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Rating: 
Summary: good information of the Viet Nam War
Review: I enjoyed this book, and learned a few things.
Having lived through this period, ( Viet Nam) and being former Military, I knew some of this, and could relate to much of it. It is obvious the Authors dug a little to get the nitty gritty, facts on several events. In Depth of the inhumanity of William Calley Jr. is discussed, and how the military tried to cover-up his war crimes. Colin Powell, is discussed as "one of Robert McNamara's Slide Rule Commandos" at the Defense Department, spending a month trying to determine, when the most likely night the VC would attack. ( It would have taken just five (5) minutes to ask any experienced soldier in Viet Nam to tell you the answer----"A moonless night") p. 257
For me, it was enjoyable reading, it brought back memories, and confirmed rumors, we heard, as well as some of us knew.
Rating: 
Summary: Who was this written for?
Review: I really liked this book--well enough to recommend it to my father-in-law, a Vietnam veteran and history buff. The title is accurate and Dunnigan and Nofi's scholarship is generally dispassionate and sensible. It's well titled; a lot of the information here is not common knowledge. Their take on the ebb and flow of the conflict is straightforward and well supported (the 'why did we lose?' question). I like their view on the MIA issue, and they deserve credit for neither ducking it nor kowtowing to either side. The descriptions of the loss of credibility of pro-war and anti-war activists speak volumes. There's a lot of information about the units that were there, but I think more detail would have been welcomed. The ARVN in particular is not heavily covered. They copped out a little on the Phillipine contingent; couldn't come up with details as basic as death figures. The defoliants were mentioned but the nonlethal chemical agents, Adamsite (DM) in particular, aren't well covered. And so forth. Very much worth reading with the caveat that if you want to drill deep into any aspect of the war (for example, the ARVN Rangers, or the organization of a Special Forces camp) you'll have to look elsewhere to get the detail.
Rating:
Summary: FORGET THE TITLE... IT'S MARKETING FOLKS..
Review: OK, SO THE TITLE IS A MISNONER..
AS A HISTORY LOVER, (44 years ) I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT THIS IS A MUST READ FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT TO KNOW THE INTER WORKINGS OF BEING AT WAR IN VIETNAM.
THIS IS NOT A BOOK YOU BREEZE THROUGH IN A COUPLE HOURS.
I FOUND MYSELF STOPPING, DIGESTING INFORMATION, SORTING OUT WHAT I HAD THOUGHT WAS FACT AND EVALUATING THE AUTHORS COMMENTS.
SO WHERE IS IT WRITTEN THAT EVERYTHING IN A NON-FICTION BOOK IS 100% CORRECT?
MISTAKES ARE MADE AND OF COURSE THE AUTHORS PERCEPTIONS OF " FACTS " POP UP IN HIS WRITINGS.
THAT IS EXACTLY WHY ONE MUST READ THE SUBJECT MATERIAL
BY OTHER WRITERS.
THIS BOOK OFFERS A GOOD QUICK INDEX TO GO BACK AND RE-READ THOSE AREAS THAT INTEREST YOU MOST.
THIS BOOK IS JAM FULL OF MILITARY INFO THAT MOST US REALLY ENJOY KNOWING ABOUT.
GO BUY IT AND I THINK MOST OF YOU WILL AGREE WITH ME.. THIS IS GOOD STUFF.
Rating:
Summary: FORGET THE TITLE... IT'S MARKETING FOLKS..
Review: OK, SO THE TITLE IS A MISNONER..
AS A HISTORY LOVER, (44 years ) I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT THIS IS A MUST READ FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT TO KNOW THE INTER WORKINGS OF BEING AT WAR IN VIETNAM.
THIS IS NOT A BOOK YOU BREEZE THROUGH IN A COUPLE HOURS.
I FOUND MYSELF STOPPING, DIGESTING INFORMATION, SORTING OUT WHAT I HAD THOUGHT WAS FACT AND EVALUATING THE AUTHORS COMMENTS.
SO WHERE IS IT WRITTEN THAT EVERYTHING IN A NON-FICTION BOOK IS 100% CORRECT?
MISTAKES ARE MADE AND OF COURSE THE AUTHORS PERCEPTIONS OF " FACTS " POP UP IN HIS WRITINGS.
THAT IS EXACTLY WHY ONE MUST READ THE SUBJECT MATERIAL
BY OTHER WRITERS.
THIS BOOK OFFERS A GOOD QUICK INDEX TO GO BACK AND RE-READ THOSE AREAS THAT INTEREST YOU MOST.
THIS BOOK IS JAM FULL OF MILITARY INFO THAT MOST US REALLY ENJOY KNOWING ABOUT.
GO BUY IT AND I THINK MOST OF YOU WILL AGREE WITH ME.. THIS IS GOOD STUFF.
Rating:
Summary: Title is misnomer
Review: The title is a misnomer. Virtually everything is covered in other books on Vietnam. I suspect that the reviewers who praised this book on the basis of it containing hitherto unrevealed information simply have not read anything else on the subject. It does give a pretty good, if somewhat superficial overview of the war as well as the background history leading up to it. I would recommend it except for the pervasive (but not overwhelming) right wing cant. For example, the authors state that one of the reasons the war was lost by the South was that the superpowers supporting the North had more will and staying power than those (actually, one, the U.S.) supporting the South. They neglect to mention that the Americans were fighting and dying there but Russians and Chinese were not. They also adhere to the pervasive, but very questionable premise that had we been allowed to bring our full military power to bear, we would have won. They do acknowlege that U.S. losses would have been much higher and the subsequent occupation would also have been very costly and prolonged. Still, there is much information conveniently collated here from many diverse sources and if one decided to read only a single book on Vietnam, one could do worse.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy it. Don't even check it out of the library.
Review: The title of this book is very misleading in that it promises new items that you might find with a hard hitting investigative report or a new history of the war. What the book gives the reader is a nice overview of facts and interesting details from the war, but it is not a good general study of the Vietnam War. If you are looking for a book to start on the war or just have a book at hand with lots of facts, charts and lists then this is the one for you. There were also some parts of the book that the authors did try and get a little deeper into, but that is not there strong point and I got the feeling they we filling space and hurrying to the next list. Overall the book is a written well and easy to read bunch of facts.
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