Charlie Company: What Vietnam Did to Us (A Newsweek book)

Rating:
Summary: Great for I can attest to its accuracy!!
Review: Best book I know of telling about the combat soldier there in Vietnam. Interestingly, I am one of those combat soldiers. It really helped me to get a handle on what happen there. Only problem it caused me to want to got back and go I have, seven times now. Probably go again soon. Curtis Gilliland,Jr. C 2/28 1st Infantry 68-69

Rating:
Summary: What did I just read?
Review: I do not know why I read this book. A friend, who served with my dad in Vietnam suggested this book, he said it was great. I am personally fascinated with the Vietnam War genre and apprehensively decided to pick it up (I saw it at a used book store for 1.50$). The book was bad from the minute I picked it up. The story is bland to say the least. The battles are not described well, probably because a journalist wrote it; their is no emotion coming from the soldiers; and when the soldiers come home they are treated poorly and in all honesty I think some parts of those chapters were exaggerated.

In somewhat of a coincidence, I saw a fellow UIC student reading this exact book. I asked him how he was liking it and he said, "It's great! I'm glad my prof. suggested it!" I asked what he liked about it and he said the simultaneous following of seven or eight soldiers (I forget) and how it was, "fresh". I'm not sure if it is me or everyone else, but I did not like this book one bit. There is no substance, I thought it was a terribly written and is one of the worst books of its genre. Even if you find it at a used book store selling for one dollar do not buy it, instead you should use the money to buy a coke or pencil for they are more useful and interesting than this book.

Rating:
Summary: What did I just read?
Review: I had such high hopes for this book. The concept was a fine one: Follow the exploits of the members of a single company that served in the Vietnam war. Apparently, this project was initiated by the Newsweek magazine and the result of that first effort was a series of awards for excellent reportage. The authors attempted to expand the project for publication in book form. Unfortunately, the scope of the project is so large and unwieldly that the result is a major disappointment. The reason for this is that so many different people were required to compile the information of such a large number of people that the text has the feel of a third hand account written from a translation. In other words, it reads like a committee report. Thus, it is difficult to form any strong opinions or acheive insight because there is no internal logic which governs the book. Plus, many of the soldiers' stories seem to have been concoctions of incidents taken from a dozen different events. Much of the personal information about the soldiers seems, well, impersonal. If you would like to experience a successful execution of the concept, read the book 'Survivors' by Zalin Grant. In it he covers the POW lives of a dozen U.S. prisoners and he does it brilliantly. You will put that book down feeling that you have read something very original and very meaningful.

Rating:
Summary: Great Concept Poorly Executed.
Review: I had such high hopes for this book. The concept was a fine one: Follow the exploits of the members of a single company that served in the Vietnam war. Apparently, this project was initiated by the Newsweek magazine and the result of that first effort was a series of awards for excellent reportage. The authors attempted to expand the project for publication in book form. Unfortunately, the scope of the project is so large and unwieldly that the result is a major disappointment. The reason for this is that so many different people were required to compile the information of such a large number of people that the text has the feel of a third hand account written from a translation. In other words, it reads like a committee report. Thus, it is difficult to form any strong opinions or acheive insight because there is no internal logic which governs the book. Plus, many of the soldiers' stories seem to have been concoctions of incidents taken from a dozen different events. Much of the personal information about the soldiers seems, well, impersonal. If you would like to experience a successful execution of the concept, read the book 'Survivors' by Zalin Grant. In it he covers the POW lives of a dozen U.S. prisoners and he does it brilliantly. You will put that book down feeling that you have read something very original and very meaningful.

Rating:
Summary: Great for I can attest to its accuracy!!
Review: This is Vietnam as I remember it while serving as one of the "grunts" on the ground during 1969-1970. Each soidier tells his story as only he can about his experiences. You will understand the complexities of combat as told by each soldier and how each similar situation was handled,not only at the time of the contact, but many years later "back in the world". How have we survived the combat? Many have and many have not. A must read for combat veterans as well as those living with one.