Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides [Anglais] [Broché]

Most refreshing to me is seeing the pro-West South Vietnamese perspective. I found the South Vietnamese Diplomat who specialized in trying to sell the war to Americans and the captured ARVN commando most intriguing. But there is more. Appy has samples of the whole spectrum. You can find high ranking pro war, low level anti war, communists, republican (South Vietnamese that is), soldier, guerilla, pilot, etc. You name the type of person, he/she is probably represented.....except for parties from the Free World Forces (Korea, Australia, Thailand, etc that also fought in the war). Still, this is a pretty minor omission.

I docked this book one star. To say Mr. Appy is biased is too harsh. I think its better to say has bought into the notion the US/Republic of Vietnam war effort was pointless. Ive seen Appy do a few interviews on TV. He always states the South lost because they were just puppets dependent on foreigners to keep them afloat (which ignores the fact that AK47s dont grow on trees and the Chinese Army units that garrisoned the North to free up NVA units going South were far from home grown). This attitude can also be found in the book. A good example is a footnote of Appy's that reinforces a Communist Vietnamese source's notion that Korean troops were just mercenaries. I am plugged into the Korean community and know quite a few of their Vietnam Vets. Money (in the form of US aid) was a very minor consideration in their participation. Despite this, Appy gives all sides a voice in his book. For this, he should be commended!

His coverage is indeed comprehensive, reaching all the way from the vapors of the late 1940s almost into the present. We find conversations and comments from people from all walks of life, from presiding generals like William Westmoreland to obscure stewardesses (even that term is dated, as they now are universally referred to as flight attendants), from politicians like blowhard Alexander Haig (remember "I am in control here"?) to the very grunts who dragged themselves and their buddies who hacked their way past the rotting jungle and raging rivers through the South Asian mud. There are voices from every side, from the son of former Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev to former South Vietnamese Vice President Thu Bihn to former war resisters and anti-war activists. Indeed, the book attempts quite admirably to cover all the colors and hues of a multifaceted phenomenon that was the war in Vietnam.

As such, the work is a valuable resource for those who honestly want to understand what all the tumult over the war I Vietnam was in the 1960s. Certainly it is difficult for the later generations to understand the significance of the draft, given the fact that they have been raised in a country that now uses an all-volunteer force, one in which such conflicts pose no personal risk to them or their families. As such, the book does indeed serve as a formalized source for reference and discussion over what the war in Vietnam was all about, what the turmoil in this country over our involvement sprang from, and how it was finally resolved, albeit to no one's satisfaction. In using the emotionally freighted term of "patriots" he also calls attention to the current tendency to believe any dissent is anti-American as a patent falsehood, that indeed, such active voices of dissent are critical to the survival of the republic. To quote the author himself, he was interested in discovering and discussing "in what ways might patriotism be a force for good or inspire noble sacrifice, and when does it become a club for stifling dissent and a rallying cry for unjustifiable destruction?" This is a pertinent question for our troubled times. Enjoy!