Taking the reader in the mountains and forests that the Americans called 'Indian country,' Stevens presents the Viet Nam War as an extension of the romantic myth of the American frontier. In seven operations on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the reader enters an exotic, exhilarating, terrifying world. Documented by military reports, Steven's powerful and poetic prose and his complex examination of the Viet Nam War elevate his Trail journey into the realm of myth.

An action-filled memoir by Medal of Honor recipient Bennie Adkins, whose heroic deeds as a Green Beret in Vietnam in March 1966 became legend in the Army For four days in early March 1966, then-sergeant Bennie Adkins and sixteen other Green Berets held their undermanned and unfortified position at Camp A Shau, a small training and reconnaissance camp located right next to the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail, North Vietnam's major supply route. Surrounded 10-to-1, the Green Berets endured constant mortar and rifle fire, treasonous allies, and a violent jungle rain storm. But there was one among them who battled ferociously, like a tiger, and, when they finally evacuated, carried the wounded to safety. Forty-eight years later, Bennie Adkins's valor was recognized when he received this nation's highest military award. A Tiger among Us tells the story of how this small group of warriors out-fought and out-maneuvered their enemies, how a remarkable number of them lived to tell about it, and how that tiger became their savior. It is also the tale of how Adkins repeatedly risked his life to help save his fellow warriors through acts of bravery and ingenuity. Filled with the sights, smells, and sounds of a raging battle fought in the middle of a tropical forest, A Tiger among Us is alive with the emotional intensity of the besieged men as they lose many of their own while inflicting incredible losses on the North Vietnamese forces. A US pilot flying over the post-battle carnage described it as a "Wall of Death." A Tiger among Us is a riveting tale of bravery, valor, skill, resilience, and perhaps just plain luck, brought to vivid life through the oral histories of Adkins and five of his fellow soldiers who fought in the Battle of A Shau.

Why did the USA become involved in Vietnam? What led US policy makers to become convinced that Vietnam posed a threat to American interests? In The Road to Vietnam, Pablo de Orellana traces the origins of the US-Vietnam War back to 1945-1948 and the diplomatic relations fostered in this period between the US, France and Vietnam, during the First Vietnam War that pitted imperial France against the anti-colonial Vietminh rebel alliance. With specific focus on the representation of the parties involved through the processes of diplomatic production, the book examines how the groundwork was laid for the US-Vietnam War of the 60's and 70's. Examining the France-Vietminh conflict through poststructuralist and postcolonial lenses, de Orellana reveals the processes by which the US and France built up the perception of Vietnam as a communist threat. Drawing on archival diplomatic texts, the representation of political identity between diplomatic actors is examined as a cause leading up to American involvement in the First Vietnam War, and will be sure to interest scholars in the fields of fields of diplomatic studies, international relations, diplomatic history and Cold War history.