Strange Ground: Americans in Vietnam, 1945-1975 : An Oral History [Hardcover]

Harry Maurer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1989

From a covert 1945 OSS mission to enlist the aid of Ho Minh against the Japanese to the frenzied evacuation of Saigon in 1975, this book gathers the narratives of over sixty U.S. citizens who lived, worked, and fought in Southeast Asia during America's thirty-year involvement in Vietnam.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 65 Americans who shared their vivid memories with Maurer ( Not Working ) include secretaries, PR men, agricultural advisers, missionaries, surgical assistants, relief workers, psychiatrists, CIA agents and anti-war activists who visited Hanoi. Combat vets are in the minority here. Very bluntly they relate their experiences in Vietnam, starting with an OSS man who offered official aid to Ho Chi Minh in 1945 (the sign at Ho's camp said "Welcome to Our American Friends") and ending with a guilt-ridden account by a State Department official involved in the 1975 evacuation. In between: a black Army sergeant who thoroughly enjoyed his combat tour; a clerk who found Vietnam a homosexual paradise; a psychiatrist assigned to treat men for whom Vietnam itself had become a phobia; a GI who regarded the country as a drug supermarket; a secretary who says of her sojourn in Vietnam, "I had fun there. I loved it . . . . " But the book is not an upbeat view of the war. On the contrary, it may be the most gut-wrenching, heartrending account to date.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- A strangely compelling book that records a whole spectrum of viewpoints held by Americans who served in Vietnam. The 62 interviewees (diplomats, physicians, officers, CIA operatives, USAID people) represent all types of involvement in the Vietnam War, and the book clearly shows how these individuals were improperly prepared for what they would find there. In addition, it shows how vacillating objectives of the U. S. government led to a series of failures in all programs performed in Vietnam, causing the interviewees to suffer a sense of hopelessness and futility for having given so much for so few accomplishments. Through this book, students will learn about the common experiences of the Americans and the Vietnamese who waged the recent war in Southeast Asia. Another source to be considered is Neil Scheehan's The Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vanna and America in Vietnam (Random, 1988). --Hien Duc Nguyen, Port Arthur I.S.D., TX
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 648 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1st edition (January 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805009191
• ISBN-13: 978-0805009194
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,000,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Listen to the voices..., February 28, 2002

By 

Erick Wujcik (Marin County, California, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strange Ground: Americans in Vietnam, 1945-1975 : An Oral History (Hardcover)

I came across "Strange Ground" at the very end of an extensive and exhaustive period of research on the Vietnam War, having read over 200 different sources, as well as interviewing friends who were veterans. In "Strange Ground" I found something I had thought impossible to capture; a reasonable summary of the entire history of the war in a single volume. I can't recommend this book highly enough...