For most Americans of my generation, Vietnam ended with the image of what was left of our effort scrambling frantically to climb aboard a helicopter on top of the embassy. After that, the only time we thought of Vietnam was at the movies watching Sylvester Stallone, a.k.a. "Johnny Rambo" do single handedly in a couple of hours what 500,000+ troops couldn't in ten years. For us, walking away was easy. For the South Vietnamese, it was impossible.

Author Nguyen Van Canh was a South Vietnamese intellectual who was forced to leave his homeland when the communists took over. By interviewing refugees and clandestine contacts, by reading journalists' articles, and analyzing official reports of the Democratic Government of Vietnam, he has pieced together a graphic picture of life under communism. The picture is not pretty.

He concludes that the former South Vietnam is now nothing more than a conquered province. For all the rhetoric by Ho Chi Minh and Company of "reconciliation" and "brotherhood," the South is now totally dominated by the North. Even former communist cadre members are relegated to second class citizenship because being from the South makes them suspect.

The take-over followed the familiar communist line, only with uniquely Vietnamese terminology. Instead of gulags, Vietnam has re-education centers and new economic zones. Instead of show trials, we have self-criticism sessions. Instead of public executions, suspected persons simply try to leave the country via small, unseaworthy boats. It's the same song, just a different verse.

Canh states the usual process of collectivization of agriculture and industry went on with the usual results. After the burgeoise were liquidated, the only people left to plan a central economy could not plan a daily calendar. As usual, the resulting shortages of goods have impoverished the population. Graft and corruption at all levels are commonplace as people literally lie, cheat and steal to survive.

Canh's book is an important work. It effectively compares what communism promises with what it delivers. Every person who fought the war and every person who opposed it should read Canh and ask, "What could we have done to prevent this tragedy?" More importantly, "What can we do now to insure no other nation has to endure this again?"

Using primary and secondary sources, the author has been able to document the organization set up by the communists in South Vietnam from 1975 to 1982 to coerce the South Vietnamese into following the Marxist theory.

Socialism was brutally introduced to South Vietnam with eradication of private property, commerce and trade, and nationalization of the industry.

The chapter about religious suppression is particularly interesting: priests and monks opposing the new regime landed in jails or were sent to reeducation camps. Buddhists who were treated fairly leniently under the Thieu regime, were forever silenced. Politicians advocating a neutral Vietnam and communists opposing the Hanoi regime were also imprisoned. Basically no dissention was tolerated.

Millions of former military personnel and thousands of southern officials landed in reeducation camps with no set date for release. Millions of civilians were sent to new economic zones to work on virgin lands without tools, fertilizers, or even seeds. Their houses and belongings were confiscated and given to northerners who came in to administrate the conquered South.

This was not only a complete wipe-out of a democratic state, but also an overall socialist restructuring of the society. Alas, the experimentation turned out to be an utter failure and a quarter of a century later, the communists just hung on to power by force.

Although written in 1983, the book remains a classic and an excellent source of information for researchers and students alike.

This is a very good work and should be used in classrooms around the world.

I have read many books on the Vietnam War and An's is truly one of the best. His views are truly remarkable and I hope to see more from him in the near future!

The Vietnam War Almanac is very informative, easy to read and to follow. If you are interested in the Vietnam War I recommend you read this almanac.

Very well balanced book in an almanac form. This covers places and chronological events. There are many charts, maps and significant pictures to support the information. There is a very descriptive table of contents.

You can see that Colonel Harry G. Summers, Jr. has a very good understanding of the region and events leading up to and after the Vietnam War.

I picked this book because it is one of the few that include an armored reconnaissance unit, the First Squadron, 10 Cavalry. Also the other units we travels with it in the Central Highlands in II Corps. Being an almanac, not enough information was given to tell the feel of the location.

This book is well worth the cost.

The question of U.S. victory in Vietnam has been asked since the fall of Saigon in 1975. Yet the central aspect is not really one of military victory but what goals were attempted and were any actually achieved. Former army lieutenant colonel and West Point graduate F. Charles Parker IV discusses the strategies for winning the Vietnam war and how closely toward the U.S. Marine Corps landing at Danang did the upper levels in U.S. defense department choose to fight to a stalemate. Perhaps the most fascination revelation is how the war was to be prosecuted (in terms of the "crossover point") and at what point the war could be considered to be won (March, 1968).

This book lays out all the flaws in the conventional wisdom on the war on both the right and the left. Examining Vietnam not as a conflict in a vacuum, it shows all the complex maneuvering between the U.S., China, and the USSR. Carefully researched (better than most) and well-written

This book covers a brief history of Vietnam, Vietnamese people, of their heritage and culture. Discussed how the Vietnamese came to America more than thirty years ago as refugees and have created their own community that is now interwoven into the fabric of the American society. The author examines the Vietnamese community through their political participation, social issues such as education, community development, cultural preservation and economic survival.

Hien Duc Do provides a good account of vietnamese americans. To often they are reduced to stereotypes like the model minority or poor boat people, however there is obviously more than that to vietnamese americans. Do covers issues of vietnamee history anbd culture especially important considering the american involvement in vietnam. It looks at how vietnames have come to this country as refugees and as immigrants. Do deals with the prejudice that vietnamese have faced such as conflicts in states like louisanaia and texas when they entred the fishing industry as well as problems with other minority groups like hispanics and blacks over goverment resources. There is a good deal of information about the generational conflicts between first and second generation vietnames who differ in areas like language and values. It looks at problems like mental health that are not dealt with all that much in the vietnamese community Do does cover the model minority issue discussing school achievement and looks at how above average poverty rates among vietnamese.

The Wall designed by Maya Lin, then a 21 year-old student at Yale is one of the most visited monument in Washington, DC. If the war was controversial, the winning design also caused quite a stir nationwide. Arguments erupted against this "black gash of shame". The controversy was resolved by adding a bronze statue and a flagpole.

The book is a pictorial testimony of the millions of people who came by to remember the fallen and to reminisce the past. These are either parents, wives, children, veterans, friends, or visitors who came to pay tribute to those who sacrificed themselves in the name of FREEDOM.

They are gone, but live forever in our hearts.

Empathy and love helped create this sensitive photographic study of the Viet Nam War Memorial. One cannot view each stunning photograph without emotion and deep gratitude. This book still remains on our bookshelf so we will always remember. This is a heart-felt offering.

This is not a novel and the facts are often understated. It is easy to read, told in an honest and matter of fact way. Too bad it wasn't available to be read by every American before our own Vietnam experience. Now there are hundreds of true stories written by Americans with the same tragic sense that could have been avoided. It is the story of war and what a nurse must go through. You feel like you know Elizabeth well by the end of the book and would want her there for you and as a friend.

"War Without A Front" is an excellent memoir of a young French army nurse during the earlier years of the Vietnam conflict. Madame Sevier's depiction of the culture of the Vietnamese,the sorrows of war and the great personal suffering that was experienced is very well portrayed in this novel. Her commitment to duty for her country along with her heroic courage to care for those injured reflects strongly upon her character and determination to serve the country she loved regardless of the personal cost. Madame Sevier's writing style allows you to feel first hand the anxieties and frustrations shared by everyone as if you were beside her every step of the way.

Sam Adams may be more famous as the whistle-blower on CIA and U.S. military falsification of the numbers of Viet Cong and regular North Vietnamese army personnel confronting the U.S. in Viet-Nam, but this book is the very best account I have found of the intimate details of how politics, bureaucracy, bad judgment, and some plain downright lying falsified the military intelligence process at all levels of the U.S. military in Viet-Nam.

I served with this author in Viet Nam and he very accurately describes the collateral level intelligence operations during the Viet Nam War.

WHERE THE ORANGE BLOOMS is the compelling story of one man's will to survive and succeed despite the overwhelming obstacles brought on by the war in Viet Nam and its aftermath. Ben Cai Lam's story is a tribute to the individual strength, love and will of the human spirit. His story is a very strong example of why the American effort in this chaotic country was truly a noble cause. The story of this soldier, patriot, ally and hero is a bright, shining truth in an unpopular war which was often negatively and irresponsibly reported. This story stands as undeniable account of the dedication and determination of the honorable and selfless efforts of the South Vietnamese people to attain freedom and democracy in their wartorn homeland. I salute Mr. Lam and the author, Thomas Taylor for making this book available. It is one of the most honest and accurate accounts of the war in Viet Nam that I have had the honor and privilege to read. It is a sterling example of the respect and admiration allied soldiers and commanders have for one another in their unending quest for freedom and righteousness; despite all obstacles, foreign and domestic. It would be most appropriate if this story was reprinted and again made available to all seeking the truth about our efforts in Viet Nam.

from what I remember it was up to date and very accurate. I served with the author while in vietnam, so far in all his books his memory his pretty presise. tom if you get to see this please get me another copy of this book. I had a copy when they first came out, I was to send it to you for you to autography it, never got around. I loaned it out , now after a year I forgot whom I loaned it to.

yours truely

SSG John Pasquale Class of 65-66

In very straightforward, understandable prose, Mr. Tecube has captured the essence of the daily horrors and futility of America's presence in Vietnam. The real heroes of the book are the members of Leroy's platoon. They're a bunch of American kids that really didn't want to be where they were but tried to do make the best of a tragic situation. What's refreshing about Tecube's approach is that he's not out to condemn the soldiers, the politicians, or the enemy. Yet he's able to convey a sense of the absurdity of the situation and still maintain his dignity and objectivity.

I've read a number of books about Vietnam but none conveys the sense of what it was really like the way Tecube does.

Having done a tour myself, I have seen the movies and read several books that have come out about the war in Viet Nam. Nothing, and no one, has been able to authenticate the reality of the day to day operations of search and destroy missions, the monotony, the high levels of alertness, the camaraderie, the tragedies, and the senseless pain and suffering that took place on both sides, until now. Leroy does a superlative job of describing the feelings of the GI and those of the Vietnamese. His description of events are factual yet without sensationalism, a manner that can only be told by a seasoned combat veteran who became immune to the catastrophic events that surrounded him, as a means of survival, both physically and mentally.

This is a must read for anyone who served in I Corp or the Americal. You will again feel yourself walking through the paddies, on the trails, smelling the odors of the villages, or hugging a rice paddy dike as the sniper rounds were in-coming. This book truly describes the reality of the life of a combat infantryman (grunt) during the war in Viet Nam.