Four Hours in My Lai [Paperback]

Michael Bilton (Author), Kevin Sim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1993

Early in the morning of 16 March 1968, a company of around 120 US infantrymen, later to be described as a "normal cross-section of American youth", entered a village on the central coastal plain of South Vietnam and killed hundreds of unarmed and unresisting women, old men and children. Later the same day, another party of US soldiers massacred nearly 100 more defenceless citizens in another village less than two miles away. Together, these two related actions became known as the My Lai Massacre. This is an account of this war crime. Throughout the US and Vietnam, the authors have tracked down and interviewed survivors of the massacre, perpetrators and bystanders, to describe the culture of a war which turned the young men of Charlie Company, after only three months in Vietnam, into the brutal killers of My Lai.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The authors conduct a gut-wrenching inquiry into the tragedy at My Lai on March 16, 1968, when U.S. Army troops slaughtered some 500 Vietnamese villagers. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Written as a companion to the Yorkshire TV documentary (1989) by its producers, this unsettling account of the methodical massacre by a unit of the U.S. Army of over 500 Vietnamese villagers near Quang Ngai in 1968 gathers together evidence from GI eyewitnesses, survivors, and the extensive record of military investigators to tell us what happened, along with interviews and backgrounds of some of the participants to try to understand why. It then assembles a remarkably insightful assessment of the public's and the Nixon administration's response to both the war and this gruesome permutation of it. The book follows the legal repercussions that ended when only one of the many guilty parties, Lieutenant William Calley, was convicted. Any Vietnam War collection that does not carry this work is not complete; the massacre was both symptomatic of the military's prosecution of its mission and a watershed event in the evolution of the war itself. This investigation is a superlative dissection of those appalling crimes.
- Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, Cal.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (March 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140177094
• ISBN-13: 978-0140177091
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #83 in Books > History > Asia > Vietnam > Vietnam War

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars it's over but it's really not.....now read hugh thompson, December 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Four Hours in My Lai (Paperback)

After reading the Four Hours description of the massacre at village 4, one can only see the absolute insanity of the moment. I recently heard a program on PBS with Hugh Thompson, the helicopter pilot who observed this atrocity and attempted to stop it. This is a absolute must read for all baby boomers or anyone else who served our country in the viet nam conflict.

Where is the true meaning of international law....the only time ever served by any military personnel for this deed was a total of 3 days spent in confinement by william calley.

We need to all read this to be sure this NEVER happens again.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars [e-mail], July 12, 2002

By 

Ray J Sonnier (De Queen, Arkansas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Four Hours in My Lai (Hardcover)

I thought that Lt Calley was made a scapegoat for the
event that happened at My Lia, but after reading the book.
I find that he was a coldblooded killer,and cause many other young men to be the same way. I will never understand why Cpt Medina,and the other oficers involved in this incident was not brought to trail. The order given by these Oficers were just as much the cause of the problem, as were the men that did the actual killing.
I served two tours in Nam , and I thank God that I never
witnessed any such thing. I would probably have been brought to trail myself for killing those that would do such a coldhearted
thing.
However I must say that I am exremely proud of those that did not participate in the shooting.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great detail on what took place but weak on root causes., May 24, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Rockledge, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Four Hours in My Lai (Paperback)

The book offers exceptional detail on the events of and after the My Lai Massacre. A good example of the detailed research is the memo penned by the oft lauded Collin Powell in which Powell shows his true colors-politician/careerist. Powell was a staffer at the time and wrote a memo responding to a commander's request for information about a rumored massacre. In the memo Powell talked of both the unliklihood of the event and the Vietnamese locals' love for the Americans. Most of us GIs, even decades later, know the Americal Division was ill-disciplined and prone to criminal acts. And this is where the author falls short. The military and political leaders that created an entire division, say 12-15,000 men, from primarilly "shake and bake" officers and NCOs ought to be taken out and shot. The results of such desparate schemes to keep from calling up Guard and Reserve units are both forseeable and, in this book, documented in one incident. The Americal had many others. I pity the good soldiers and officers who were almost vainly placed in the Division to try and inject some professionalism. Politicians unwilling to act to win a war, top level generals afraid to resign to defy ludicrous policies, careerism at nearly all levels of command, and the seeming ease with which a murderous mob can be created are what the book fails to fully address. Although, perhaps this begs for a second volume.