|
Books > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > From 1900
Joseph A. Fry's Letters from the Southern Home Front explores the
diversity of public opinion on the Vietnam War within the American
South. Fry examines correspondence sent by hundreds of individuals,
of differing ages, genders, racial backgrounds, political views,
and economic status, reflecting a broad swath of the southern
population. These letters, addressed to high-profile political
figures and influential newspapers, took up a myriad of war-related
issues. Their messages enhance our understanding of the South and
the United States as a whole as we continue to grapple with the
significance of this devastating and divisive conflict.
In January 1969, one of the most promising young lieutenant colonels the U.S. Army had ever seen touched down in Vietnam for his second tour of duty, which would turn out to be his most daring and legendary. David H. Hackworth had just completed the writing of a tactical handbook for the Pentagon, and now he had been ordered to put his counterguerilla-fighting theories into action. He was given the morale-drained 4/39th -- a battalion of poorly led draftees suffering the Army's highest casualty rate and considered its worst fighting battalion. Hackworth's hard-nosed, inventive and inspired leadership quickly turned the 4/39th into Vietnam's valiant and ferocious Hardcore Recondos. Drawing on interviews with soldiers from the Hardcore Battalion conducted over the past decade by his partner and coauthor, Eilhys England, Hackworth takes readers along on their sniper missions, ambush actions, helicopter strikes and inside the quagmire of command politics. With Steel My Soldiers' Hearts, Hackworth places the brotherhood of the 4/39th into the pantheon of our nation's most heroic warriors.
By the end of the American war in Vietnam, the coastal province of
Phu Yen was one of the least-secure provinces in the Republic of
Vietnam. It was also a prominent target of the American strategy of
pacification - an effort, purportedly separate and distinct from
conventional warfare, to win the 'hearts and minds' of the
Vietnamese. In Robert J. Thompson III's analysis, the consistent,
and consistently unsuccessful, struggle to place Phu Yen under
Saigon's banner makes the province particularly fertile ground for
studying how the Americans advanced pacification and why this
effort ultimately failed. In March 1970, a disastrous military
engagement began in Phu Yen, revealing the enemy's continued
presence after more than three years of pacification. Clear, Hold,
and Destroy provides a fresh perspective on the war across multiple
levels, from those making and implementing policy to those affected
by it. Most pointedly, Thompson contends that pacification, far
from existing apart from conventional warfare, actually depended on
conventional military forces for its application. His study reaches
back into Phu Yen's storied history with pacification before and
during the French colonial period, then focuses on the province
from the onset of the American War in 1965 to its conclusion in
1975. A sharply focused, fine-grained analysis of one critical
province during the Vietnam War, Thompson's work demonstrates how
pacification is better understood as the foundation of U.S.
fighting in Vietnam.
OFFICIAL TIE-IN TO THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE 12 STRONG, STARRING
CHRIS HEMSWORTH On September 11th, 2001 the world watched in
terror. On September 12th, 2001 they volunteered to fight. Twelve
soldiers gave us a reason to hope. THE DECLASSIFIED TRUE STORY OF
THE HORSE SOLDIERS. This is the dramatic account of a small band of
Special Forces soldiers who entered Afghanistan immediately
following September 11, 2001 and, riding to war on horses, defeated
the Taliban. Outnumbered 40 to 1, they capture the strategic Afghan
city of Mazar-e Sharif, and thereby effectively defeat the Taliban
throughout the rest of the country. They are welcomed as liberators
as they ride on horses into the city, the streets thronged with
Afghans overjoyed that the Taliban have been kicked out. The
soldiers rest easy, as they feel they have accomplished their
mission. And then, the action takes a wholly unexpected turn.
During a surrender of Taliban troops, the Horse Soldiers are
ambushed by the would-be P.O.W.s and, still dangerously
outnumbered, they must fight for their lives in the city's ancient
fortress known as Qala-I Janghi, or the House of War . . . Praise
for Doug Stanton:- 'A thrilling action ride of a book.' New York
Times 'As gripping as the most intricately-plotted thriller.' Vince
Flynn 'A riveting story of the brave and resourceful American
warriors who rode into Afghanistan after 9/11 and waged war against
Al Qaeda.' Tom Brokaw 'This reads like a cross between an
old-fashioned Western and a modern spy thriller.' Parade Magazine
'Spellbinding...action-packed prose. The book reads more like a
novel.' USA Today
In 1963, a frustrated President Kennedy turned to the Pentagon for help in carrying out subversive operations against North Vietnam- a job the CIA had not managed to handle effectively. Thus was born the Pentagon's Special Operations Group(SOG). Under the cover name"Studies and Observation Group," SOG would, over the next eight years, dispatch numerous spies to North Vietnam, create a triple-cross deception program, wage psychological warfare by manipulating North Vietnamese POW's and kidnapped citizens, and stage deadly assaults on enemy soldiers traveling the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Written by the country's leading expert on SOG, here is the story of that covert war-one that would have both spectacular and disastrous results.
|
|