5 comments about Churchill: A Study in Greatness.

1. this book by geoffrey best will rank as one of the greatest book ever written about churchill full of wise summations and not too long thi work is recommended by the churchill society . for sure one of the very best one volume work



2. Best nos presenta una panorámica de la vida de Churchill. Algunos capítulos están mas inspiradoa que otros. Trata de mostrar una perspectiva imparcial del personaje aunque claramente se comprueba que le admira grandemente, pero no tanto como a su esposa Clementine. La extensión de la parte que corresponde a la segunda guerra mundial es mucho mas amplia (quizás la mitad del libro). Casi no responde las preguntas o dudas sobre asuntos controversiales que existen sobre la vida de este personaje.
   
   Como se comprende, al escribir sobre Churchill es necesario mostrar una parte de la hisoria de GB y del mundo pero esta se queda corta a veces para ayudar a comprender a cabalidad la circunstancias que rodearon a los hechos.
   
   En general el texto es bueno, muy bien redactado, fácilmente comprensible. Algunos artículos mas inspirados que otros pero todos interesantes.



3. A very readable book that provides balanced and insightful coverage of the whole of Churchill's life. I would highly recommend this book either to those who have not previously read much about Churchill or equally to those who have read other Churchill biographies or war histories and wish to take a fresh look. Of particular value is the way that the author take the occasional opportunity to dispel certain myths and revisionist ideas about Churchill.



4. Not a true biography but more than just a compilation of essays concerning Churchill's life and times, the author provides us with a 300+ page synopsis/chronology with a sprinkling of his thoughts, insights and conclusions. I found nothing new or "earth-shattering" here. On the other hand it makes a nice supplement, (i.e. much like Meachem's book on FDR and Churchill), to biographys/books I have read. If you are looking for a full-fledged bio start elsewhere, (Manchester or Gilbert), and if your interest is piqued as mine was, come back to this one.



5. A compact biography (384 pages) by Oxford Historian Geoffrey Best is far and away the best I have read on Churchill. The many facets of Churchill's life are covered in a series of essays from the author. Best summarizes Churchill's life with clarity and high degree of accuracy.
   
   If you're looking for a comprehensive study on Churchill, this isn't it. You won't find page after page of stilted verbiage here, but you will find a well written presentation of this fascinating man, perhaps the savior of England. If it is possible to write a detailed account of such a varied figure within the brevity of such a small volume, the author has done so admirably.
   
   Though the author clearly admires the subject, this isn't just another "I love Churchill" book. Best gives a fair and balanced account of many areas where Churchill may have erred, such as Gallipolli. The book is fair, and it is no-nonsense, to the point, without a lot of ambivalent inflection.
   
   I have a number of volumes on the life and times of Churchill. I may go to other volumes for research purposes, but this is probably the most enjoyable read I have encountered on the man.
   
   Monty Rainey
   www.juntosociety.com

5 comments about Destroyer Captain: Lessons of a First Command.

1. Adm. Stavridis takes the reader aboard the destroyer Barry with a day to day briefing.
   
   He shares his hopes, many fears , and his personal life. He is able to convey the constant pressure from the sea, his superiors,and the members of his crew, during his command.
   
   After reading Adm. Stavridis'diary, one has a new appreciation of the dedication of our service men and women for the defense of the United States.



2. Everyone needs a hero in life, Jim is one of mine. He is more than just a great writer, demonstrative leader, caring father, and compassionate husband; he is a great human being. This book brought back many wonderful memories from a special time in my life and I appreciate the author's candor. Semper Fi Jim Stavridis!
   Stan Brown (former CSMM/CMC in BARRY)



3. You...will...love...this...book. But only if you want to know of honesty, humility, humor, the courage of everyday acts of service by others, and the peaks and valleys of leadership. Not to mention wonderful writing, anecdotes, and insights by a distinguished military commander writing as a young officer, a decade and a half before pinning on the four-stars of an admiral.
   If you want a great book about the wanderings of a homesick warrior with duties he must discharge before being reunited with his family, Homer's "Odyssey" is pretty tough to beat. If you are looking for a primer on leadership, Stephen Covey's "7 Habits..." is the blockbuster choice of millions. For inspirational stories of ships and men and the sea, Jack London, Patrick O'Brien and a few others invented and nurtured a timeless genre. For a personal catalog of humility and insignificance against the greatness of life and a higher power, "The Confessions of St. Augustine" are available.
   And then there is "Destroyer Captain," which has a tincture of these works and more, is entirely accessible, and a terrific read. Painfully well-written, poignant, and complete, this book opens a window onto a world that hums along with quiet, powerful, efficient ordinariness everyday across the globe: the U.S. Navy defending the empire of liberty.
   Jim Stavridis, one of our nation's most senior military officers, has published the journals he kept while a first-time captain at sea in the mid-1990s. Stavridis is a friend of many years, and someone I know to be of great good humor and a fine leader. Even so, there is nothing like the well written word for true insight. Stavridis gives brutally raw honesty as he describes his expectations, his fears, his longing for home and hearth while thousands of miles away, and the timeless bonds that develop among the crew of a ship at sea.
   Stavridis paints with equal skill in bold brush strokes and pointillist precision as he colors the everyday routine at sea, and the non-stop demands on the captain. As he puts it -- and the book is infused with the obviousness of it -- "for no one is the term service more applicable than the commanding officer who is doing his job." Stavridis describes in wonderful detail -- and with an easy but extraordinarily fine style -- the 24/7 nature of what it means to be a captain of a weapon-packed man of war, with a crew whose average age is probably about 22 years old, and the captain himself in his thirties. He describes what it is like to sit in judgment of others at "captain's mast," the navy's unique system of self-discipline that reaches back to ancient times. Forget what you may think you know of the all-powerful captain at sea; here's the real deal as Stavridis describes a mast at which he restricted to the ship a young petty officer who had been thrown in jail for a shoreside brawl: "As the captain's mast concluded, I walked out, feeling diminished myself. Judgment is the hardest of human tasks..."
   But this is no "woe is me for the burdens of command" cri de coeur. The book fairly tingles with the sheer pleasure Stavridis takes in being "the captain." He knows he is a lucky man, having been entrusted with the most advanced warship ever built, a crew of 350 men he clearly loves, and ordered by his country to ply "the magic monotony of existence between sky and water," as Stavridis quotes Conrad. An avid reader, Stavridis writes of his early decision to sit in his elevated chair on the bridge of the ship while at sea, generally observing the daily routines but benignly ignoring them as he reads -- not from important dispatches or operational manuals, but "a good novel." Why? "I think it's important to show the younger folk that (a) reading matters and, more important, that (b) it is a good deal being the captain. If I can't communicate the joy of command to my wardroom, why would any of them want to stick around? It sure isn't for the pay!"
   Captain Bligh, step aside. You have been relieved as proto-typical literary commander at sea. READ THIS BOOK and know about duty, honor, country...and seasickness, liberty call, carving turkeys for a Thanksgiving dinner of 350, and lots lots more.



4. Those who have served in command will find themselves saying "Exactly!" to Stavridis' views from the bridge. Admiral Stavridis embarks the reader on a voyage into the "history, challenge, hard work [and] romance" of life as captain of a warship. Engaging and inspiring, human and humorous. A must read for officers aspiring to command and for all who seek to understand the "sense of quiet accomplishment" that is successful command at sea.
   
   Destroyer Captain breaks the mold of so-called warrior memoirs, those in which the author compares himself favorably to Nimitz and Nelson, bolder than Patton, wiser than Washington, etc. This journal tells it like it is, the ups and downs, the highs and lows. Stavridis' words brought me back to my own time as a U.S. Navy submarine captain: the game face he wears despite mid-watch fatigue, the frustration with over-scripted exercises, the conflict over whether to stay in the Navy, the pride in a successful and hard-working crew and heartache of family separation. Readers will buy Destroyer Captain to learn the essence of command and will be rewarded with the personal thoughts and motivations of one of America's most gifted leaders.
   
   I have been privileged to sail with Admiral Stavridis--Sailors of all ranks know that to say "I sailed with him" is a high tribute--and to know firsthand the inspiring role model he cuts at sea and ashore. Readers will enjoy that same sense of inspiration as Admiral Stavridis brings them into the inner circle of command. A great read!



5. "Go forth and do great things" and "a leader must be a dealer of hope" are two quotes included in U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis' "Destroyer Captain: Lessons of a First Command." The first quote is Abraham Lincoln's and the second is Napoleon's. In both cases, a mentor and friend of Jim Stavridis, Vice Admiral John Morgan, used these words in separate visits to the Destroyer Captain's ship, USS Barry. As demonstrated in deed and word, Jim Stavridis lived these sentiments as the Destroyer Captain -- and continues to do so today as Commander, Southern Forces.
   
   In this short (199-page), tightly written "diary" of the at-sea periods in a 27-month command tour of an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis cruiser, then-Commander Stavridis shares insights into real experiences -- including "the highs are so high and the lows are so low." This work is not a typical how-to leadership text. At the same time, it is a wonderful leadership book. Jim Stavridis names names -- people who influenced him -- such as Laura Stavridis (his wife), Mike Franken (his executive officer), John Morgan (his commodore), Stan Brown (his master chief), and this is just the beginning of a very long list. The defining point is Jim Stavridis listens to and learns from others.
   
   He believes captains have "an obligation to create new leaders, new captains." He believes captains have a responsibility to project "cheerful confidence and good humor and professional competence." And Jim Stavridis tells how he always tried to achieve these goals -- while not always succeeding.
   
   The result is an outstanding leadership book by a proven leader. One does not have to aspire to go to sea and someday command a warship to learn about leadership from this book. What makes "Destroyer Captain" powerful is one can trust that every word is true. Three hundred forty Sailors cruised the 130,000 miles with this Destroyer Captain.
   
   For those who believe leadership books are not for them, "Destroyer Captain" will nevertheless appeal to them by giving an appreciation of what Sailors and Marines at sea are doing every day to protect this Nation.
   
   A personal note about Admiral Stavridis: I have been privileged to know and work with Jim Stavridis for 33 years, meeting him when he was a midshipman and I was a junior editor of the Sea Services' professional monthly magazine, "Proceedings." In 1994, during his tour as the commanding officer of Barry, Jim Stavridis was selected as the Proceedings Author of the Year. This officer has been a dealer of hope in every assignment he has served in, and he currently is going forth and doing great things for this Nation. Jim Stavridis is one of this Nation's finest leaders.

5 comments about Delta Force: The Army's Elite Counterterrorist Unit.

1. The promise was always present, always ready to poke its head out and play peek-a-boo with the reader. Unfortunately it was never able to gain enough ground and become interesting to the reader. Beckwith's book can be broken down into three sections: Vietnam, Delta Initiation and Delta Organization.
   
   The first section is a rather dull account of Beckwith's life in Vietnam. We get to see some of the details and descriptions of his exploits in Vietnam, but for the most part he doesn't really tell the reader much. The height of his Vietnam days are his rescue of a surrounded camp. Then it ends with Beckwith back in the States.
   
   Section two drones on and on about how he was beating his head against a wall trying to get people within the army to recognize that there is a need for a Special Operations force such as Delta. We all know where this one ends, so no need for elaboration.
   
   Section three is perhaps the most boring section. We finally get to see Delta Force come together. Will we get to hear about some of the details of their missions? No, in fact most of the latter half of the book is devoted to telling the day to day detail of what each officer and soldier was doing in order to maintain their training. So and so would wake up, blow up a wall, then do some running and push ups and then go and have a few beers. So and so would crunch the intel data and assess any threats, then he would brief the unit, and return to do some more data crunching before heading home early to get four hours of sleep, only to return the next day and start all over again. This could be interesting except for the fact that Beckwith does nothing but write about this for hundreds of pages. Finally, action, something to break up the monotony. We finally get to see a glimpse of Delta as it prepares to infiltrate Iran and free the hostages in the American Embassy. Some interesting detail here, but then it ends. Nothing really happened.
   
   The book ends with nothing interesting being shared at all. If you discount the landing and subsequent take off in Iran then you are left with a Delta that did absolutely nothing except waste tax payer's dollars. Granted, Beckwith is still in the army, and perhaps they did do some missions that are still top secret and thus Beckwith couldn't talk about. Who really knows the circumstances? But not enough was talked about. Too much was talked about the set up and organization of Delta without showing what they could actually do.
   
   Beckwith's writing is also quite horrible. Nothing about his writing made me want to read more. If you were to read it out loud I would imagine it would come out in a very monotone voice, with virtually no characterization. With Marcinko's Rogue Warrior you at least got to see and feel some of the action, to understand Marcinko's character and see it vividly within the words of his book. Not so here.
   
   Because of the uniqueness of what Beckwith was writing on, as well as the fact that he might very well not have been able to write about other missions that could have been classified, I would give this an okay rating. I would certainly not recommend this book to others.
   
   2.5 stars.



2. Easy reading; interesting how a new unit has difficulty in coming of age in the armed forces; read this first then follow it up with "Inside Delta Force" which will give more information on what it took for an individual to function within the Unit.



3. I really enjoyed this book. It gives a great history of the formation of Delta Force, but if you are only going to read one book on the subject; INSIDE DELTA FORCE by Eric Haney is much better. That said, this book is a page-turner and well written. There's a bit of self-congratulation; but Beckwith was an impressive individual.



4. If I had not read Eric Haney's book "Inside Delta Force" before I read this one, I probably would have loved it. The inherent problem is that both books cover roughly the same time frame, with Beckwith's book beginning earlier (going back to Vietnam inspirations) and ending while Haney was still in Delta. Both books provide detailed coverage of Operation Eagle Claw, which can be a little redundant, but that's no one's fault really. What I liked about Beckwith's book was the understanding it gave about where the idea for Delta came from, what his operational credibility was, and the intense opposition he faced in birthing this elite unit. Some folks will be bored with the various political machinations at work, but I found it interesting to see how something like this comes to be. Less interesting to me was Beckwith's account of Selection and the like because he didn't have to go through it like Haney did. I'd definitely recommend this book, but if you only want to read ONE book on Delta, I'd recommend Haney's first. And while there is certainly some overlap in information between the two works, I read them back to back and still enjoyed them.



5. The book was in excellant condition, arrived on time.

5 comments about My American Journey.

1. I read biographies of key officials as a means of trying to understand how they make decisions, and on what basis of fact or fancy they make decisions.
   
   Colin Powell is a great man, and I hope he returns as Secretary of State under a transpartisan team. He was destroyed by Dick Cheney and his own confusion of loyalty versus integrity.
   
   Here is the sentence, on page 293, that made my day:
   
   when he was Military Assistant to then Sectary of Defense Casper Weinberger, he preferred the Early Bird with its compendium of newspaper stories to the "cream of overnight intelligence" which was delivered to the Secretary of Defense by a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) courier each morning.
   
   See also:
   Preparing America's Foreign Policy for the 21st Century
   Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
   Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
   Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq
   Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
   The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political--Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption
   Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin
   The Price of Loyalty : George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill
   High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them



2. Well, I kind of liked Colin Powell once. I kinda don't anymore. The book was ... dull. The same old same old - Horatio Alger type stuff. I bought the book because I thought that Colin might be going someplace and I wanted a glimpse at his philosophy. After his stint in Republican politics his future in that area looks pretty dim.
   He was a soldier and he has the soldier mentality. This book was probably designed to put him on his political career. I liked Swartzkoff's book much better. What happened to Swartzkoff anyway?



3. This is a great book and an inspirational story of what one can accomplish in America if one has the drive. Powell was born from two poor Jamaican immigrants and rose, quickly, to the highest uniform office in America, and took some of the top political posts (or was offered them), though he wrote this before he became Sec of State. Looks like a volume two would be a good idea. After reading this my respect for Powell has grown. He served under five presidents, top posts under four of them. It is an amazing story of an amazingman.



4. CP did himself a diservice when he chose whomever to help him write this. I was completely surprised how bad the writing was. CP has an interesting story, but his author fails him. In the Army we would call this good initiative, poor execution. Terribly underwritten.
   
   In the book Powell states that minorities are under represented in elite forces aka Rangers, Special Forces, etc. because of institutional racism. That is a total lie, and it is racism on his part. I began in the Army as an enlisted soldier and retired as an officer after 20+ years. The only racism I experienced was when my African American squad leader took care of all of the other African Americans in my squad and platoon and gave me the crappest and worst details because I was white.
   
   Besides that experience, after much experience in the Army I have never seen a more racially fair organization in my life. If there was every fairness and opportunity for minorities, it is certainly in the Army. There is a lot to dislike about the Army like ego maniacs allowed to run loose and having stupid people in charge of you and utterly ridgid thinkers, but the Army did, from my perspective, an excellent job with fairness to everyone with regard to color. I also served from the squad level to the platoon level to company level as an enlisted soldier and an officer, and I served at the battalion level and brigade level as an officer. I have been a few places and seen and done a few things if you are unsure about my validity.
   
   So, it seriously surprises me that CP said this. I think he was making a cheap political excuse to curry favor or work out an old grudge. By the way, after I left my unit, my squad leader got caught cheating on his wife with another African American squad leader, and his wife left him. I am sure he go into more trouble than that, but at least there was some justice.



5. I read the book and had to get the CD set for my husband's aunt. She loves to read non-fiction, patriotic American historical insights, etc. She cannot see now and longed for such things. She is a huge Powell fan (as am I) and wanted to share his story with her. Colin Powell is a hero and I have nothing but respect for the man and what he has done for this country! When he left the State Department, it was truly a sad, sad day.
   
   This book is written and read with intellect and interest that will keep you listening from beginning to end.

5 comments about Blood Red Snow: The Memoirs of a German Soldier on the Eastern Front.

1. Having just read this book, I have to say I'm not convinced of the reality of this author's claims. Supposedly 'purposely' not identifying his own unit was only the first hint that gave me the impression of a tall tale.
   
   I could be wrong (hope I am), but I'm sadly not convinced by this one.



2. It's hard not to feel sorry for Gunter Koschorrek. He's 18 years old, it's October 1942 (the second winter of Hitler's ill-fated invasion of the USSR), and his replacement battalion has been assigned to Stalingrad. As the Wehrmacht pounds that shattered city, the Germans don't know it yet, but they've already lost the war. It's only a matter of time.
   
   Koschorrek doesn't know it either. He arrives in Stalingrad, full of youthful enthusiasm, determined to fight bravely for Fuhrer, Volk, und Vaterland. But the bitterly cold weather, supply problems, and relentless Russian attacks soon change that. By the end of his first deployment, Koschorrek is determined only to survive.
   
   Survive he does -- barely -- and after recuperating from his wounds and a stint fighting partisans in Italy, he's back on the Eastern Front. Things have gotten worse. The Germans are in a fighting retreat from Russia, and Koschorrek is there every terrifying, horrible step of the way.
   
   This is where Blood Red Snow shines. Koschorrek gives a detailed "boots on the ground" look at the latter days of Operation Barbarossa. He explains what it's like to fight on an ever-shifting front line, retreating through viscous mud on murderously flat steppes, beside men who are sometimes paralyzed by fear and sometimes full of lunatic courage, against an enemy that seems as unstoppable as the Russian winter.
   
   As a plainspoken fighting man's look at the German-Soviet war -- and as an addendum to the "big-picture" books that pontificate about the grand strategies and politics of WW II -- Blood Red Snow is highly recommended.
   
   I do have two complaints about the book. First, it's shoddily typeset and edited, with numerous typos and punctuation errors. It also a British-centric translation, so the Germans, annoyingly, call each other "blokes" and "chaps."
   
   Second, Koschorrek's credibility is sometimes undermined by public-relations puffery. For example, early in the book, Koschorrek is shocked (shocked!) when an officer kills wounded Russians instead of allowing them to surrender. Such behavior is un-German, Koschorrek suggests. And then there's Katya, a young Russian woman -- with "cornflower" eyes -- from a village they briefly occupy, who cries when her German soldier "friends" are killed.
   
   Maybe Koschorrek is telling the truth. Maybe not. It's understandable that he would portray his fellow German soldiers in the most flattering light. Not every Nazi was a sadist. Some Russians did greet the Germans as liberators. Nobody is a villain in his own story.
   
   But, curiously, for a book about a Nazi soldier, the words "National Socialism" don't appear until page 255. The words "concentration camp" aren't mentioned until page 264 (and then only in the context of anti-Nazi "dissidents").
   
   Even if Koschorrek wants only to offer an ordinary soldier's view of the war, he can't ignore the fact that he was fighting for one of the most murderous regimes in the history of the world. He might claim he was pulling the trigger for patriotism, or for his fellow soldiers, or simply to stay alive. But the fact remains, he was a soldier for the tyrannical government that started WW II and murdered millions of people in cold blood.
   
   For that reason, ultimately, it *is* hard to feel sorry for Gunter Koschorrek -- even though I enjoyed his book and admired him for surviving the hell he so vividly describes.



3. I enjoyed this book and I recommend it. I've read "black edelweiss", "the good soldier", and "the forgotten soldier". I recommend forgotten soldier 1st, blood red snow 2nd.



4. "Blood Red Snow" is another excellent book written about the German version of War in the East, through yet another direct participant in that war (this book is "one more" excellent - German perspective from the many great books on WWII, within the Amazon publishings).
   It's important to know one basic element about WWII before diving into these many WWII readings. That is; 7 out of 10 Germans killed in combat in WWII were killed on the Russian Front, not fighting American, British, or the Western Allies.
   Regardless of how it is discussed in public today regarding the German Army in WWII, these books (there are many good ones on Amazon), help to offer the genuine insight to what these men and the various nations at war, went through during the amazing battles in the East. Many millions of dead "On both sides" were consumed in this cauldron of fire in the East. That alone is something that is hard to balance and comprehend, in your mind.
   I have purchased books from Amazondotcom - on the Soviet perspective too. Another amazing learning, when you realize the many Soviet languages within the USSR, that had to be overcome, just to fight one battle. Simply moving the many Soviet armies forward as they pushed to take back their lands, in some sort of organized fashion,.... through the language challenge, was a struggle beyond words. The Soviets really did not fully get their arms around their language challenge, until the war was almost over (1944). Then to understand, how the soviets had to devise ways to speak with each other, to fight in concert with those language barrier orders of battle, through the beginning of the war to the end, is an eye opener. You will soon have a new respect for what the Soviet Army had to do, to win their war in the East. No small effort, in and of itself. The one Soviet word,.... or better stated, "their battle cry" HORAHhhhhhhhhhh !!.... Was not only a way for the Soviets to gather courage to attack, it was a way to find their mixed language troops and people, in the fog of battle. Once found, they then had to try and continue communicating as best they could, in one generic fashion, during the heat and confusion of battle. Setting aside for now, how we are taught to think about the USSR, when you consider how they struggled with the hundreds of languages and dialects the many nations that made-up the USSR had,..... you soon realize the scope of that challenge. It is wise to consider the battle cry - HORAHhhhhhhhh as being "the one phrase" they all could understand, and the one excellent way they had to communicate with each other, for many reasons, in WWII. When you understand that the soviet soldiers were forced to attack or be shot, this becomes an understanding about the basic soviet soldier, that requires you to know more about their day-to-day thinking and perspective on war. To take the time to understand these soviet conscripts, is to gain the vast knowledge about "the heart" of the war in the East. Again,.....Reading is learning.
   These newly published or republished books on the German Army shows, that everything that has been written in the past about their discipline, training, and camaraderie are under-stated. Did you know that the German Army boot camp before WWII and leading up to it, could be more than 5 months long (depending on what branch they would serve in, during combat)? They were among the best-of-the-best Armys of the world, at that time, and up to that time in history.
   It's amazing to note that these two armies (German/Soviet) fought in such harsh conditions,... for so long. Just to understand the weather conditions during battles (blizzards, mud, rain), is to understand one small element of their war. A night in the dark and vast Soviet lands, under 40 or 60 degrees below freezing temperatures and winds, is a sobering wake-up call, in iteslf. Then to imagine that they did this day-after-day, and night-after-night through the better part of four winters, is almost an anticlimatic thought. That to me, is personally - unimaginable. For many troops on both sides, they "were" in this struggle for 4 years, or until they were killed. Try to visualize sleeping outside in these extreme temperatures, for months,... without end. Even now, i want to think they (German and USSR troops) were housed in some warm cozy place at night, and only fought during the day, and always had enough to eat and drink. In reality, that thought would be far from the truth. When you consider the murderous land they fought on in the East, the failing food and ammunition supply lines that became thinner as the war went against the Germans,........ it soon becomes clear how the massive armies of Napoleon were erased in one campaign.
   I suggest that it is not too late, or too soon, to buy books like these.
   It is much better to KNOW history, than to have NO history.



5. I am fascinated and incensed by every memoir written by German serviceman. Fascinated because I am afforded an opportunity to glimpse into the personal experience of an enemy, but incensed because everyone (at least whom I've read so far) comes across like such a gentleman. For instance, author said that because one Russian soldier was unarmed he did not shoot him. He also said that he couldn't bear seeing his buddy shooting wounded Russians because he thought it was barbaric. Oh, the innocent German soldiers. Where were they in Dachau, Majdanek, Treblinka, Auschwitz, etc etc etc? How about inhumane treatment of Russian POWs or mass murders of Russian population on occupied territories? Did 26 million Russian souls perish in this war just on their own? I guess those who choose to write about their experiences either conveniently forget these parts of the story or are absolute exceptions from the norm. I tend to believe the former.
   
   I have to agree with another reviewer (Jeffrey Thurston) that the author repeatedly names a weapon that Russian soldiers use as Kalashnikov quite incorrectly. The fact that this gun was introduced at least 2 years after the war makes the reading a bit confusing and, well, discredits the story somewhat.
   
   On a side note, I guess the numerous typos should not be the focus of my review, since the book is not written by a "professional" writer. Yet one is left wondering what the editor was doing right before they cleared the final manuscript for printing.
   
   In all, I found accounts of fear that Russian attacks instilled in Germans (at least on some occasions) utmost interesting to read, including calling the T-34 a steel monster (it wasn't a heavy tank by any means). As long as you don't think too much into the details (i.e., nonexistent weapon repeatedly used by Russians, confusing some Russian and Polish words), you'll find this book an OK read.

5 comments about Chickenhawk.

1. I finished reading Chickenhawk last night just a few minutes after midnight, July 4, 2008. I feel like I oughta apologize to its author, Bob Mason, for taking 25 years to "discover" his excellent account of one man's horrific wartime experiences in Vietnam over 40 years ago. Sam Hynes, author of the equally excellent WWII pilot's memoir, Flights of Passage, once told me that one of the most important ingredients in a memoir is that the narrator be likeable. Chickenhawk has that most vital element, for Bob Mason is as likeable a guy as you'll find in the literature of war, and his prose is absolutely real and riveting as he tells of his whirling descent into the madness that was Vietnam. His final chapter summarizes the kind of confusing nightmare his life became upon his return home, as he struggled to understand and survive this thing now commonly known as PTSD. I like this guy. In fact I like him well enough that I will try to find a copy of his out-of-print sequel to Chickenhawk. It may take a while, but I'll be back to comment on that one too. In the meantime, I urge anyone who enjoys good writing of any kind to read this book. It's the real deal. - Tim Bazzett, author of SoldierBoy: At Play in the ASA (RatholeBooks.com)



2. Read it in six days. Kept my interest. Hope Mason's life is going better these days.



3. As the cover says, "The best book to come out of Vietnam". This is a hard hitting book which is very well described. Approx. 50 pages in, you are already riding in the chopper with 'Bob' Mason. A sorry tale but a very true one.



4. I have read many military books. This is the best one I have ever read. I suggest the sequel "back in the life" as well as "Weapon" and "Solo". Anything written by Mason is good.



5. Bob Mason wrote a very eloquent, very eye-opening account of his Vietnam tour as a helicopter pilot.
   
   Having just lost my older brother, who was also a helicopter (slick) pilot in 67-68 with the D Troop 1/10 Cav (Shamrocks) and A Co., 4th Avn Bn (Black Jack), I found just how much he sugar-coated the "war stories" he told myself and our siblings when we were pre-teens/teens. After reading Chickenhawk, it's a miracle that Bob Mason (and my brother) ever made it home at all. It seems that if this war didn't get you physically, it sure got you mentally and emotionally - making you pay one way or another.
   
   From a woman's point of view, I recommend this book to every woman who ever had a son, brother, uncle or husband in Vietnam. This is what our Vietnam heroes went through for US ... somehow, a mere "thank you" will never be enough.
   
   Welcome home, Bob. Thanks for all you gave up for us.

5 comments about To End All Wars.

1. This was one of the most moving Christian testimonies I have read. It is the amazing biography of Ernest Gordon, a British POW in Japanese occupied Thailand. The book is more than that though. The personal and historical account of To End All Wars provides the reader with tremendous hope born in the midst of suffering. In the same spirit as Corrie Ten Boon's the Hiding Place, this work writes about the difficulty of finding and protecting the value of human life through the power of God's love and forgiveness. Such was the key to Ernest Gordon's end to the war and for many of his fellow inmates, and it is a message that is repeated throughout the account. There are many moments when such self-sacrificing love is put to the test. One defining moment was when the prisoners administered aid to wounded Japanese soldiers who were previously their captors at the very end of the war. The title of my review comes from a quote from Mr. Gordon taken from this event. The book itself is a testament to the grace and mercy of God, which offered these defeated men a restoration of their souls through forgiveness rather than maintain in their hearts the bitterness of hatred despite the cruelty they suffered. A truly powerful and soul-stirring book!



2. My wife and I had watched the movie a couple months ago (be warned: it is incredibly brutal) and been moved by the power of the story. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the book and the move are not the same story. In fact, other than the similarity of the major premise (a British officer in a Japanese POW camp during WW2), they had almost nothing in common.
   
   However. . .
   
   That was only disappointing insomuch as I kept waiting for certain events from the movie to show up. The movie had colored my expectations for the book, which meant I couldn't take the book on its own merits. Which is too bad, because, upon completing the book, I would say it is as powerful as the movie, perhaps even more so. But you have to let the book speak for itself. The story is truly miraculous, as this band of prisoners devolve into a wild bunch of animals at the hands of their captors, only to be transformed by the Spirit of Christ into a true Community of compassion and care. Somehow, in the midst of hell, these men found the power to love each other, to care for each other, to even forgive their Japanese tormentors. When people ask "Does Christianity work?", the story of this book says "absolutely!" And in a day and age of spiteful attacks, divisive language, polarized religions and selfish money-grubbing politicians and religious leaders, there is a real lesson here about what being a True Follower of Christ is all about.



3. This is one of the best books I've read so far... Though it may appear repetitive at times (there's really little else the author could write about beside what's happening in the POW camps along the Kwai), the reflection on the human condition and the supreme virtue of self-sacrifice in the footsteps of Jesus Christ is written with much poignancy and profundity. The epilogue is a tour de force for its penetrating criticism of the 'civilised' society the author returned to after the war. The reverse culture shock he experienced is a haunting reminder of how that still small voice can be so easily drowned out in the cacophony of modern society.



4. It's a difficult, but true message. The author takes an unflinching look at the evil that men are capable of through his own personal experience in Japanese prison camps and carries you through the experience on to the brilliant hope on the other side of his own personal pain. The underlying truth you discover is the genuine potential to be found in one man's selfless, sacrificial care for another. It's an excellent read.



5. Formally published as "Miracle on the River Kwai" and renamed to coincide with a new movie. This book was written by Ernest Gordon a Scottish Army officer who served in the South Pacific During the war.
   
   Back Story
   During that time the Japanese advanced on Singapore, and Gordon and a few other officers try to escape on a chartered sailboat. After being captured at sea, he was incarcerated and sent to a work camp in Thailand, building the infamous railway of death, where nearly 80,000 prisoners lost their life in a little over a year. This railway and the Chungkai prison camp are the real back story to the Oscar winning film "Bridge On the River Kwai."
   
   What the classic movie doesn't tell you is the horrific condition and constant death that the builders of the bridge met with on a daily basis.
   
   The Book
   The story is a recount of Ernest Gordon's experiences at the camp and his witness to that camps transformation from what he called "the worst that man could be" to the "best that man could be."
   
   The book starts with Gordon laying in the hospital at Chungkai, called the "Death House" by the prisoners as there was very few he came back from the hospital. Gordon then flashes back to what led him here, and then continues from that point and tells of the camps transformation. Before Gordon wound up in the hospital the camp was very much "every man for himself" animal instinct and the law of the jungle dictated who lived and who died. During Gordon's stay at the hospital while he was suffering and near death with Beriberi, Tropical Ulcers, Malaria, and Amoebic Dysentery, he propped himself up, void of hope, and penned a last letter to his parents. That was his low point. He was nursed back to health by two other POW's Dinty Moore, and Dusty Miller. Both bartered for food and medicine, cleaned his ulcers, massaged his legs to reverse the atrophy and gave him encouragement to give him the hope he needed to recover. These two men became an inspiration to the rest of the camp, and like Ernest Gordon, many started to emulate their kindness willingness to help others. Dusty Miller a devote Christian also read the bible to Gordon which inspired him. Gordon then started to hold bible studies with other in the camp; they often shared bibles that men had smuggled in. This led to a spiritual revival of the camp, where men helped each other to survive. The camp changed from a group of individuals to a community that served each other with the same love that Christ had shown them in the bible. Many more survived the wrath of the Japanese as a result of the selfless acts of the camp members, in one part of the book one enlisted soldier, admits that he stole a shovel (which he didn't) just to save the lives of his co-prisoners, that soldier was immediately beaten to death, but his sacrifice as well as others, were what changed to mood of the camp.
   
   The Legacy
   This spiritual revival, not only led to many surviving the camp, but transcended into their life after the war. Gordon's epilogue was probably the best part of the book where he paints his perspective against the backdrop of the post-war error.
   
   "We returned to a world divided by hatreds. We thought we had come home to a world at peace; instead we found a world already preparing for the next war. Having had as much reason to hate as anybody, we had overcome hatred."
   
   "We had seen a vision of far horizons and caught a glimpse of the City of God in all its beauty and this vision seemed to be part of a different world."
   
   Summary
   Overall the book is very interesting, and is an intriguing story of suffering and hope. Gordon's style is very easy to read, almost like he's sitting next you telling the story. The descriptions of the people and the camp are genuine and I had no problem understanding and even "knowing" many of the characters in the book.
   
   Editorial
   It's one thing read about the word of God and the acts of Jesus, it's an entirely different think to witness it first hand as Gordon does and writes about with stunning detail. If found this to be an inspiring story of the grace of God that is given, by giving up selfishness. I have learned a lot about what true Christian's look like after reading this book. If you want my opinion, Christ looked a lot more like Dusty Miller and Ernest Gordon, than the face of modern evangelical minister today.
   
   I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to see the how God's Grace can transform the most desperate situations

5 comments about Heart of a Soldier.

1. This book is what our current life is really about in the Post 911 era. We visit two soldiers who live life together in Africa and then in Vietnam. It (at the end of the book) debunks our police frame work and the cover-ups of the Bush and Clinton Administrations. These two soldiers warn us of the impending Air Strikes against the Twin Towers years in advance. There can be no second guessing the correct warning they gave the NYPD,The FBI, and others. This book should be made into a film. Give this book a buy and pass it around to all you know and care for. And yes I was there on top of the towers in 1989 and felt the tremor of impending doom awaiting us in the future. Every American should be proud of these soldiers and applaud them.



2. this book chronicle's one man journey through the 20th century. His journey spans two devastating periods in America's history and is narrated through the eyes of the everyday man.



3. I had finished We Were Soldiers Once...and Young, and I was very interested in knowing more about Cyril 'Rick' Rescorla, one of the soldiers who had been in the Ia Drang valley. I googled his name and was thrilled that this book had been written about him. After everything he survived in Vietnam to die while making sure others got to safety on 9/11, I was stunned. I have read many books about Vietnam and this is by far the best. Wow what a story. I will keep this book forever, and when I need a refresher on humanity, I will reread this magnificent story. The book is a very riveting war story, so well written I couldn't put it down. Even my friends who aren't interested in wars of the past are reading it.



4. I just finished this book a few days ago and cannot believe he was a real person-he truly was a Kipling or Hemingway type of character. To be brave so many times in your life, and just trying to do the right thing is refresing to see, and we need to see more of it. His friendship with Dan is very close, and not always seen among men due to homophobia. What was most uncanny was how they knew 9/11 was coming and tried their best to prevent it. Unfortunatly it ends badly when Rick does one more heroic act, but he was a good example how to be a good, if somewhat flawed person. Needs to be made into a movie.



5. From childhood in the 1940s to 2001 two men's military experiences in colonial battles in Africa, Vietnam, and events leading to 9/11 provide a chronical of military temperment and commitment. This chronology includes their training, fears, heroics, loves , and being drawn into the mechanisms of terrorism before a terroristic event sets the stage for a final act of heroism demonstrated by one of these men.

5 comments about Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz.

1. Where's the real info, the real description of Mengele's experiments, even a picture of the man??!! Not in this book.
   
   Let's get some things straight here: German Nazi scientists were extremely well trained, meticulous, and the creme of the creme for most of the 20th century. Mengele was no different. He was not sloppy, or random, or "insane" (in the conventional sense), or simply tortured kids for his entertainment. He was (from the 1940s to the 1960s at least) the World's premier expert on creating mind controlled people based on extreme trauma. Various types of trauma were inflicted on people to such an extent that their minds "fractured" (he also developed the best drugs to give them to prevent them from passing out, such that their conscious minds had to "deal" with the enormous pain, etc.). He controlled the "fracturing" process and created many different "alters" for different purposes within these people, essentially multiple personalities all within the same person, but completely unaware of the other. In other words, he perfected the manufacture of what has now been coined, The Manchurian Candidate, through trauma based mind control techniques. He did not originate the premise (as it was used in Egyptian times and perhaps earlier), but he greatly advanced the "science" of it.
   
   With this in mind, he used very young twins for a number of practical reasons: 1) twins represent the perfect control for experiments, 2) he found it was easier to fracture and "cement" the process in children under the age of 5. In fact, he knew that if a pregnant mother was traumatised and delivered a premature infant, it was even better. He also experimented on physically traumatising the fetus directly, 3) due to the Nazis great essoteric and occult interest, he was fascinated by the "etheric connection" twins have and was interested in quantifying it for military communication, 4) he realised that memories and emotions are carried within the blood, so he was also involved in blood transfusions and primitive organ transplants to test his hypotheses, and 5) it was even rumoured he was also interested in and advancing human cloning. In short, the discoveries that Mengele made and the results he was getting interested every government and military entitiy in the World, and they all bidded for his services at the end of WW2, irregardless of any morality or ethical questions. This is why the real documentation of what he was doing was not publicly admitted to. Instead, we were told he was just insane and wanted to dye all the chidren's eyes blue and convert them to Aryans.
   
   As it turned out, the Americans won the bidding, and Mengele was transferred along with THOUSANDS of other Nazi scientists in what was termed, "Operation Paperclip". Some of these Nazis joined the OSS (which later became the CIA), some formed what became known as NASA, others formed what became known as the NSA, but Mengele and his ilk continued with their mind control stuff within military facilites in Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado, and possibly even Canada for MANY YEARS. In fact, he trained many other "programmers" in his techniques. Marilyn Monroe was what was termed a "Presidential Model" of mind control slave and many others have followed within Hollywood and the music business. In fact, Britney Spears is the best modern example of a mind control slave who is losing her programming.
   
   Mengele may have made appearances in South America from time to time, or maybe it was a body double, but he carried right where he left off in the dark days of WW2. And his program carries on TODAY. So, this book talks about some poor twins and its a sad and horrific story, but completely misses the point as to what Mengele was, where he went, and what became of him. He, along with the other Paperclip scientists, infiltrated the US and formed a 4th Reich of sorts...



2. This book takes us from the youths of of Josef Mengele and his victims (briefly) to Auschwitz to the Nazi-hunting of the post-war period to the late 1980s. It tells these stories in alternating voices, stressing how necessary it is to do so: these stories are inextricably linked.
   
   The title is a bit misleading; this is perhaps weighed more on the side of a brief biography of Mengele, with emphasis on postwar activities. The stories of a group of twins break into the narrative in italicized bursts, fracturing it-- and thus reminding us all of how the horrific events of World War II fractured individuals, families, communities, nations.
   
   The book is an oral history of Auschwitz, told by those who survived it. Certainly, it is well researched (especially when it comes to the information about Nazi hunting and war tribunals), but the information in the "spotlight," so to speak, are the unsilenced voices of the twins. Do not expect pages of historical detail about what types of experiments were performed, reviews of medical cases, lengthy discussions of what occured in labs; that information is not there. This is a book about a handful of people and their stories, and while the book tells Mengele's for him, the twins tell their own. Particularly on the part of the twins, it is more a psychological study than a historical one (we could go into how psychology and history are intertwined, but it would be best for the reader to reach his or her own conclusions after reading the book).
   
   The text is deeply moving, often shattering. The voices that shatter the narrative of Mengele's life, denying the murderer any seamless biography, are vivid and alive. The authors picked a unique and, ultimately, extremely effective way to deliver biographies of oppresser and oppressed.



3. This book exceeded my expectations. The way the author goes back and forth between survivors' accounts and factual information about Mengele was a great way to keep the book interesting. I was intrigued from beginning to end. A lot of books that just rehash the past can be boring but this book was truely great. I learned a lot of factual information but also was deeply drawn to the survivors' stories. Highly recommended!



4. This is a very good book with factual accounts from some of the youngest twins. What I found confusing is the way the author wrote the book. There seems to be some jumping around, comparisons of sorts. This book thoroughly explains how the surviving twins got together and met with the author, as well as the founding of their organization. This book does not go into great detail as to what specific types of horrific experiments were done, as most of the survivors able to tell their stories were very young at the time, and/or they have repressed their memories of the horror. It does give second-hand accounts of the 'goings-on' of Mengele by those that survived.



5. This harrowing book traces both the life of 'the angel of death', the psycopathic monster, Dr Josef Mengele, and his victims who survived.
   Mengele carried out a range of horrific experiments on a range of people, mainly twins. particularly Jewish and Gipsey children, and various others.
   As Mengele's life is described, so is the life of the survivors, the horrors that they experienced at Auschwitz and how they lived in the decades afterwards.
   "Most of the twins began their descent into Auschwitz by witnessing their entire families being led away from them to be killed. In their special barracks, located just yards away from the crematoriums, they observed the Nazis' extermination of Jews at close range. Twins as young as five and six years of age endured torture, daily blood tests and starvation diets, as well as facing exposure to epidemics of cholera, tuberculosis and other deadly diseases that were rampant because of unsanitary conditions. Worst of all, of course, were the Mengele's barbaric pseudoscientific experiments. But as horrific as their lives were the twins enjoyed a special privileged status, for they were regarded as "Mengele's children". And as such they were spared the random selections and march to the gas chambers that threatened every other Auschwitz inmate'.
   
   The testimony of a handful of survivors illustrates the horror of Mengele and Auschwitz, and the scars of the experiences suffered by his victims, and how they experienced them through their lives.
   In the testimony of Moshe Offer, who was twelve years old at the time: 'When they opened the doors to our cattle cars, there were lots of dead children. During the trip, some mothers couldn't bare to hear the sound of their hungry babies-and so they killed them. I remember two blond, very beautiful children in my car, whose mother had choked them to death because she could not stand to watch them suffer'.
   
   Eva Mozes, who was nine years old at the time, recounts how, at Auschwitz-Birkenau, she and her twin sister were packed into filthy, rat infested barracks, together with hundreds of other little girls.
   She remembers seeing three dead children on the ground. Later they would always be finding dead children on the floor of the latrines.
   From their barracks they could see huge, smoking chimneys rising high above the camp. There were glowing flames rising above them. ' " Why are they burning so late in the evening?" I asked the other children. "The Germans are burning people they answered".
   Twins Hedvah and Leah Stern. who were thirteen years old at the time, recount how Mengele tried to change the colour of their eyes:' One day we were given eye drops. Afterwards, we could not see for several days. We though the Nazis had made us blind.
   We were very frightened of the experiments. They took a lot of blood from us. We fainted several times, and the SS guards were very amused.
   We were not very developed. The Nazis made us remove our clothes and they took photographs of us.
   The SS guards would point to us and laugh. We stood naked in front of these young Nazi thugs, shaking from cold and fear, and they laughed."
   The first few chapters of the book deal with Mengele's role in Auschwitz itself, and the rest of the book relates Eichmann's experience in hiding in South America, and the way the surviving twins built up lives and families for themselves, most of them in Israel, while the nightmare of Auschwitz would scar and effect them forever.Most of the twins longed to emigrate to the Land of Israel, then the British Colony of Palestine.
   They soon found that the Communist rulers of their former homes in lands like Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania, were hostile to the Jewish people too, and pesecuted those who wanted to go to Israel and those who wanted to hold onto their Jewish faith, as 'Zionists'. Thus developed that form of Leftist anti-Semitism known as anti-Zionism, which was incubated by the Soviet Union, and is endemic among the international left today.
   The rest of the book deals with how Mengele dwindled in exile into a neurotic and bitter non-being. The surivors describe their lives in Israel and elsewhere, after the war, their often fearful behaviour, their nightmares and their treatment, and also how they built up new lives and families, which live on in the Jewish homeland.
   Mengele died after suffering a stroke and drowning in 1979, in Brazil.

5 comments about Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram.

1. The story behind this story is more germane to me.
   It shows the common thread of conscience and patriotism that cultures & mankind share.
   Neil Alexander a photographer/film maker is working on a documentary that adds a whole new dimension to this story.
   [...]



2. ...to use Blasé Pascal's phrase, relating to his rhetorical question concerning his right to kill another man, just because he lived on that opposite bank. Dang Thuy Tram's diaries are an important addition to that small group of Vietnamese books concerning the American War which have appeared in English, and include Bao Ninh's "The Sorrow of War," and Duong Thu Huong's "Novel Without a Name."
   
   Alain-Fournier was another great writer whose life was cut far too short by war during the very early months of World War I. Both he and Thuy died at the same age, 27. Alain-Fournier's literary reputation was established prior to his death, Thuy's has finally come, posthumously. The strength of her diary is the immediacy and authenticity of the comments. She was quite optimistic at the beginning, but with the mounting casualties in her unit, and the relentless bombardment from the Americans, she turns more pessimistic, and foreshadows her own death. For those portions I would have given her a 5-star rating, but the frequent interjection of that leaden communist rhetoric, and the vague treatment of the personnel struggles within her unit, and the party, I decided to give only a 4-star rating, preferring both of the books above. Also, there were the issues that were only briefly discussed, and were of essential interest - her medical work. There was never an adequate description of her clinic, and the availability of medical supplies. Malaria, and what the GI's called "jungle rot," (fungal infections) were unmentioned yet must have been a significant portion of her work. She mentions in passing the poison that was Agent Orange, but again gives no real description of the effect it had on her unit.
   
   Tim O'Brien, probably the greatest American novelist to come out of this tragic war, was in the infamous Americal Division, in Quang Ngai province, the unit that Thuy repeatedly called "the American bandits." He might have actually have been on one of the patrols that she had to face. The Americal's bases were on the lowlands, near the coast, and the mountains loomed to the West, where Thuy lived, and were a constant source of fascination and beauty - the light was never quite the same on those mountains. One of O'Brien's novels, "Going After Cacciato" explored the fantasy of one soldier finally having had enough, and deciding to walk away from the war, through those mountains, all the way to Europe. I shared that fascination with those mountains, during the same time Thuy was in them, and even had the same fantasy about walking away from the war. I was in a tank unit that spent four months, in late '68, in the next province south, Binh Dinh. One of our jobs was the road "security" of Highway 1, and on several days, we would sit, overlooking the South China Sea, at the boundary between Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh province, only 2 to 5 miles from Thuy's clinic in the hills.
   
   Thuy spoke many times of her desire for revenge against the invaders of her country. An honest and understandable emotion from those who suffered years of misery, and the loss of so many friends. This emotion was shared by her compatriots, and has now been dissipated as they welcome American tourists to their country. I would have loved to have discussed this transformation with her in a tea house in her beloved Hanoi.
   
   Finally, how many more diaries like this are currently being produced in Iraq?



3. Dang Thuy Tram's chronicle, in its English materialization, is perhaps the only Vietnam-related book to touch all sides of that tragedy. It was difficult to keep the incredible passage of her pages, the back story, in the background of this much-anticipated war diary.
   
   In March 2005, just prior to the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, two Vietnam veteran brothers gave a nondescript and scarcely attended talk at Texas Tech University's Vietnam Center. Their presentation was about a diary penned by a Viet Cong doctor that had been kept for 35 years by ex-Army intelligence officer Fred Whitehurst, one of the brothers. His Vietnamese interpreter had advised him to spare the war booty, "Fred, you can't burn this, it already has a fire in it."
   
   Thuy's first entries began in 1968, just after the Tet Offensive. "Operated on one case of appendicitis with inadequate anesthesia. I had only a few meager vials of Novocaine to give the soldier, but he never groaned once during the entire procedure. He even smiled to encourage me."
   
   Unless readers can lay out the original diary next to its English brethren and are fluent in both languages, it will be difficult to determine whether the latter resembles the writing of Thuy or of the publisher's dramatic editing. The narrative is thick but raw, and only spared by entries of exuberance and jubilation by Thuy amid her combat tour to treat and support wounded Communist soldiers. "Oh, Thuy! Overcome these pains in your heart. Be joyful...You cannot live with sentiments alone, you stubborn girl? Furthermore, unless one is a Vietnam veteran, the battlefield context of time and place will be hard to comprehend. Footnotes appear on nearly every other page.
   
   The English translation of Thuy's diary, ironically enough, was done by a former boat person who had fled Communist Vietnam in the late 1970s. He had to enlist the help of his father, a reeducated former South Vietnamese. Last but not least, there is a long introduction--a drawn-out overview of the war--by an antiwar Pulitzer-prize winning journalist.



4. The following is a review of the unabridged audio edition of "Last Night I Dreamed of Peace" offered for download at Audible.com, an Amazon.com trusted partner.
   
   "Last Night I dreamed of Peace" (translated by Andrew Pham)is the war time diary of Dang Thuy Tram, a young Vietnamese doctor in a battlefield hospital during the Vietnam War. Written between 1968 and 1970, her diary speaks of the horrors of war, her yearning for her high school sweetheart, and her struggle to prove her loyalty to her country. Above all though, Thuy's diary tells the story of hope under the most dire circumstances.
   
   The book includes a useful introduction by Frances Fitzgerald.
   
   The diary in and of itself is gripping and powerful, but the narration by Kim Mai Guest significantly adds to its power. Kim Mai Guest gives Thuy a voice, gives voice to Thuy's hopes, dreams, fears and disappointments. In many ways, the audio edition should be the preferred edition because Thuy's words lend themselves more to the spoken word than they do the written word.
   
   There is no denying the book's power. There is also no denying that in the hands of a gifted director/screenwriter, "Last Night I Dreamed of Peace" could be an incredible motion picture.



5. "Last night I dreamed that Peace was established," Dang Thuy Tram confided to her diary. "Oh, the dream of Peace and Independence has burned in the hearts of thirty million people for so long. For Peace and Independence, we have sacrificed everything. So many people have volunteered to sacrifice their whole lives for these two words: Independence and Liberty. I, too, have sacrificed my life for that grandiose fulfillment." Thuy never saw the fulfillment of her dream. She was only twenty-seven when on June 22, 1970 American soldiers put a bullet through her forehead.
   
   Dang Thuy Tram (b. November 26, 1942) was a surgeon fresh out of medical school who headed a field hospital in the remote, mountain jungles of Vietnam. She operated without anesthesia, rebuilt her clinic every time it was bombed, tended to the peasants whose villages had been burned and bull-dozed, hid in her underground shelter, and suffered the atrocities of war -- kids stepping on land mines, helicopter gunships in the middle of the night, forests stained yellow by toxic defoliants, napalm bombs, amputees, and patients like Khanh, a twenty-year old victim of a phosphorous bomb whose charred body, burned to a crisp, still smoldered with smoke an hour after it was admitted to her clinic.
   
   The sparse possessions found with Thuy's body included some medicines, a rice ledger, a Sony radio, and this diary. When the American soldier Fred Whitehurst found the diary during the mop-up, he violated military regulations, kept the diary, and took it home with him in 1972 after three tours of duty in Vietnam. In April 2005 he was able to deliver the diary to Thuy's eighty-one-year old mother and three sisters, who published it in Hanoi on July 18, 2005. In the following eighteen months Thuy's diary sold 430,000 copies -- in a country where two-thirds of the citizens were born after the war ended and where books rarely sell more than 5,000 copies.
   
   Much like Clint Eastwood's film Letters from Iwo Jima, Thuy's diary tells the story of Vietnam from the perspective of our "enemy." She's a fervent patriot devoted to Vietnam's revolutionary resistance. She longs for acceptance with the Communist Party which suspects her admitted bourgeois background and attitudes (her father was a surgeon and her mother a university lecturer). She rages with hatred against the American invaders, those "imperialist killers, vicious dogs, bloodthirsty devils, and terrible, cruel people who want to use our blood to water their tree of gold." More importantly, Thuy's diary reveals the longings of a fellow human being who misses her mom and dad and aches with loneliness for her boyfriend. FitzGerald's introduction, numerous footnotes that explain historical details, and two dozen family photographs complement Thuy's deeply human dream of peace.