Among the many horrors of the Vietnam War, some of the most brutal
and, until now, least documented were the experiences of the
American prisoners of war, many of whom endured the longest wartime
captivity, of any POWs in U.S. history. With this book, two of the
most respected scholars in the field offer a comprehensive,
balanced, and authoritative account of what happened to the nearly
eight hundred Americans captured in Southeast Asia. The authors
were granted unprecedented access to previously unreleased
materials and interviewed over a hundred former POWs, enabling them
to meticulously reconstruct the captivity record as well as produce
an evocative narrative of a once sketchy and misunderstood, yet key
chapter of the war. Powerful and moving in its portrayal of how men
sought to cope with physical and psychological ordeals under the
most adverse conditions, this landmark study separates fact from
fiction. Its analysis of the shifting tactics and temperaments of
captive and captor as the war evolved skillfully weaves domestic
political developments and battlefield action with prison scenes
that alternate between Hanoi's concrete cells, South Vietnam's
jungle stockades, and mountain camps in Laos. Giving due praise but
never shirking from criticism, the authors describe in gripping
detail dozens of cases of individual courage and resistance from
celebrated heroes like Jim Stockdale, Robinson Risner, Jeremiah
Denton, Bud Day, and Nick Rowe to lesser known legends like Major
Ray Schrump and Medal of Honor winner Donald Cook. Along with epic
accounts of endurance under torture, breathtaking escape attempts,
and remarkable prisoner communication efforts, they also reveal
Code of Conduct lapses and instances of outright collaboration with
the enemy. Published twenty-five years after Operation Homecoming,
which brought home 591 POWs from Vietnam, this tour-de-force
history is a compelling and important work that serves as a
testament to tile courage, faith, and will of Americans in
captivity, as well as a reminder of the sometimes impossible
demands made on U.S. servicemen under the Code of Conduct in
prisoner of war situations. It is vividly illustrated with maps,
prisoners' renderings of camps and torture techniques, and dozens
of photographs, many never before published. d and shameful
conditions. It includes insightful analyses of the circumstances
and conditions of captivity and its varying effects on the
prisoners, the strategies and tactics of captors and captives, the
differences between captivity in North and South Vietnam and
between Laos and Vietnam, and analysis of the quality of the source
materials for this and other works on the subject.
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