Author Seymour Hersh won a Pulitzer Prize for his investigation of the massacre at My Lai village during the Vietnam war. Close to 500 innocent elderly men, women and babies were killed during an attack a series of small villages on March 16, 1968. Only one person was criminally charged, the infamous Lieutentant William Calley.
This book was published 4 years after the massacre. Over 100,000 pages of testimony were taken by the Army during the investigation. It is very obvious from the investigation that a slaughter did occur and that senior Army officials buried the story and did try to cover up the massacre.
Things I did not like - no photos. The photos taken of the massacre speak volumes to the hideous crimes and the immoral acts done by US Soldiers. Author Hersh states on several occasions that the press paid little attention to the reporting of this. Yet, the BBC covered it in a documentary and other sources point to the outrage of the public and the knowledge of the massacre increased anti-war movement in the US. Finally, Hersch in his attempts to show how each of the senior officers lied, mislead investigators and destroyed evidence creates a laundry list of quotes, which while factual, bogs down the book.
Perhaps the timing of this book got lost in the drama of WaterGate and the Nixon scandals. I am puzzled as to why someone who won a Pulitzer Prize for his investigative skills, his obvious passion to uncovering the truth, did not write a more compelling or gripping story - My Lai is an important topic and lession for the US Army, especially in these times of war on terror when we cannot tell the combtants from the civilians. This is a very important history lesson, but I'd recommend finding a different work to explore the events.
