Latest Book Received

OTB wrote:Two new books that arrived today from England:



Peter Clark was deployed with the 1st Infantry Division in 1966. This one looks like it is full of action and has various sketches he drew out in the field.

Wayne,

Not sure if you have read this yet you may be disappointed!

This book comes in the genre I call MVM, My Vietnam Memoir, and these days are "a dime a dozen"!.

Clark was a RTO for his Company commander for half his tour so only really saw the battles from that angle.

The book is the usual MVM layout:

1. Before I joined
2. Signing up
3. Recruit camp
4. Initial training
5. Going to Vietnam
6. First days
7. Couple of small battles
8. R&R and getting laid
9. Back for a few more small battles
10. One big battle
11. Trip home, in this case to a hospital in Michigan

The last big chapter on the Battle of Xom Bo II does have some highlights but you can get a good book about that battle alone for a couple of $$'s on Kindle.

The sketches are his, line sketches of him and his mates, no maps, etc.

There are many better than this one.

Ken

No worries Ken. I guess the guy from Barney the Dinosaur is going to have to make up for it by having a better than average memoir.

OTB wrote:No worries Ken. I guess the guy from Barney the Dinosaur is going to have to make up for it by having a better than average memoir.

Just arrived in the mail from Paris:





Histoire & Collections have been publishing great uniform guides since the 1990s. Their works on the French Army are definitive and their Militaria magazine is also worth checking out, so I was pleased to see these two books in their catalogue, which are also available in English ("US Forces In Vietnam 1962-1967" and "US Forces In Vietnam 1968-1975").



The thing I find frustrating about the Osprey books is that you are at the mercy of an artist's impression - with these photos you can see exactly what colour the uniforms are. The uniforms, webbing and equipment in the photos are all actual Vietnam era ones, although some of the weapons are replicas.

There is a very interesting range of uniforms here, and the photos are well posed, so you can get front and rear views of how things were carried.

Now THOSE are some really interesting finds! Would be super useful to sculptors, that's for sure.

Christmas time finds:

The latest batch of books:



I was very pleased to get this one at a reasonable price - it's hard to get and exchanges hands for crazy money on-line.





Written by a gunship pilot - looks like a good read.

And, from 1966:

An angry novel that will shock America? Oh my, I sure hope it lives up to that big boast!

That's a really great haul you have there. The book on Mary Ann is just sad, so much incompetence and just so much that went wrong. It is sort of written as a bit of a lambaste though, rather than purely factual. Still, textbook example of what can happen when sappers are able get in and do their dirty work.

Just picked this up from Amazon.ca. "Viet Cong: Charlie and His Deadly Tricks". Basically it's a cover to cover book with info, diagrams and photos about booby traps, tunnels and guerilla tactics". Not really sure if it's something I'd "read" per se, but a great reference/resource book.

Looks useful.

Recent finds: I got all of these for $5 or less, apart from this one:



There are lots of good details for games in this one:









And this is an interesting find: it focuses on the 1970s and features various B-grade films I have never seen:

OOooooo, The Team looks like a GREAT find!

It was written by an Australian adviser so it looks like a no-bullshit history. I am interested to see what he says about the Tiger Man, as there is a whole chapter on him.

So that's where all the good Nam books went. To your end of the globe.

I found some of these at a local charity book fair and some at a local second-hand book shop. More to come soon. The big annual Red Cross book fair is coming up at a stadium in the big smoke in the neighbouring district - I usually find at least a dozen Vietnam War books there. I couldn't go last year because my wargaming buddy was ill (he's my driver) but it looks like he's raring to go this time.

Latest find:

Three recent finds:

A couple of new finds:



A book of poetry by an NZ veteran.



Associated Press's history of the Vietnam War - lots of good photos.

My latest acquisitions:

Some Vietnamese books found in Hanoi:



Collection of Short Stories about Events and Characters in the Vietnam War




Saigon 105 degrees Fahrenheit




Eastern Region Soldiers - curiously, it looks like they used Airfix 8th Army infantry and a Panzer IV for the ground forces on the cover  




The Vietnamese edition of Bao Ninh's most recently published collection short stories in English.

And these were found at a local second-hand bookstore



This was one of the very first books I read about the Vietnam War, back in the 1980s.



And I haven't read this one, so it's a good companion to "A Rumor Of War".

These all look really interesting. I'd love to know the NVA point of view, and see how it compares to what we have read or been told.

Darby wrote:These all look really interesting.  I'd love to know the NVA point of view, and see how it compares to what we have read or been told.

Hey Darby,

Try looking for this book:

Title: Victory in Vietnam
Sub-title: The official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954-1975
Author: The Military Institute of Vietnam
(Translated by Merle L. Pribbenow)
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0-7006-1175-4

It is a bit dry and of course a story told by the "victors" but still a good read to understand things from the other side.

[quote="TailEndCharles"]

Darby wrote:

Title: Victory in Vietnam
Sub-title: The official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954-1975
Author: The Military Institute of Vietnam
(Translated by Merle L. Pribbenow)
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0-7006-1175-4

It is a bit dry and of course a story told by the "victors" but still a good read to understand things from the other side.