Customer Reviews

Brennan's War: Vietnam 1965-1969

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the best books I have read. Matthew Brennan takes you though his personal accounts of his life in Vietnam. It will make you come away of a new appreciation for what our soldiers have done for this country. It will make you want to thank every military person you ever meet.

Matt explains what a lot of us went through. This book should be one used in schools to teach about the War in Vietnam. I was in the Blues of A Troop 9th Cavalry in 1966. Very well done, Matt.

I know the man personally and never knew he wrote a book till just recently and I learned it from his sister he is a good man that was caught in a bad war. He didn't write this book to talk about himself if that was the type of man he is I would have heard about it from him.

The quintessential combat memoir of the Vietnam War. Brennan's book is well written and he succeeds in creating gripping and vivid descriptions of combat from a soldier's perspective. This superb narrative conveys the fear and horror of combat along with shared humor and love felt among comrades. Brennan's honesty prevents him from romanticizing either his fellow soldiers, or the Vietnamese they are ever wary of, but he is able to humanize those trapped in a dehumanizing crucible. His multiple tours in Vietnam bridge the time before and after the 1968 Tet offensive, which became a turning point in the War. Upon receiving a commission and returning to Vietnam he found that mostly unmotivated and apathetic draftees gradually replaced the highly motivated professional soldiers he served with in his first tour, mirroring the larger erosion of the American military in Vietnam. His weary realization that the War will be lost and that all the sacrifices he witnessed will be squandered is both sobering and tragic. Along with Goodbye Darkness, this is a classic American war memoir.

I have read this book at least 20 times. The story never fails to amaze me.

I read this book at least once every year. My primary field of study is the history of the 1st and 2nd Indochina Wars, and I have read literally hundreds of books about those conflicts. "Brennan's War" is one of the three best (the others are Jim Morris' "War Story" and John Cook's "The Advisor"; incidentally, I would make it a four way tie with David Hackworth's "About Face", but the latter covers a much greater period of time- roughly 1946 to 1971- and therefore it is not an apt comparison.). A cousin of one of my friends served in the 1st Cav. Div. in 1970 or 1971, and he said that Brennan was essentially worshiped as a living legend by many soldiers then in the division. Without recourse to cliches like "gripping narrative" etc., let me just say that if you want to understand what it was like to serve as a combat infantryman in Viet Nam, "Brennan's War" is about as close as any of us who were not there are going to get...

Dimestore Liam

Brennan's war is one of the best books that I have ever read. It is such an amazing story that you occasionally think it is fictional. The military accomplishments of his unit are also impressive. It makes you wonder why the US leadership did not make these practices more widespread. I have read this several times and keep coming back to it.

gives a great view of the us attitude and how it changes......very good....

This book is a good read. It's interesting and well-written. I also like the fact that events and people in the book are plausible and reflect my own experiences of the war and Vietnam. In short, the book is pretty good entertainment. On the other-hand I tend to be impatient with "Tortured Warriors" filled with angst about their experiences in the war, and Mr.Brennan treats us to a full ration of his angst and self-pity. Bucko? You volunteered for it 3 times! Edit out the whining and it's 5 stars.

Simply put - amazing book. I rate it up there with Chickenhawk, Everything We Had, Charlie Company & The Rise & Fall of an American Army (by Shelby Stanton).