They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America October 1967 by David Maraniss
(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.
