Bac-Si: A Doctor Remembers Vietnam [Paperback]

Peter Caldwell (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 143 pages
• Publisher: Taote Pub (October 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962612405
• ISBN-13: 978-0962612404
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,513,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Caldwell was born on April 16, 1940 in Schenectady, New York. His family moved to Pasadena, California where he attended school and later Pomona College followed by the UCLA School of Medicine. He went on to become a pediatrician/pediatric cardiologist and served three years in the US Naval Reserve, the first year as a battalion surgeon with the Marines in Vietnam in 1966-1967. He completed his military service in Hawaii where he returned to settle in Honolulu in 1973 along with his wife Olga. His family includes an adopted Tahitian son and two sponsored Indonesian girls. He spent 30 years working for the Hawaii Permanente Medical Group and then retired from full-time medical practice spending his professional time volunteering at the Hawaii Medical Mission and assisting with interviews for applicants to the University of Hawaii School of Medicine. In 1991, he wrote his first book , Bac-si: A Doctor Remembers Vietnam, and started his own publishing company, Taote Publishing. A longtime hiker, paddler, backpacker and outdoor photographer, he published his second book, Adventurer's Hawaii, the following year, which focused on his photographic adventures in the Hawaiian Islands. With a family cabin at Echo Lake near Lake Tahoe, his third book, Echo Lake Reflections, told a photographic historical story of the family's four generations in this unique Sierra setting. Joining forces with his brother Don, this book was followed by two photographic guidebooks to the nearby Desolation Wilderness Area. In 2006, being a paddler and a participant, he completed a beautiful coffee table book, Molokai-Oahu through the Years about Hawaii's Molokai-Oahu outrigger canoe race. At the present time, he is working on an updated version of Adventurer's Hawaii plus a new book about the Vietnam War, which summarizes the current literature as well as looks at his own experiences returning to the country on three occasions.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Captures the essence of the People thru a doctor's eyes., January 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bac-Si: A Doctor Remembers Vietnam (Paperback)

Dr. Caldwell's book, "Bac-Si, A Doctor Remembers Vietnam", embraces the best in the Vietnamese and tells a compelling story of his experiences there as a Navy physician attached to the Marines. It is a very moving portrayal of the gentler side of the Vietnamese, a side many Americans in Vietnam never experienced. Most readers would be pleasantly suprised to know that Dr. Caldwell never did really, "Fini Vietnam." From his home base in Hawaii, Dr. Caldwell and a team of other physicians return each year to Vietnam as part of humanitarian medical teams. His book brings the reader into an area of human compassion seldom explored by other authors writing about the war. This is not just another book about Nam, its about a doctor and his patients who became part of a larger extended family. He visited and photographed interesting historical places like the Citadel in Hue City, yet never loses sight of the fact that he just happened to be an American military doctor, his patients happened to be Vietnamese and there just happened to be a war going on. The book is small, easy to read, has plenty pictures and maps and the best part is, its written as a true expression of one human's emotion and compassion for people. Its not just another book about war. Its a must read for anyone interested in a great book about Vietnam minus all the "war stories."

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good man, but not a literary masterpiece, March 7, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bac-Si: A Doctor Remembers Vietnam (Paperback)

I have traveled with medical groups in this area of Vietnam & this book was of great interest to me. It was obviously written by an amateur author, but did a fine job of telling the story of humane behavior under the horrible circumstances of war. Dr. Caldwell was a true hero of this terrible war. By the way, this book was very short & way too expensive.