Hue 1968

Praise for Hue 1968 An Amazon Best Book of the Month in history An extraordinary feat of journalism . . . Through his scrupulous day-by-day reconstruction of this battle, Bowden encapsulates the essential lessons of the Vietnam War, lessons that we seemingly forgot when conducting our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, lessons we need to go over now so that we never forget them again . . . Bowden undertakes this task with the talent and sensibility of a master journalist who is also a humanist and an honest man . . . the book is full of emotion and color . . . Here the best and worst of human behavior is exposed in glaring light. You will find the reading gripping. --Karl Marlantes, Wall Street Journal A remarkable book. --Dave Davies, NPR's Fresh Air A masterful blood-and-guts account of the decisive battle in the Vietnam War . . . The heart and soul of Hue 1968 lies with its vivid and often wrenching descriptions of the 'storm of war' as soldiers and South Vietnamese citizens experienced it. --Minneapolis Star-Tribune Bowden's excellent Hue 1968 . . . gives us the clearest picture yet of what happened in Vietnam and in Hue, where today tourists casually shoot pictures where murderous shots once were fired. --USA Today, **** out of four stars An extraordinary account of the most important and costly battle of the Vietnam War. --Don McCullin, legendary photojournalist who covered the Battle of Hue In this meticulous retelling of one critical battle, Mark Bowden captures the nuanced and often invisible threads of America's political, military and cultural blindness in Vietnam. Hue 1968 is the new classic about America's Vietnam War. --Elizabeth Becker, author of When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution A stirring history of the 1968 battle that definitively turned the Vietnam War into an American defeat . . . Building on portraits of combatants on all sides, Bowden delivers an anecdotally rich, careful account of the complex campaign to take the city. One of the best books on a single action in Vietnam, written by a tough, seasoned journalist who brings the events of a half-century past into sharp relief. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) An epic masterpiece of heroism and sacrifice, and a testament to the tragic futility of the American experience in Vietnam. --Booklist (starred review) Excellent . . . Bowden has done a superb job of telling the story as he did with Black Hawk Down. --Washington Times In his monumental new book, Bowden . . . gives voice to dozens, including Nguyen Quang Ha, whose five-man team emerged from underground caves to strike the first blow for North Vietnamese forces, Bob Thompson, a career marine officer charged with taking back the US stronghold at the Citadel, President Lyndon Johnson and General William Westmoreland in Washington, DC and reporters David Halberstam, Michael Herr, Gene Roberts, Walter Cronkite and others who changed the way Americans perceived the war. --Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com Hue 1968 unravels one of the great mysteries of our time--how a puny force of North Vietnam regulars and local sympathizers could without warning occupy South Vietnam's second largest city, hold it for a month, then disappear into the mountains, beyond reach and largely unbloodied. It turns out the force wasn't puny, but fanatical warriors who gripped their prey by the throat and wouldn't let go. They were unfazed by waves of counter-attackers, Vietnamese and American soldiers, but mostly Marines rushed in to defeat them. Hue 1968 shows the enormous challenges facing both sides and how they overcame them, or tried to. Did the Battle of Hue end up as a victory or defeat? The answer depends on who's asking and who's telling. Bowden takes on both roles and does it well. --Lieutenant Colonel Charles A. Krohn (ret.), author of The Lost Battalion of Tet Hue 1968 is, by far, the most comprehensive (and balanced) coverage on this battle I've seen. Like never before, I've come to realize how narrow a perspective we low-level participants unavoidably had. While giving due respect to the abilities, actions and fighting spirit of the U.S. and ARVN Marines and soldiers who participated, Mark Bowden brought clarity to the larger intelligence, political and strategic shortcomings that made the prosecution of this battle so much more challenging and costly than it needed to be. --Brigadier General Mike Downs, USMC (ret.) The longest and fiercest fighting of the Tet Offensive took place in and around Hue in early 1968 where Communist North Vietnam suffered a terrible military defeat. Yet the fight for Hue became a political victory for the leaders of North Vietnam and a turning point for US involvement and support for the war. Through searing personal accounts of many on both sides who were there, Mark Bowden reveals the intensity of the fighting. Relying on archival documents now available after 50 years, he also examines the considerations and decisions of political and military leaders at the highest levels. This book is a tragic tale of misunderstanding but also one of great heroism and sacrifice by those who fought in the streets of Hue and in the nearby rice paddies and villages. --Brigadier General Howard T. Prince II, USMC (ret.), Commanding Officer, Bravo Company, 5/7 Cavalry, 1968 Mark Bowden uniquely describes the battle from both sides of the front lines and vividly captures the remarkable courage and valor of those that participated in the crucible of war that was Hue City in January to March 1968. Surely to be an historical standard for the recollection of that Tet 1968 battle. --Colonel Chuck Meadows, USMC (ret.), Former Commanding Officer of Golf Company 2ndBn 5thMar I am a US Marine Vietnam veteran who participated as a tank crewmen in the Tet 1968 battle for Hue City. I have read just about every written account of the month-long battle, and I have to say that all of the other well-written, well-documented accounts of the battle pale in comparison to Mark Bowden's Hue 1968. There is no more complete, accurate and detailed book. It reads like a novel even though is it made up almost exclusively of very personal accounts. --John Wear, president of the USMC Vietnam Tankers Association A masterpiece of intensely dramatic nonfiction . . . The brilliance of Bowden's narrative, the achievement of interviewing hundreds of people on all sides and making the foundation their human stories, is why Hue 1968 rises to the emotional power and universality of For Whom The Bell Tolls and All Quiet On The Western Front. --Michael Mann Praise for Mark Bowden Amazing . . . One of the most intense, visceral reading experiences imaginable. --Philadelphia Inquirer, on Black Hawk Down Mark Bowden has a way of making modern nonfiction read like the best of novels. --Denver Post, on Killing Pablo One of America's pre-eminent practitioners of long-form journalism. --Dallas Morning News, on The Three Battles of Wanat