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| Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 30 reviews)
Sales Rank: 106756
Category: Book
Author: Christian G. Appy
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 608
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.4
ISBN: 0142004499
Dewey Decimal Number: 959.70430922
EAN: 9780142004494
ASIN: 0142004499
Publication Date: September 28, 2004
Release Date: September 28, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Christian G. Appy?s monumental oral history of the Vietnam War is the first work to probe the war?s path through both the United States and Vietnam. These vivid testimonies of 135 men and women span the entire history of the Vietnam conflict, from its murky origins in the 1940s to the chaotic fall of Saigon in 1975. Sometimes detached and reflective, often raw and emotional, they allow us to see and feel what this war meant to people literally on all sides?Americans and Vietnamese, generals and grunts, policymakers and protesters, guerrillas and CIA operatives, pilots and doctors, artists and journalists, and a variety of ordinary citizens whose lives were swept up in a cataclysm that killed three million people. By turns harrowing, inspiring, and revelatory, Patriots is not a chronicle of facts and figures but a vivid human history of the war.
Amazon.com Review
Christian Appy?s Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides is an oral history that serves as a "final public record" from many who have struggled publicly with the war for 20 or 30 years. The book is also a monumental effort to capture voices long unheard and ensure that the words are not lost to a new generation. He includes statements from significant political and military figures from both sides of the conflict, including William Westmoreland, Alexander Haig, Nikita Kruschev's son Sergei, and Vice President Nguyen Thi Bihn. But he tempers these with the voices of a World Airways stewardess who accompanied troops out of the war zone, of the widow of the immolated Norman Morrison, and of numerous Vietnamese and American non-combatants whose lives were torn by the conflagration. These tales, and the contributions from poets, writers, and activists transform the book into a epic dialogue. Indeed, Appy says that he chose the title Patriots not out of a presumed understanding of how that word should be defined, but rather because it served as a locus for so many of the inner struggles of his interviewees: "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." Patriots is a book that will reawaken memories--horrific and jubilant--for those who lived through the troubled 1960s and 1970s; and for those just coming to understand the war, it will make vivid the trials of a different time and place. This is a lasting, powerful book that's essential reading for students of the Vietnam conflict. --Patrick O?Kelley
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| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
 Down from the skies October 19, 2008
A number of things jumped out at me reading this book. Westmoreland and Rostow still don't get it. Maybe it's too painful to reevaluate and admit your mistakes caused so much death. Several pilots, who never seem to have gotten to know Vietnam, also don't get it. How could they with all the time they put in drinking? The closer you were to the real world of Vietnam the more likely you were to see what was happening, and the reality changed a number of hawks into doves. I was most impressed by the analyses of both Jonathan Schell and Daniel Ellsberg. Schell for his idea of the US as a kind of domino, the need to show strength in a nuclear world. And Ellsberg for the way he connects Watergate, Nixon's paranoia and Vietnam. Everyone should read this book. It's pretty clear the application of a military solution to Vietnam was a huge mistake. I took the point of view that anyone who disagreed with this idea, so many years later, had some kind of blinders on and it was interesting to figure out what they were.
 Flawed but Brilliant May 4, 2008
The scope and richness of this book's personal accounts are breathtaking and unparalleled in prior Vietnam histories. It's based on 350 interviews from around the world over a period of years, 2/3 of which had to be cut to keep the book manageable - on effort alone, Mr. Appy could be applauded. Whatever your viewpoint going in, you'll find yourself reconsidering at least some of it - the book is full of contradictory viewpoints and nuances which defeat the human tendency to try to simplify complex subjects. And the history of Vietnam in the last half of the twentieth century is far more complex than portrayed in movies and most media.
A sincere effort is made to represent multiple viewpoints but Mr. Appy ultimately fails to achieve complete balance. You'll find not only more interviews from Northern soldiers, VC and anti-war protesters, but they're generally longer and more detailed. There's virtually no representation from Southern soldiers, little coverage of Sino-Soviet involvement (leaving the distinct impression it was irrelevant, or exaggerated by the evil Americans), and only brief references to the hardships of post-war Communist "re-education" in Vietnam. The brutality of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia is covered, but in the context of repeatedly blaming US bombings as enabling their rise. This was one factor, but the many others are mentioned only in passing leaving the impression the US was the principal cause of the genocide of 1.5 million Cambodians, rather than Communist fanatics and their financial supporters. That's a bit like blaming Allied bombings for Hitler killing 6 million Jews.
The coverage of anti-war protesters is positive to the point of imbalance. It legitimately describes government abuses but omits the movement's own serious abuses. For example, VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against the War) efforts are discussed in the context of fighting government lies and coverups, without mentioning the fake soldiers they fed to the media citing atrocities in Vietnam, men who'd never served in Vietnam or even in the military in several cases. Appy himself in one of his unattributed intros appears to absolve protester wrongdoings, by mentioning FBI infiltrators encouraging "wild and violent actions that top FBI officials thought would tarnish the movement's reputation...". Yet in contrast, while rightly criticizing the Chicago police's brutal overreactions at the Democratic Party convention, the violent leftist instigators go completely unmentioned, people whose actions led directly to many serious injuries, and who then openly bragged about it. Appy's worldview appears to be that everything bad is the American government's fault. Having said that, the depth of coverage of the anti-war movement is also one of the book's real strengths, capturing the genuine moral and ethical turmoil faced by individuals and families in a way not generally seen before.
None of these qualms should keep you away from this book. No historian is entirely immune from his or her own personal biases, and Chris Appy is human like the rest of us. At the end of the day this book is a masterpiece. It shouldn't be your only source on the Vietnam war, but will be a fantastic contribution to your understanding, especially of the human impacts of war.
Brilliant! April 10, 2008
This wonderful book portrays a truth we don't often hear about. In the words of the people who lived it, Appy gives us the 360 degree portrait of the Vietnam War (or the "American War" if you are Vietnamese). It is the first book you should read as an entry point to the war, and perhaps the only one you will ever need if not an academic. (Next should be Dispatches which hits you on an equally viceral level)
This book literally changed my life, and turned a persistent interest in the war into a passion.
Excellent First-Hand Narratives February 25, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book combines and sorts through the complex history of the Vietnam War by using first-hand narratives. Hearing the voice of the people is sometimes the easiest way to understand the era and the conflict. Many voices from all sides and occupations are given from the more prominent to those who are not so well known. Very interesting and easy to read. Great for research or as a stimulating read.
Surprised!! September 25, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Well, my professor made it a requirement for the class to purchase this book for class discussions. I do not have to tell you that I was HOT, this book is in addition to the 3 books we purchased that the school requires (as we all know school books are not cheap).
Not only was I mad that I had to purchase this book, but the class is called hist 450 (the 1960's), my professor informs us that we would primarily focus on The Vietnam War. I knew the Vietnam War would of course be covered, but so many other things happened in the 60s; assassinations, sit-ins, 68 elections, etc.. Well to my ignorant surprise this book and this class has been the most interesting and entertaining of all my classes throughout my college career.
This book is oral history. The book is a compilation of people who fought, were affected or affected the war. They tell what they did and what they saw. I saw the war from a whole other side. Wonderful book, very well written and a must read.
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