what it was really like, the tragedy, the treachery -- and the gallantry. His narrative is chillingly true and it moves with the speed of an M-16 bullet and the keenness of a sharpened steel blade. The tale is of Vietnam. It's applicability is yesterday and tomorrow.

This is the life of Manny Garcia a soldier who experienced war before life.
The book details the youth of a Chicano devoid of the American Dream.
He becomes a specialized Ranger in the 101st Airborne Division onto a point man in the front line of jungle warfare.
The details of the war are harrowing yet the account moves you to laughter as much as to tears.
The descriptive passages of the jungle are pure poetry.
The writing is good, so good that the soldier becomes a friend and you care what happens to him and to all the others you meet in the horror of war.

His experiences make it a good story; his writing style make it a great read!! I read it in one sitting. When the subject gets very serious ( as war accounts get), Manny injects his dry humour and I found myself laughing out loud!!
This is a MUST read for anyone living with or related to a military veteran.

After reading John Cook's Rescue Under Fire: The Story of DUST OFF in Vietnam, I decided to see if The Advisor was as good. I'm here to tell you, this guy is fantastic. He doesn't talk down to the reader. Rather, he pulls the reader into the action in a way that the reader is actually there. Told in the first person, this is the very personal account of a young man who grew to hate the communist Viet Cong. However, he very clearly explains why. The Viet Cong murdered innocent villagers, blew up market places, and killed children in front of their parents. In a bold, direct style, Cook makes no apologies for the way he felt. He took on the enemy with a vengance and eliminated them from his district. This is a story you never heard on TV and that's a pity. However, this is a book that every American should read. Then, they could be proud of what the US did in Vietnam. Without John Cook, I never would have known the truth.

The Advisor: The Phoenix Program in Vietnam, was a real eye-opener for me. I have never read a more personal, compelling account of the Vietnam war than the one provided here by John Cook. He takes the reader through every aspect of living in this country as an advisor. In short, he makes the Vietnamese real and makes it very easy to choose sides. Cook very easily brushes aside all the liberal hog-wash about how the Viet Cong are really not all that bad and exposes them for what they are--a bunch of murdering thugs. When I read this book, I found myself out there on an operation or ambush and hoping to God that I would be able to kill a whole bunch of Viet Cong. This book is not objective and is not intended to be. Clearly, John Cook has an agenda and he executes it extremely well. He hates the Viet Cong and explains why, in very graphic language. This is a book you will not put down, once you pick it up. Thank you, Colonel Cook, for cutting through all the crud and giving it to us straight.

The Advisor is, by far, the best written, most insightful book of any type I have seen on Vietnam. It describes the heroic actions of the most respected district chief in Vietnam, Major Nguyen Minh Chau, of Di An District, Bien Hoa Province, and his team of advisors. This book also includes actions involving 1/4 Cav troopers and 1st Infantry Division during the period 1968-1970. Written in the first person by the young senior advisor to Chau, John Cook, this book is a must read for any Vietnam vet or serious student of the war. Col (Ret) William C. Haponski Quarterhorse 6, Jan-Jul 69

this is one of the best books about the vietnam conflict that i have ever read! the characters are so beliveable that you could reach out and touch them... it is a book that i would recopmen to anyone, boys or girls.

This book is a definate tear jerker, for both guys and girls. The main character, Geraldine, is put in many situations throughout the book. When her brother leaves for Vietnam and his best friend disagrees with his choice, she can't do anything but watch their friendship slowly fade away. Or does it? Many emotions are expressed in this touching story. I recomend this story for all ages.

This book, is one of the very few books that actually caused me to cry. The story is so moving, and Geraldine is a very convincing character. I rate this book really well. I read it years ago at my junior high library, and have been searching for it since. I reccomend this book to anyone.

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 the information, including those of who lived during that time period. Many younger generation kids are oblivious to what actually happened during the Vietnam War, and should be educated about the historical importance of the war. The book itself helped the audience, especially those of who are of Vietnamese decent, understand how their ancestors survived and what they went through during the course of the war.

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 is trying to convey is divided into two parts, the Vietnam War and the issues of the 1960's. His first theme on the Vietnam War subject is the United States after World War II tried to become the world leader during their foreign affairs in the Indochina region but failed. The second theme, which deals with the domestic problems in America during this time period, is how the people of the United States erupted into its domestic problems and how they are linked with the war in Vietnam. In the first half of the book, Buzzanco announces his thesis statement, letting the reader know that the first half was all the details of the war. Then he comes back in the second half 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 and strongly showed examples that lead people to believe him. In every major point in both parts of his book, he used clear and precise examples to prove his words correct. He used all second hand information due to the fact that he was born too late to participate in the actual war. But his information was all very accurate and strong. He really did not use any points that criticized anything he was trying to convey in his book. But there 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 to blame much of the domestic uprisings on Martin Luther King and the march on Washington. He claims that the march got the African-Americans to strongly disapprove of the war. But the march was more or less strictly on the civil rights issues, not on the war. He was, however, extremely successful at effectively using his sources in a convincing manner. Starting on page 104 and continuing, he shows how American foreign policy on the countries surrounding Vietnam essentially escalated the conflict even further. He does not however; use any examples of others that would give evidence that his points are not true or inaccurate. Some of his issues are controversial and 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 the early 1960's under JFK's policy. But in reality much could have been done to prevent the conflict from escalating. More or less he is trying to convince the reader that his points are one sided and are not controversial. He seems biased on the fact that he offers nothing on the opposite side of him. All good writers usually give points to satisfy both for 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 and uses evidence to support that. Due to Dr. Buzzanco's education level and his astounding credibility and awards his information can be trustworthy. He uses strong examples to prove his thesis and also uses several other points throughout the book.

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, and times 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 about the Vietnam War, this book explains in great detail the events leading up to the war and the repercussions of the war on Americans and American life and, it will make you understand and create your own opinions about the war.

I expected not to finish this book, given my previous lack of interest in Vietnam-War history, but I found that the story transcended its milieu and beyond that drew my interest to a key period of recent American history. I imagine that fans will counsel students of history and political science to read it, and they probably should as an interesting nuance from more high-level views provided by more famous luminaries like Westmoreland, McNamara, et al, but I found this fascinating from a different standpoint: how one individual struggled to keep his intellectual integrity in the face of massive institutional pressure not to. There are lots of melodramatic movies that seek to capture the situation more cleanly, but this book, in chronicling one man's true-life experience, did it better and with more resonance than any film I've seen. As a young person who works with "numbers" myself, I understand how frequently people try to manipulate them and use them as persuasive devices for major decisions.

War of Numbers is an essential book for intelligence analysts as well as students of the Vietnam War. Adams provides key insight to strategic policy failure. In order to fully appreciate Adam's contribution to the intelligence history of Vietnam, it is important to understand that wars are fought by nations in the pursuit of interests and that for Americans, the decision to go to war should address seven considerations: Problem Identification, Interests Assessment, Objective Identification (including End State Assessment), Strategic Self Appraisal, National Power Assessments of The Enemy, Strategy Development, and the Identification of Gaps between Policy and Means.
Adam's book addresses errors in the National Power Assessment phase which had a negative cascading effect in subsequent decision making. Flawed enemy strength calculations contributed to flawed strategy development which contributed to a gap between policy and means. When Adams identified the flaw, the Johnson Administration was too heavily committed to a war of attrition to tolerate public exposure of the gaps between policy and means. Strategically, telling the truth about the numbers of enemy forces would have required larger commitments of U.S. forces increasing the strain on public support for the war. The strength of Johnson's political will and McNamara's quantitative analysis approach to war deeply affected the way the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, counted the enemy (called, Order of Battle).
MACV kept three sets of books; The first set of OB was the official version sent to Washington. The second set belonged to the OB Analysts themselves, and the third set was a blend of the first two. The first set was an undercount to keep official Washington placated; the second set was the honest count but did not go anywhere, and the third set went to Westmoreland who kept it close hold.
Adams contribution to the intelligence discipline is his description of how he found the flaw in OB accounting and the political correctness that resisted him within the intelligence community. The key to his breakthrough was to have actually gone to Vietnam, worked the Order of Battle issues on the ground, understand the enemy from "the enemy's" perspective and then double check how U.S. reporting of enemy strength matched that of how the enemy was reporting his own strength. This is when Adams discovered that MACV was undercounting troop strength. He performed a validity and reliability check on MACV and found their procedures and results wanting. The technique he used is described in detail and serves as a lesson learned for today's OB analysts.
The second lesson is how Adams' persistence caused a rift between the CIA and MACV over the integrity of the OB counting. The CIA is evenhandedly portrayed in the book. Individual analysts who looked at the numbers invariably sided with Adams; those in responsive political positions and vulnerable to the political influence of the Johnson-McNamara Administration behave in the subtle manner normally associated with behind the scene politics. Adams illustrates how assessments were watered down, reports delayed, egos clashed in the briefing rooms, and all of the suppressive efforts were brought to bear to keep him muffled and how he countered them. Basically, his operating principle was that the truth should be allowed to surface and he describes how he created those opportunities; back channel copies of reports; boot leg copies of reports, analyst to analyst contacts (CIA to DIA, for example), as well as maintaining contact with the honest brokers at MACV.
This is an important book for students of Intelligence Analysis. It serves as a guide on how to double check the validity and reliability of Order of Battle data; it gives insight to how politics heavily filtered ground truth under the Johnson Administration, and it lets the world see that the CIA wasn't evil incarnate. Like every other agency in Washington, it simply surrendered to political pressure from the White House.

Adams' book is not so much a book about Vietnam as a chronical of what happens when intelligence units and agencies report what the commanders WANT to hear. The CIA and J2 of MACV in Adams' book become pawns in the politics of Vietnam. They ignored facts and basic tenents of intelligence reporting. The agencies feared reaction to the facts and its possible effect on public sentiment to US involvement. Because of that they purposely, according to Adams, reported and knowingly maintained false information.

Even more disturbing are Adams' insights into the CIA of the middle and late Sixties. Though deeply entrenched in war in Vietnam, they seemed to take an overall cavalier approach to the mission. Adams notes after Tet-1968 there were "considerably less than 6" CIA agent handlers in Vietnam who spoke vietnamese. These same case officers received a grand total of 2 hours orientation on Vietnam and their enemy prior to assignment.

This book is a MUST read for intelligence personnel, policy makers and anyone who wants to learn how, the hard way, not to run an intelligence organization.

As a hardcore flight simulation fans, I am more interest on the exciting battle fields in the sky. I have read "Strike Eagle" before, I would like it more with comparsion. However, the last parts "Victory in the Desert" can satisfy me, just feel I stay at Eagle, Tomcat's... seat to fire a missile on the Migs to form a huge fireball to shine the dark.
The first three parts, it decribes some ACEs' background, stories, families, careers....Overall, it is a great book for flight readers. Check Six.

I've always dreamed of being a fighter pilot....this book really conveys what I imagine it might really be like...it goes beyond "top gun" or some of the other movies of that ilk... If you know any technical details about how jets really work, or even if you don't, this book really will give you a better sense of what really goes through a pilots mind both in combat and in training. As the subtitle says, the period covered by the book is vietnam up through and including the gulf war, and the author does a good job of putting his recounting of pilots stories into context by discussing the contemporary American fighter tactics during each relevant period. You'll feel the pilots frusterations at the limitations of their radar or the information available to them, and you'll feel their excitement as they move in for the kill. Most of all though, I got a sense of the professionalism that is bestowed in our pilots through their training. In any case, I heartily recommend buying this book, you won't regret it. Check six!

Here's a review I posted on a flight simulator forum, for all of us PC virtual fighter pilots. I decided to post it here as well, for those who enjoy aviation and excitement but who don't really do much flight simulator flying.

"An adreneline rush injected straight into your heart. This is some of the best jet combat reports as told to the author by the pilots who flew them. If you like the movie 'Top Gun' but felt it wasn't technically correct, you'll love this book. If you loved 'Top Gun' simply because it featured combat jets going really fast, you'll love this book. Strap on your speed jeans and push the throttle past the final detente, because there's two contacts at angels 10 and they're jinking back across your beam..."