Vietnam War Books

If Not Now, When?: Duty and Sacrifice in America's Time of Need

Colonel Jack Jacobs (retired), Douglas Century

Amazon Price: $17.13 List Price: $25.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Berkley Hardcover Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $15.25

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Leaders & Notable People -> Military -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Leaders & Notable People -> Military -> General AAS
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Professionals & Academics -> Military & Spies

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Extraordinary memoir of the war from a real hero! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Brilliantly written and touching account of one man's valor and heroism during the consummate character building experience of war. Col. Jacobs' unique and masterfully engaging writing style with ample interjections of humor will have you rolling with laughter. I could not put the book down once I started reading it and I felt compelled to read it in one sitting. Though the term "duty & sacrifice" is often viewed as an eastern ethos, this book is a salute to all those brave men and women serving their country and the extraordinary motivation and strength of character required to weather war.

Editorial Review:

A Medal of Honor recipient looks back at his own service—and ahead to America’s future.

Jack Jacobs was acting as an advisor to the South Vietnamese when he and his men came under devastating attack. Severely wounded, 1st Lt. Jacobs took command and withdrew the unit, returning again and again to the site of the attack to rescue more men, saving the lives of a U.S. advisor and thirteen Allied soldiers. Col. Jacobs received the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor.

Here, with candor, humor, and quiet modesty, Col. Jack Jacobs tells his stirring story of heroism, honor, and the personal code by which he has lived his life, and expounds with blunt honesty and insight his views on our contemporary world, and the nature and necessity of sacrifice.

If Not Now, When? is a compelling account of a unique life at both war and peace, and the all-too-often unexamined role of the citizenry in the service and defense of the Republic.

Faith of My Fathers

John McCain

List Price: $25.00 By: Diane Pub Co Amazon Marketplace: 20 new & used starting at $13.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Leaders & Notable People -> Military -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Leaders & Notable People -> Military -> General AAS
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Professionals & Academics -> Military & Spies

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 231 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I probably would not have read this book had John McCain not run for the presidency this year. This is a fascinating book detailing McCain's grandfather's and father's careers in the Navy. His grandfather was a Naval pilot in World War II and his father was a commander of the Pacific navel fleet in the Vietnam War. McCain also details his career starting at the Naval Academy where his reputation as a maverick was begun. As a Naval pilot he was shot down and taken prisoner by North Vietnam. He was tortured in ways few have ever had to endure for years before his release. He had a resolve unlike anything I have ever read. Whether your politics are the same as John McCain's or not, you have to admit that he is a true American hero. This book is well written and I was so engrossed, I could not put it down. "Faith of My Fathers" is highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

Senator John McCain learned about life and honor from his grandfather and father, both four-star admirals in the U.S. Navy. Both their careers and their courage helped prepare McCain for the biggest challenge of his life when, as a naval aviator, he was shot down over Hanoi in 1967 and seriously injured. When his captors realized McCain's impressive military legacy, they offered him early release. In what has now become a legendary act of heroism, McCain refused the offer and was subsequently tortured, held in solitary confinement, and imprisoned for more than five years.

Faith of My Fathers is about what McCain learned from his father and grandfather, and how their example enabled him to survive. Told with humility, grace, and humor, it is a story of three imperfect men who faced adversity and emerged with their honor intact. It is a story to inspire and instruct, one that shows what fathers give to their sons, and what, ultimately, endures.

We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam

Harold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harper Amazon Marketplace: 65 new & used starting at $12.96

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> Vietnam -> General
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> Vietnam -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Military -> United States -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In their stunning follow-up to the classic bestseller We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young, Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway return to Vietnam and reflect on how the war changed them, their men, their enemies, and both countries—often with surprising results.

More than fifteen years since its original publication, the number one New York Times bestseller We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young is still required reading in all branches of the military. Now Moore and Galloway revisit their relationships with ten American veterans of the battle—men such as Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley and helicopter pilot Bruce "Old Snake" Crandall—as well as Lt. Gen. Nguyen Hu An, who commanded the North Vietnamese Army troops on the other side, and two of his old company commanders. These men and their countries have all changed dramatically since the first head-on collision between the two great armies back in November 1965.

Traveling back to the red-dirt battlefields, commanders and veterans from both sides make the long and difficult journey from old enemies to new friends. After a trip in a Russian-made helicopter to the Ia Drang Valley in the Central Highlands, with the Vietnamese pilots using Moore's vintage U.S. Army maps and Galloway's Boy Scout compass to guide them, they reach the hallowed ground where so many died. All the men are astonished at how nature has reclaimed the land once scarred by bullets, napalm, and blood. As darkness falls, the unthinkable happens—the authors and many of their old comrades are stranded overnight, alone, left to confront the ghosts of the departed among the termite hills and creek bed.

Moore and Galloway combine gritty and vivid detail with reverence and respect for their comrades. Their ability to capture man's sense of heroism and brotherhood, their love for their men and their former enemies, and their fascination with the history of this enigmatic country make for riveting reading. With sixteen pages of photos, tributes to departed friends and loved ones, and General Moore's reflections on lessons learned throughout his military career, We Are Soldiers Still puts a human face on warfare in a way that will not soon be forgotten.

The Best and the Brightest

David Halberstam, John S. McCain

By: Random House Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $129.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> 20th Century -> General
Subjects -> History -> Military -> Vietnam War

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 59 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

History repeating itself 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I read this book for the first time over ten years ago and returned to it for the bitter relevancy it has as I reflect on our situation in Iraq today.

The Best and the Brightest 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is an important book for anyone interested in how the US became inextricably involved in Vietnam. It holds pertinent lessons for the predicament in which the US now finds itself in Iraq. Unfortunately, the book requires a determined reader to plow through some 650 pages of close-spaced narrative, as the author frequently diverges on tangents that drift away from his main thesis points. A principal thrust of the book is the influence of key players on the decision-making process and their inter-personal relationships. Accordingly, there is substantial biographical information, which is interesting, but distracting. This is not a military history; very little mention is made of the operational and tactical aspects of the conflict.

Editorial Review:

David Halberstam’s masterpiece, the defining history of the making of the Vietnam tragedy, with a new Foreword by Senator John McCain.

Using portraits of America’s flawed policy makers and accounts of the forces that drove them, The Best and the Brightest reckons magnificently with the most important abiding question of our country’s recent history: Why did America become mired in Vietnam, and why did we lose? As the definitive single-volume answer to that question, this enthralling book has never been superseded. It is an American classic.

The Bridge at Dong Ha (Bluejacket Books)

John Grider Miller

Amazon Price: $12.89 List Price: $18.95 Usually ships in 2 to 5 weeks By: US Naval Institute Press Amazon Marketplace: 3 new & used starting at $11.75

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> Southeast Asia
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> Vietnam -> General
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> Vietnam -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A "Well Done" Presentation of A Marine Legend 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This is one of the best written "Marine Legend" books that this former Marine has ever read.

John Grider Miller did an excellent job of interviewing Colonel (then Captain) John Ripley and his other sources. He presents what Colonel Ripley, his U.S. Army counterpart Major Jim Smock, and the Vietnamese Marines did at Dong Ha in 1972 in a fascinating story that is a quick and easy read. He also includes some of those intangible details that civilians may not notice, but that any Marine who served in Vietnam (or anywhere else) will recognize and appreciate.

Colonel Ripley's exploits are legendary in the U.S. Marine Corps. So too the courage of those Vietnamese Marines he served with as a "trusted friend" on that Easter Sunday. Colonel Ripley's visit to the gravesite near Di An tells it all. The bond between these "brothers in arms" was formed by honor, courage, commitment, mutual respect and sacrifice.

This book is on the Commandant's Reading list for all Marines, Private through General. And rightly so. It sets the standard high for all of us. It has an honored place in the "Read Again" section of my personal library.

Editorial Review:

In his desperate attempt to blow up the bridge at Dong Ha and keep some 30,000 men and 200 tanks at bay, Ripley endured three hours of direct fire to rig some 500 pounds of explosives. Such a story of raw courage and personal resolve is rarely encountered.

We were Soldiers Once...And Young: Ia Drang--The Battle That Changed The War In Vietnam

Harold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway

Amazon Price: $18.45 List Price: $27.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Amazon Marketplace: 66 new & used starting at $8.94

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> Southeast Asia
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> Vietnam -> General
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> Vietnam -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 250 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Each year, the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps selects one book that he believes is both relevant and timeless for reading by all Marines. The Commandant's choice for 1993 was We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young.
In November 1965, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War.
How these men persevered--sacrificed themselves for their comrades and never gave up--makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating. General Moore and Joseph Galloway, the only journalist on the ground throughout the fighting, have interviewed hundreds of men who fought there, including the North Vietnamese commanders. This devastating account rises above the specific ordeal it chronicles to present a picture of men facing the ultimate challenge, dealing with it in ways they would have found unimaginable only a few hours earlier. It reveals to us, as rarely before, man's most heroic and horrendous endeavor.

Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills

Charles Henderson

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Berkley Trade Amazon Marketplace: 59 new & used starting at $5.19

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Leaders & Notable People -> Military -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Leaders & Notable People -> Military -> General AAS
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Professionals & Academics -> Military & Spies

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 212 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great read 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I was in the Marine Corp in the late 60s but was fortunate not to make a tour in Nam. Lost quite a few good friends over there.

Saw this book mentioned on the web and couldn't wait to get it. A great moving story of someone we should be grateful to. Many men and women sacrificed their lives for us back here. Just hope people appreciate it.

Couldn't put it down. Well written and enlightening.

Wally

Editorial Review:

In the chaos of the combat zone, there are the living, the dead, and the Ghost.

In the ongoing Iraq conflict, there are no battle lines, no direct offensives, no ground won or lost––just the daily fight against an enemy who hits and runs, hides and sneaks. If the enemy shows himself, it’s only for a moment. But for a Marine Sniper, that is all that is needed.

Readers now have the opportunity, from these warriors’ perspective, to peer into the killing zone through a telescopic lens, down the barrel of a high-powered rifle, and into the very heart of the enemy. The training, the techniques, and the steel will necessary to survive as a sniper are all described in vivid detail.

Charles Henderson also delves into the core of the enemy––the maniacal ideology, and the tactics that have sown so much violence in Iraq––and how they are all vulnerable to a single bullet from a Ghost.

An Enormous Crime: The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia

Bill Hendon, Elizabeth A. Stewart

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: St. Martin's Griffin Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $9.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> Southeast Asia
Subjects -> History -> Military -> United States -> General
Subjects -> History -> Military -> United States -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
An Enormous Crime is nothing less than shocking. Based on thousands of pages of public and previously classified documents, it makes an utterly convincing case that when the American government withdrew its forces from Vietnam, it knowingly abandoned hundreds of POWs to their fate. The product of twenty-five years of research by former Congressman Bill Hendon and attorney Elizabeth A. Stewart, this book brilliantly reveals the reasons why these American soldiers and airmen were held back by the North Vietnamese at Operation Homecoming in 1973, what these brave men have endured, and how administration after administration of their own government has turned its back on them.
            This authoritative exposé is based on open-source documents and reports, and thousands of declassified intelligence reports and satellite imagery, as well as author interviews and personal experience. An Enormous Crime is a singular work, telling a story unlike any other in our history: ugly, harrowing, and true.

Dispatches

Michael Herr

Amazon Price: $11.16 List Price: $13.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Vintage Amazon Marketplace: 118 new & used starting at $3.09

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> Southeast Asia
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Military -> Vietnam War

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 107 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Gift of Ignorance 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Fortunately I did not buy this book, it was given to me. Unfortunately I felt obliged to read it, and found it worth less than I had paid for it. I was so amazed by the how bad it was I read the whole thing, to see if it could maintain its low level of literary merit, I think it actually got worse. I would not normally bother to write a review on this book, but out of curiosity I looked at the reviews and thought ????. This is not James Joyce, or William Faulkner, this is Michael Herr, trying to get a little more fame and money out of his 18 months in Viet Nam. The only thing notable about this book is that he has managed in only 260 pages, to include every possible stereotype, caricature, and misconception there was, concerning the war and the solders. And then to read the reviews, Michael is not opening his heart to the reader he is trying very successfully to make some money. That he was in Viet Nam for so long a time and never talks of the people that live there shows how much he really cares. There are a lot of books about the Viet Nam War, many of them good, few of them as bad as this. To believe this is the way things were requires the reader to active want it to be so.

Editorial Review:

"He seems to have brought to this book the ear of a musician and the eye of a painter . . . the premier war correspondence of Vietnam."--Washington Post. "The best book I have ever read on men and war in our time."--John le Carre." . . . Dispatches puts the rest of us in the shade."--Hunter S. Thompson.

We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: Ia Drang - the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam

Harold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway

Amazon Price: $12.24 List Price: $18.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Presidio Press Amazon Marketplace: 53 new & used starting at $5.84

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> Vietnam -> General
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> Vietnam -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Military -> Vietnam War

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Each year, the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps selects one book that he believes is both relevant and timeless for reading by all Marines. The Commandant's choice for 1993 was We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young.
In November 1965, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War.
How these men persevered--sacrificed themselves for their comrades and never gave up--makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating. General Moore and Joseph Galloway, the only journalist on the ground throughout the fighting, have interviewed hundreds of men who fought there, including the North Vietnamese commanders. This devastating account rises above the specific ordeal it chronicles to present a picture of men facing the ultimate challenge, dealing with it in ways they would have found unimaginable only a few hours earlier. It reveals to us, as rarely before, man's most heroic and horrendous endeavor.


From the Hardcover edition.