Vietnam War Collection: books plus

[CR6]

in no particular order and without reference to previous posters. * indicates my recommendation of what will appeal most to the average Sergeant. YMMV:

*Street Without Joy Bernard Fall (Narrative of French involvement in Indochina)

Dereliction of Duty H.R. McMaster (Analysis of the role of the JCS at strategic level)

The Best and the Brightest David Halberstram (journalist’s account of American efforts in SVN)

A Bright Shining Lie Cornelius Mahoney Neil Sheehan (similar to TB&TB, but with through the lens of the career of John Paul Vann. Good stuff on the battle of Ap Bac)

*Dispatches Michael Herr (compilation of articles by a war correspondent)

Honorable Warrior Lewis Sorely (bio of CSA during Vietnam by an historian of the revisionist school)

*War comes to Long An Jeffery Rice (a micro view of insurgency and COIN in one SVN province)

*We Were Soldiers Once and Young Hal Moore and Joseph Galloway (no explanation needed, right?)

The Nightingale’s Song Robert Timberg (a neat discussion of the impact of Vietnam on American society up to and including Iran Contra told through the lives of 5 USNA grads who were active in security affairs and politics)

The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966 Rick Atkinson (follows West Points Class of ’66 through USMA to combat in Vietnam and beyond. Similar to TNS, but broader scope. Atkinson and Timberg are both journalists, but Timberg was also a Marine combat veteran of Vietnam. This informed his writing, which I preferred)

*Fields of Fire James Webb (fiction) (Follows a Marine rifle platoon leader through his tour. Written by Senator Jim Webb while attending Georgetown Law School, as a way of dealing with PTSD after a rough year in combat and separation from the USMC. Webb’s story is told in Timberg’s book)

*The Thirteenth Valley John Del Vecchio (fiction) (Written by a 101st veteran combat correspondent who also holds a degree from Lafayette College. This cat can write. Covers an infantry company operating in the A Shau Valley in latter part of the war. Excellent back story on characters and how their backgrounds both mesh and conflict under the strains of combat in the jungle.)