Rating: 
Summary: Peoples history of Vietnam
Review: Having spent two years in Vietnam as a sailor aboard a warship, I often spent time watching the war at a distance. Occasionaly we had to fight but it was usually artillary duels up north and then lunch. I never understood the war or why we were there or why men fight wars at all. I was usually at odds with superiors over the ethics of war but did my job nonetheless. For years I have searched the book shelves for a kindred spirit who could bring the experience to life and hold it at arms length long enough to examine it . Finally this book appears from nowhere and captures the esscense of young men in horrible situations. The most delicious aspect of the book is how bazzar incidents become common place. ( I once watched ten men die while I safely ate a sandwich and I was the only witness and I also finished the sandwich). Mr. Laurence has written a classic. He honors us all with his painfull discriptions of that debacle. It is also the first book that I have read that weaves the story of the Vietnamese people's desperate situation with our own. His honesty about the war and his own motives and reactions are a crucial ingredient. Read it. It is a jewel.
Rating:
Summary: The Cat From Hue Is Profound
Review: I agree with the reviewers that found The Cat From Hue a vivid and accurate description of Viet Nam combat.It is my belief that John Laurence has achieved much more then that and has written a classical work of literature.Like Whittaker Chamber's Witness you can sense his soul searing relections. Similar to Conrad's Heart of Darkness you know he is struggling with a foreign realm of reality. And very much like John Bunyon's Pilgrim's Progress he takes us on a road full of ephinany. John Laurence simply put has written a great work of English literature.
Rating:
Summary: The most well written book on Vietnam that I have read.
Review: I am a Marine tank commander Vietnam veteran. I was In-country from January 1968 to February 1969. I have a very deep interest in any and all books about the war in Vietnam. This book may not have a lot of the flash - bang and blood and guts of a "classic" book about a war but what it does have is a wonderful writing style that meanders from the bustling and yet farily safe streets of Saigon to the real "war front" at Con Thien along the DMZ. Jack Laurence's reference to his life with "the cat" throughout the book is really wonderful. His incredible writing talent seems to make the killing and maiming of the enemy and of our own troops less harsh and less painful to the reader. John Laurence may have been what was considered a "non-combatant" but he has captured the essence of combat in this wonderful book. It is the BEST and most entertaining book about the war in Vietnam that I have read so far. Thank you Mr Laurence and Semper Fidelis.
Rating:
Summary: The Cat from Hue
Review: I am about 300 pages into this great book of 845 pages+. I have been delayed in reading this bestseller, but now that it is in my hands, I think it one of the most sensitive books yet written about the Vietnam war yet. This is not just a memoir of this remarkable, slight TV newsman's adventures--it is a very experiential recount of the war on the ground, with the grunt units, over time. As a helicopter pilot in the Mekong Delta, I was lucky to have missed many of these infantry combat episodes he recalls in this book, but wish I could have written equally as well in my book, OUTLAWS IN VIETNAM, covering my time in country flying UH-lD's in 1966-67. John Laurence is a visual, descriptive writer and puts all of us on a FNG level comprehending the many horrors of the Vietnam War. They were always ghastly and surprising, but could never be prepared for. He makes that happen again page after page. This book will take you into Vietnam over the time period we were all there, having many different misadventures and experiences through the years. Some things were consistent and never changed, others were more timely for each year's period. This is a major piece of work and should be on any vet's bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: The Cat from Hue
Review: I am about 300 pages into this great book of 845 pages+. I have been delayed in reading this bestseller, but now that it is in my hands, I think it one of the most sensitive books yet written about the Vietnam war yet. This is not just a memoir of this remarkable, slight TV newsman's adventures--it is a very experiential recount of the war on the ground, with the grunt units, over time. As a helicopter pilot in the Mekong Delta, I was lucky to have missed many of these infantry combat episodes he recalls in this book, but wish I could have written equally as well in my book, OUTLAWS IN VIETNAM, covering my time in country flying UH-lD's in 1966-67. John Laurence is a visual, descriptive writer and puts all of us on a FNG level comprehending the many horrors of the Vietnam War. They were always ghastly and surprising, but could never be prepared for. He makes that happen again page after page. This book will take you into Vietnam over the time period we were all there, having many different misadventures and experiences through the years. Some things were consistent and never changed, others were more timely for each year's period. This is a major piece of work and should be on any vet's bookshelf.
Rating: 
Summary: the cat from hue
Review: I enjoyed this book right to the last page. It is a good historical account all the way through the Vietnam war, in various corps, which I always enjoy reading from those who had numerous tours there, military or journalistic. The sweep of reality in various minds as the war progresses over time and place is always an interesting insight for me. I served in the Mekong Delta during 1966-67, with the 175th Outlaws as a helicopter pilot. There we witnessed much of what John Laurence describes throughout this lengthy book--in that he is trying to record the pilots' and grunts' memories and emotions while he visits with them. He always admits the shortcomings of not being able to stay in the field with them, and that is a very interesting aspect of this well-written book. My book, OUTLAWS IN VIETNAM, covers the life of we helicopter pilots at Vinh Long, but this descriptive work by Laurence is exacting over time with his experiences, and those of newsmen and military personnel around him. As a voyage through time in RVN, I see it as a valuable addition to my personal library of books written on the Vietnam Conflict. This is a keeper, and will last.
Rating:
Summary: The Cat from Hue
Review: I enjoyed this book right to the last page. It is a good historical account all the way through the Vietnam war, in various corps, which I always enjoy reading from those who had numerous tours there, military or journalistic. The sweep of reality in various minds as the war progresses over time and place is always an interesting insight for me. I served in the Mekong Delta during 1966-67, with the 175th Outlaws as a helicopter pilot. There we witnessed much of what John Laurence describes throughout this lengthy book--in that he is trying to record the pilots' and grunts' memories and emotions while he visits with them. He always admits the shortcomings of not being able to stay in the field with them, and that is a very interesting aspect of this well-written book. My book, OUTLAWS IN VIETNAM, covers the life of we helicopter pilots at Vinh Long, but this descriptive work by Laurence is exacting over time with his experiences, and those of newsmen and military personnel around him. As a voyage through time in RVN, I see it as a valuable addition to my personal library of books written on the Vietnam Conflict. This is a keeper, and will last.
Rating:
Summary: 38 Years Later
Review: I had the pleasure to meet Jack Laurence and Keith Kay while up in I Corps near the DMZ. Don't know if either remember this, bad weather stranded us at some God-forgotten place, Con Thien or Khe Sanh and we ended up huddling together for the night. Neither Laurence or Kay had rations left, so we dined under the poncho that night with goodies I got from home: a can of fois gras, crackers and beef jerky.
Jack's book right on target...brought back a lot of memories, both good and bad. The press center where we stayed was exactly as he described, from starched-up Colonel Faser to the funny smelling smoke coming out of the rooms (marijuanna). Too bad he didn't mention about taking the III MAF General's boat out on the Danang River one night and racing it around the harbor, scaring the hell out of the Marines guarding the bridge nearby (Maybe Jack wasn't there!).
I heartily recommend anyone interested in combat journalism read "Cat." We worked hard and played hard. To Jack, Keith, and to those we will not see again, Sean, Dana, Henri, Larry, Dickey, Bernard, Byron, Bill, I salute you for your integrity, courage and dedication.
SSgt. Frank Lee, USMC
Combat Information Bureau
Danang, Vietnam 1967
Rating:
Summary: Then there was the Cat
Review: I have read a number of books on the Vietnam "experience" written by journalists and/or military. Each book, on its own merit, has presented truths and experiences that were unique to each author. As a radioman on a task force flag aircraft carrier from 1969 through1972, I spent a great deal of time reading about air strikes, KIA's, MIA's, battles and all sorts of other details as presented from a purely high level military point of view. I wondered about life on the ground, and wondered what "in-country" was like.As I served my tours, I saw the war change and of course at the time attitudes at home changed. I didn't understand it much then, and now 30+ years later, I find myself trying to understand the truth of what was going on at the time. When I left the service in 1973, I saw old friends who had served in the Army, Marines and Navy at various times from 1964 until the conclusion. We had all been changed by the experience at some level. John Laurence, in his book "The Cat From Hue" records changes in himself, those he worked with, and those he accompanied into battle in amazing detail. His record of changes, and the circumstances that brought them about, is something we can all learn from, whether we were fighting the war in the field, protesting, or simply catching it on the news. The physical size of the book (845 pages) was a bit daunting to me at first. Simply stated it is the story of a young man who went to Vietnam to gather truths and tried to share them with the America of the 1960's. The book had to be long enough to capture his experience as fully as possible. It did. The lives of the soldiers were beautifully interlinked with the life of the author. The military and political leadership, the good and the bad, are painted with remarkable clarity. Then there was the "Cat", Meo, the dreaded cat who hated Americans. Always stalking and studying its enemy, attacking with stealth and fury, retreating from a superior force to regroup and wait for a better time to strike, Meo seems the perfect metaphor of the relentless and dedicated warrior. Laurence's description of the life and actions of this unusual cat helps the reader gain a better understanding of our enemy in the field. Unconquerable, never truly "pacified", involved with Americans only at arm's length (paws in this case); Meo inflicted much pain on the Americans he encountered.
Rating:
Summary: The cat from Hue
Review: I really enjoyed reading the book. Maybe, alittle bit too much about the cat, but, the cat is the vehicle by which the author is able to expand and describe in detail the forces that were going against Americans fighting the war. J.L., the author, spent more then his share of time in Vietnam, sure he became addicted to the chaos, the death, and, certainly, the insanity of it all. But, without his descriptions, without his observations, and without his book we wouldn't know what he saw and felt. I feel that he is being more then honest, when he bears his heart and soul in describing his PTSD symtoms, long before there was a term for it. Perhaps, a little self-indulgent, perhaps some self-pity, but, all in all he did all veterans of Vietnam a great service by spending the time with the grunts and then writing his great book. I spent only one tour in Vietnam in 1967 and a day doesn't go by when I don't think about it. Here we have a man, who spent about five years there. The man deserves a medal, as far as I'm concerned.
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