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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding Scholar Portrayed by Outstanding Widow, September 20, 2006
This review is from: Bernard Fall: Memories of a Soldier-Scholar (Hardcover)
I was lucky in that I got to see the first book presentation by Dorothy Fall on the day this book came out, September 18.
I used a number of Fall's books in my thesis on Vietnam over 20 years ago. As Dorothy stated, there are many lessons to learn regarding the war in Iraq and modern issues from what happened to Bernard Fall.
I was surprised to read how Bernard's mother was deported to Auschwitz, where she died. They were Jewish and living in Austria, fleeing to initially to France. They were given up by the Jewish community leaders, something Bernard never forgot. He claims to have murdered the French Jews responsible as the worst kind of collaborators. His father was eventually caught and killed by the Gestapo, which was why Bernard joined the resistance at 16. He made some interesting observations, in that killing Germans resulted in 50 French being killed in retaliation. the resistance switched to killing traitors and collaborators, which was much more effective. Toward the end of the war, Bernard was in the regular French Army and fighting with the Moroccans.
I was surprised that Bernard then worked for the Nuremberg Trials as a researcher, specifically the Krupp trials. He seemed to have come up with a great idea of producing maps and diagrams like a statistician. He would later use this technique to prove VC domination in Vietnam. He made maps that showed areas where the villagers did not pay taxes and also where the most assassinations were taking place.
The chapter "Howard" was another revelation. He really planted the seed with black students at this prestigious black university. Even Stokely Carmichael wrote glowingly about Fall as an influence. Even the late Ron Ridenhour, the Vietnam War soldier who broke the My Lai massacre by writing to congressmen (who blew him off), said he was inspired by Fall and had read his book Street Without Joy.
I was also surprised that Dorothy, an extremely gifted painter, drew the diagrams, maps, and pictures in that book. When Bernard interviewed Ho, he mentioned that his wife had drawn a picture of him for the book. Ho got excited and had him show it. He was impressed, then took the flowers out of the vase on the table, gave them to Bernard, and told him to kiss Dorothy on the cheek for him. Unfortunately, Bernard was killed in 1967 at age 40 when he stepped on a mine while on patrol with Marines.
The chapter Surveillance shows how out of control this government was. He was watched and the phone tapped by the FBI, just because he told the truth about the war and how badly it was going. The FBI tried to get the military to stop inviting him to speak, but they always stuck by him. Many job opportunities and visa rejections were put out by the FBI. Even many big national newspapers refused to print his reports. Dorothy, however, still seemed not to understand why the Washington Post refused to print his stories, while one Post reporter called Bernard a traitor.
Dorothy says there are many lessons for today. I totally agree. It's all here: positive spin over truth, a government out of touch with reality, corrupt politicians, and a weak American media. Strange how history repeats itself.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Unique View of a Fascinating Life, October 3, 2006
This review is from: Bernard Fall: Memories of a Soldier-Scholar (Hardcover)
This book is a taut, lucid, sometimes emotional, but never sentimental account of a fascinating life - that of Bernard Fall. Of course, I had heard of Bernard Fall. What literate adult during the Vietnam War had not? But, unlike many, I had not read his books and certainly did not know his story. In his widow's eyes, the author of this book, Bernard was a soldier-scholar who devoted his life to the unyielding pursuit of truth. He was a tough guy. From age sixteen until age nineteen he fought against the Nazis as a member of the French resistence and then served in the French army. At age twenty he worked as an investigator assisting the Nuernberg tribunal. But during the Vietnam War, while popular with the military, he was a misguided missile in the mind of FBI Director Hoover. His phones were tapped. FBI surveillance was openly conducted. Government officials who spoke with Fall were subjected to FBI interviews suggesting that care should be taken with their associations. A lesser man would have been intimidated. Not Fall. And, of course, then as now the efforts to silence political critics with labels of "aid and comfort" to the enemy were wrong to the point of lunacy. For example after describing the Vietminh death march of French prisoners following the fall of Dien Bien Phu - Ms. Fall quotes Bernard's outraged response, ". . . it turns my stomach over what the Commies have done to our men. And it is kept secret for fear it'd upset the delicate apple cart in certain situations. Like hell - I'm gonna get some of this out and politics be damned. " [p. 118]
This book reveals some unmistakable lessons of history. Now, as a result of reading this book, I have purchased Street Without Joy and Hell in a Very Small Place, which are venerated as Fall's masterpieces. I expect that the story of that terrible time will, in some ways, be more richly revealed in them. But Ms. Fall's book discloses personal details that will not be found in her husband's books. These give added meaning to her late husband's writings - and to his life. If you are interested in which lessons from the Vietnam era that should have been studied before and after America's invasion of Iraq, you definitely should read this book.
George W. Shadoan
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Man, April 6, 2008
I took a break from coding, wandered over to the internet and googled 'Bernard Fall'. I ended up at a website that asked for reminiscenses from any people who might have known the great scholar-journalist-soldier. I had never met Bernard Fall but always felt a kinship so I sent an e-mail and the next day received a reply from Dorothy Fall, his widow. She told me about her book and now I have read it.
Mrs. Fall's account of Bernard's falling out with his professor brought home to me a truth that I have learned in life: once harsh words are spoken, something breaks inside that can never be repaired. Yes, you can reconcile but the trust -- the true friendship -- that was there is gone never to be regained. I have seen this too many times. Never humiliate or let your angry words cross the line that separates communication -- however heated -- and personal attack. If you do, your friend will become your acquaintance. If it is your spouse, your child, your mother or father, brother or sister, you will acquire a sadness and a regret that stays with you until you die.
Except for my father and elderly relatives, I have never lost a loved one and the prospect has always been my greatest fear. But Mrs. Fall lost her dear one in such an abrupt way and at such a young age. The greatness of the man never diminishes but his fame does diminish with time. I can't imagine what it is like to live with the memory of such a man after over 40 years. I am grateful that she wrote this book to help keep his memory alive and I hope that it will point some young people in the direction of his books and thus carry his legacy to future generations.
To the extent that Bernard Fall's major works can be described as scholarly in nature, they are of an extremely engaging and accessible type. If they can be called journalism, they are a rare form of scholarly journalism. I know his books are read widely in the military. I wonder if his works and his methods are studied much in journalism schools. They should be. The point here is that his observations were delivered not as simple reportage or advocacy but as the result of careful and thorough research. Would that all reporters today took that approach. Would that the men in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations had given him the time that he deserved. Some had a bunker mentality born of the realities of the cold war. They correctly saw that many on the anti-war left were not just against the war but were ideologically in sync with communism and hoped for an American defeat for its own sake. Their error was that they could not see that Fall was not one of them. He could have helped so much. Others were just arrogant.
Another aspect of Fall's writing is his acceptance of the nature of war. Read 'Hell In A Very Small Place' and reflect on the affection that the French soldiers had for their 'quad 50's'. Fall understood that affection and related it to the reader unalloyed by moral reservations. Up until the end of the seige, French voluteers jumped into the valley and likely death. Again, Fall understood what motivated these men and this understanding comes through in his writing. Had he been in the service at the time, I am sure that he would have been among those who jumped.
So why would a 61-year-old programmer end up googling Bernard Fall? I was a history major but went to study in Thailand in '66 while under the influence of the finest teacher I have ever met, political science professor Ralph Fretty. I bought Fall's books from a bookstore in Bangkok and read them all in my spare time. Professor Fretty taught me what true scholarship is and I immediately perceived that in Fall's writings. When I read the affectionate accounts of Fall's former students that Dorothy Fall included in her book, everything clicked. I hold Bernard Fall's memory dearly because he is, for me, a Mr. Chips. Like professor Fretty, he taught me the true meaning of scholarship. When the teacher is of such greatness, the devotion never dies.
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