Review: 4 out of 5
My knowledge about Vietnam and the Vietnam War was very patchy. This book looked like it would provide a better idea of the region so I picked it up. As a detailed investigation of the 1968 Tet Offensive, it’s a very particular time and place that the reader learns about through this book. Yet, the author’s humane approach makes it worthwhile.
This is best exemplified in the introductions to the rank and file who fought on both sides. Perhaps naturally, we meet more of the Americans than the Vietnamese, but for many of the Americans, the profiles we get for them are very thorough and create a picture of the aspirations of the “Middle America” of the 1960’s. For a number of the survivors, we also learn what they did after the battle (or after the war, dependent on when it ended for someone), giving an impression of what the fighting changed in them or for them.
What are the potential lessons? I think for everyone involved, it’s the degree to which the upper military establishment can fail the people who serve it. General Westmoreland—Westy—is the main culprit whose messages to both Washington and the media make him look like one of history’s chief fools. In that light, the strength and importance of an independent media become readily more apparent and necessary and, for me, some of the most interesting sections covered the work of journalists, including Walter Cronkite. The author has, and I think rightly, given him a relatively good coverage in this telling, and actually this made me want to look at Cronkite’s coverage of Vietnam first hand.
All in all, this was a good introduction into a subject I didn’t know much about. The personal points of view made the book captivating throughout.
