Vietnam War

  (out of 5 stars)

Few eras in US history contain the dichotomic events which were widespread during the late 1960s. In David Maraniss's book The Marched Into Sunlight, a fascinating narrative presents parallel stories of US Army soldiers being killed in the devastating abush at Ong Thanh, Vietnam, and the violence which exploded out of a student protest of napalm-manufacturer Dow Chemical Company on the campus of Wisconsin-Madison. These events, which took place over the course of just two days, provide a fascinating dual myopic capable of framing the chaos and distress so often felt by those who lived it. Maraniss's treatment of these events is humane, vivid, and completely engaging from the very beginning.

One of the parallel stories involves a battalion of US 1st Army soldiers, most of whom are draftees or draft-pressured enlistees who are entering the Vietnamese theater for the first time. A handful of experienced NCOs and a couple of capable leaders are all that stand between these men and crippling terror at times, though as events would later show, many of these same soldiers would demonstrate extraordinary courage and resolve in the face of tremendous fear, screams of dying friends, and sheets of hot lead.

The key battle for most of these men, and the only one covered in detail in Sunlight, was the ambush near the Ong Thanh river, where a full regiment of NVA troops decimated two and a half undersized companies of 1st Army soldiers. Maraniss's description of the battle makes the reader claustrophobic and anguished as the reality of the situation becomes clear. One of the most heart-breaking descriptions of military defeat I've read, the pain and horror of the experience conveys as well as any writing possibly can.

The other parallel story being told here involves student protesters during an especially-heated day in Madison, Wisconsin. Taking place the day after the ambush at Ong Thanh, the protest against the Dow Chemical Company started with aggressive protest leaders attempting to walk a fine line between peaceful hindrance and agitated confrontation. After a few terrible tactical decisions by campus leaders and city police officers, violence breaks out as police attempt to remove protesters from a building. As billy clubs pound the students, the violent situation explodes, with dozens of students and police injured and severe consequences resulting from the day's events.

Peppered with glimpses into LBJ's White House and top Army brass, Maraniss weaves a narrative which will suck in any reader interested in military history, social history, or the 1960s. Fascinating and in-depth portrayals of many people involved in each event await the reader, and the result is a book which is unique, haunting, and highly-recommended to all. One of the best narratives of war and history I've read this year. Five stars.

  (out of 5 stars)

Colonel Hackworth's memoir Steel My Soldiers' Hearts records his experiences in Vietnam with the US Army 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry. Hackworth, a staunch disciplinarian who believes strongly in maintaining order even under the worst of conditions, describes how he arrived at the battalion when the unit was suffering low morale, poor preparedness, and dangerous security, and then transformed the men into a first-rate combat team.

Hackworth's style makes for engaging and easy reading, and I love that he is not afraid to question the rigid Army system he was expected to enforce. At first, the men hate Hackworth, who shows up like any other disliked battalion CO: instituting rigid discipline and training; eliminating the comforts (such as hot food); enforcing rules which the previous CO had been lax to enforce. At one point, a bounty was even placed on Hackworth's head by his own men.

However, Hackworth was not an officer who lead from the rear. At one point early on, the Colonel flew into a hot and dangerous combat zone to help evacuate men wounded in battle. He routinely put his own life at risk in order to protect his men, and pretty soon, the soldiers understood that their new CO was something special. The bounty on his head would quickly disappear.

Hackworth's descriptions of battle are also fantastic. You get the usual battalion-level strategy and tactics, but you also get Hackworth's first-hand observations as he was often under fire with his men. The accounts of his soldiers are also included, and the narrative of each key battle unfolds with excellent vividness and anguish.

One of many excellent books on Vietnam, Hackworth delivered a fascinating and troubling look at how the war should have been fought and, often, was not as a result of higher-level military politics and posturing. Never shying away from the awful and gruesome details, this narrative is well recommended for any military reader. Four and one-half stars.

  (out of 5 stars)

Drez and Brinkley have written an amazing history of the battle for Khe Sanh in Voices of Courage. This relatively short book is peppered with contextual photos and first-hand experiences of a battle that should have been a decisive victory in the Vietnam War. The stories are raw, often emotional, and I could not put this book down. Excellent descriptions of strategy, tactics, and maneuvers lend to the history of these brave Marines and their fierce NVA enemy.

The authors argue that press coverage of the seige, which saw overwhelming NVA forces surround and attempt to capture the Khe Sanh base and its outpost hills, turned this significant and successful American defensive battle into a quagmire of stalemate, leading to a disengagement politically from follow-up military attacks. President Johnson lost hope, and in turn caused the military to lose initiative in the war after such a decisive battle. 6,000 US Marines and a handful of Army and ARVN troops defended the base for 77 days with tremendous help from air and artillery bombing, along with ferocious trench grenade and firefighting, and finally forced the NVA regiments to retreat out of the area.

A stellar account of this pivotal battle, and well worth a read for any warfare history reader. The photos are priceless and numerous, and make this short work a very detailed one. Four and one-half stars.