Decent Interval: An Insider's Account of Saigon's Indecent End Told by the Cia's Chief Strategy Analyst in Vietnam [Deluxe Edition] [Paperback]

Frank Snepp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0700612130 | ISBN-13: 978-0700612130 | Edition: 25 Anv Sub

Widely regarded as a classic on the Vietnam War, Decent Interval provides a scathing critique of the CIA’s role in and final departure from that conflict. Still the most detailed and respected account of America’s final days in Vietnam, the book was written at great risk and ultimately at great sacrifice by an author who had believed in the CIA’s cause but was disillusioned by the agency’s treacherous withdrawal, leaving thousands of Vietnamese allies to the mercy of an angry enemy. A quarter-century later, it remains a riveting and powerful testament to one of the darkest episodes in American history. <P>With a new foreword by Gloria Emerson

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A great service to everyone’s understanding of what happened in Vietnam in the spring of 1975" -- Kevin Buckley, New York Times Book Review<br /><br />"An astonishing book. . . . Brilliantly argued and elegantly written." -- Seymour Hersh, Los Angeles Times<br /><br />"By far the richest document yet produced on the American and South Vietnamese end game." -- Laurence Stern, Washington Post Book World<br /><br />"Important revelations. The incredible history of the American role in Vietnam would have been forever poorer without Snepp’s perspective." -- Boston Globe<br /><br />"Provides the most detailed account to date of the operations of the CIA inside South Vietnam." -- New York Times<br /><br />"Those who read the book will shudder anew at the tragedy, confusion, and gross incompetence Snepp lays bare." -- John Barkham Reviews<br /><br />"Vigorous, gripping, novelistic in its evocation of mood, setting, and character." --Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times

From the Back Cover

"The value of Snepp’s book is that it teaches us, in an absorbing and brilliant manner, where the mistakes were made in the CIA and in the highest ranks of officials. . . . Even the most ardent critics of the war could not have ever guessed what Snepp the [CIA] insider has revealed."—-Gloria Emerson, winner of the National Book Award for Winners and Losers: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses, and Ruins from a Long War

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 636 pages
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas; 25 Anv Sub edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700612130
• ISBN-13: 978-0700612130
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.8 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #244,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Intelligence....and intelligent use June 1, 2004

By S. A Troutt

Format:Paperback

History has a way of repeating itself. 'Intelligence is as only good as the analyst.' This book about events almost thirty years past is so totally relevant today. 'Facts and beliefs are not the same thing.' Agents in the field were getting and giving good information but it was ignored berated dismissed almost out of hand to the very end. Why? Simply 'the Powers that Be' did not like the truth and did not want the truth. They did not want it to be that way (Saigon falling) so the middle bureaucrats gave them what they wanted to hear, not what they needed to hear. And Saigon fell.
To draw parallels to 'intelligence' failures about 'WMDs', Iraqi-Osama ties, the very phrase 'welcome with rose petals' or Tennant's 'slam dunk' phrase is both disturbing and disheartening. This book tells it as it was (and is) 'Intelligence' can be used and misused.

54 of 58 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars While Saigon burned... April 20, 2006

By John Anderson

Format:Paperback

ABout half way through DECENT INTERVAL one is brought to two conclusions: First of all this is a remarkably honest and straightforward piece of autobiography, and second, the author is without doubt THE Gadarene Swine. One is really not sure whether to laugh or cry at Snepp's cheerful descriptions of life inside the American Embassy in Saigon as the consequences of thirty years of botched military and political intervention came crashing down. At least we now know where the tough go when the going is tough -they go swimming in resort pools, as does our author/hero in between an almost ritualistic round of bar calls & various sorts of implied "involvements" with local and American women. Snepp has no apologies for having made a more or less complete mess of the "intelligence analysis" that he was supposed to be doing -he just points out that so did everyone else. He gets angry at co-workers who abandoned Vietnamese staff-members, spies, and "interrogators" to the mercy of the Viet Cong, or put personal profit above the safety of others -and then turns right around and comments on what a mess the movers made of his apartment when they packed up all his stuff to ship it home (on some of the planes that COULD have carried the people that he expresses concern for!. The writing verges from the mildly annoying to the totally over-blown, and in places it would be truly funny if the whole subject weren't so tragic. I gather that the CIA gave Snepp a hard time after the book came out. His behaviour suggests that SOMEONE had to! I give this book three stars and encourage people to read it because if this is REALLY what goes on in our government agencies one can only shudder at the prospects for the future.

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, for good reasons January 6, 2007

By MJS

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

In the 31 years since the "Fall of Saigon" no book has come out that better explains the events of April 1975 more thoroughly or more engagingly. Snepp had the advantage of actually being not only in Saigon for several years before and during the collapse but of being in the CIA. His insider's view is fascinating and honest. A must read for anyone interested in the topic.