The Only War We've Got: Early Days in South Vietnam [Paperback]

Daniel Ford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2001

It's the summer of 1964. The bush hat, not the steel helmet, is the favored headgear of the 16,000 American advisors in South Vietnam. They love their work, and they're very good at it. How can they possibly fail?Covering their war are 40 foreign reporters, including novelist Daniel Ford. Armed with a camera and a notebook, he wanders the country on foot and by military transport--helicopter, jeep, landing craft, junk, armored personnel carrier, and an Air Force flare ship--from the Mekong Delta to the Central Highlands. Once or twice a week, or whenever he is reunited with his Hermes portable, he types up an account of what he has seen and done. Here is that journal, 36 years after it was written. It is a freeze-frame picture of the Vietnam War before it became a quagmire. "How good-hearted we were!" Ford says of himself and the men he met in his travels. "And how badly it all turned out."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A riveting account of the Vietnam War in its openings round.
Recommended to students, veterans, and historians." -- Annals of Vietnam, February 2002

Early war and spot on. One of the best to give a feel for the war from the beginnings. --Phillip Jennings, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War, 2010

About the Author

Daniel Ford has spent a lifetime reading and writing about the wars of the past hundred years, from the Irish rebellion of 1916 to the counter-guerrilla operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is best known for his history of the American Volunteer Group--the 'Flying Tigers' of the Second World War--and his Vietnam novel that was filmed as Go Tell the Spartans, starring Burt Lancaster. Most recently, he has turned to the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Germany and Soviet Russia. Most of his books and many shorter pieces are available for Amazon's Kindle ebook reader. He lives and works in New Hampshire.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595175511
• ISBN-13: 978-0595175512
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,495,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel Ford has spent a lifetime reading and writing about the wars of the past hundred years, from the Irish rebellion of 1916 to the counter-guerrilla operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is best known for his history of the American Volunteer Group--the 'Flying Tigers' of the Second World War--and his Vietnam novel that was filmed as 'Go Tell the Spartans', starring Burt Lancaster. Most recently, he has turned to the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Germany and Soviet Russia. Most of his books and many shorter pieces are available for Amazon's Kindle ebook reader. He lives and works in New Hampshire. (Photo by Liz Handy, London)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Did you ever wonder how the war began?, April 15, 2001

By 

Wargamer - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Only War We've Got: Early Days in South Vietnam (Paperback)

This is an amazing book. Before Vietnam became a household word, Ford bought a ticket to Saigon so he could see the war for himself. There were only a few Americans in Vietnam at the time, reporters and advisors and helo crews--no combat troops tho they all saw combat from time to time, including Ford. He goes on an armored invasion of a seashore town, slogs through the jungle with Vietnamese Rangers, patrols with the American Green Berets, and celebrates the Fourth of July by shooting up the Saigon River with a gang from the U.S. Navy.

Ford's Vietnam isn't the one you generally read about. He loves the country and admires the Americans he meets in his travels. They in turn love their work, at least the men in the field do. But between the lines you can see that things will go terribly wrong with America's adventure in South Vietnam.

Belongs on the shelf of every student of the Vietnam War.

Carleton Ross

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I really got caught up in this book, December 8, 2001

By 

Bonnie (Laconia NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Only War We've Got: Early Days in South Vietnam (Paperback)

War stories aren't usually my cup of tea, but once I picked up this book I just couldn't put it down again. Maybe it was the "journal" style. But I really got the feeling that I was there with the reporter, traveling from base to base in Vietnam. Most books about the war give you the feeling of a filthy war fought in a rotten climate by men who hated every minute of it. That's not the war that Mr. Ford saw. In fact, he loved the country, and so did most of the American soldiers he traveled with.

Good photographs too. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in how the Vietnam war came to be.

-- Bonnie

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good job, January 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Only War We've Got: Early Days in South Vietnam (Paperback)

"The Only War We,ve Got" is an important book. I read it in virtually two sittings; so, it surely held my interest. I'm surprised I have not read about it elsewhere.

Like most thoughtful Americans, my opinions, feeling and prejudices about the Vietnam War have morphed a lot over the past 36 years. Presently, this book catches me right in the middle. The War provided much to be angry over but even more to be sad about. Truly, good intentions in the hands of fools (aren't we all) can be the cobblestones for the road to Hell. I hope this book will serve the folks who take George Santayanas famous comment to heart. However, I have seen in my lifetime the "best and the brightest" can be the biggest fools of all.

Very good job.