The Real War: The Classic Reporting on the Vietnam War [Paperback]

Jonathan Schell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 1988

Jonathan Schell’s extraordinary on-the-scene writing about Vietnam has stood the test of time in our continuing attempt to understand how and why the United States went to war—and how and why it lost. In “The Village of Ben Suc” written “with skill that many a veteran reporter will envy” (New York Times), Schell recounts how American forces destroyed a village caught up in the largest American military operation of the war—he flies into Ben Suc in the attack helicopters, follows the assault on the village, and describes the fate of the villages after they have been taken to refugee camps. In “Military Half,” Schell describes the destruction of two entire provinces in South Vietnam by American bombing and ground operations—he flies in the air-control planes that guide the bombing and provides firsthand accounts of the runs and their results. In “Real War,” Schell offers a personal look back at the war he reported decades before.The Real War is without equal in re-creating the sights, the sounds, and the feel of Vietnam.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Journalist Schell's personal experience has made him a trusted voice on the Vietnam War. This combo volume brings together the title piece along with The Village of Ben Suc and The Military Half. A solid title for public and academic libraries.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Jonathan Schell was born in 1943 in New York City, where he still lives. Among his previous books is the best-selling The Fate of the Earth. His writing on Vietnam has been included in the Library of America’s recent two-volume Reporting Vietnam.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon (January 12, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394755502
• ISBN-13: 978-0394755502
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,250,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb contribution to Vietnam era military histories., May 8, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Real War: The Classic Reporting On The Vietnam War (Paperback)

The Real War: The Classic Reporting On The Vietnam War is a Jonathan Schell's outstanding commentaries on the American military operations in Vietnam and his post-war reflections a decade later. In the first part, "The Village of Ben Suc", Schell takes the reader in the action and terror that was the Vietnam war with his descriptions of the frustration and desperation of American soldiers caught up in the brutalities of bloody conflict. In the second part, "The Military Half", Schell describes the destruction of two entire provinces in South Vietnam by American bombing and ground operations, with first-hand accounts of these extensive operations and their horrific results. Rarely has a writer been so able and capable of recreating and conveying the sights, sounds, paranoia, and rage of modern frontline warfare.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Schell's telling of Viet-Nam, valuable still today., December 14, 2003

By 

Jonathan BeVillle (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Real War: The Classic Reporting On The Vietnam War (Paperback)

Schell's The Real War is a valuable recollection of the Viet-Nam War as experienced by the author in 1966 and 67. Schell who travelled to Viet Nam as a journalist with The New Yorker in those years paints a vivid picture of not only the war and its operation, but of the lives of the men of the allied forces and people of Viet-Nam who lived it.
The first section of the book, which shares the book's title, makes Schell's book a particularly apt book to read in this day and age, as many of the statements written there pretaining to Viet-Nam, can theoretically pretain to the current situation in Iraq.
This book came highly recommended to me, and I in turn pass on that recommendation to anyone interested in the subject. I wish I had got my hands on this book years ago.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First essay (The Real War) is great; others are just good, June 4, 2001

By 

brazos49 "brazos49" (Sugar Land, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Real War: The Classic Reporting On The Vietnam War (Paperback)

I probably have quite a minority view on this book, even though I found it to be clearly worth reading. To me, the best part of this book is the first essay "The Real War", which, even though it's the title of the book, is presented as more of an introduction to the other two stories. This essay contains writing which is so good (even though I disagree with some of his left leaning political conclusions) it had me saying out loud 'this guy can really write'. It also had some very thought provoking material which any serious student of the Vietnam War should read and consider.

I also enjoyed his presentation of "The Military Half" and his experience flying with the Forward Air Controllers. It gave me an idea of just how these pilots worked with the air arsenal and the ground commanders to wreak havoc on the ground. However, I found this story and "The Village of Ben Suc" to be somewhat repetive in theme and content and maybe not organized as well as it could have been to make the author's points. As a result, the enthusiasm I had for reading this book and its first essay didn't survive to the end of the book. In other words, I relished reading the first essay and didn't have nearly as much enthusiasm by the time I finished the book.