Review
"Dan Ford is a superb writer. And he was just as good almost fifty years ago, when, as a naïve young novelist who hoped to become the next Ernie Pyle, he headed to Saigon to cover the first rumblings of war." -- Bruce Gamble, author of Black Sheep One
"As a young Army vet and reporter, Mr. Ford was sent to Vietnam to cover what was going on there in 1964.... Meeting the advisors who were running the war prior to its escalation was a real treat to me. As the author explains in his epilogue, his attitude and that of most of the advisors he met were very naive. That's part of the magic of this book. It's difficult to step back beyond hindsight and view things the way we did when we were young. Mr.Ford has managed to do it. This book is an important addition to Vietnam literature and military history in general." (Doug DePew on Goodreads)
"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
From the Author
When I was trekking through South Vietnam in the spring and summer of 1964, I would lodge a suitcase with some friendly American soldier. It contained a change of clothes, a portable typewriter, and 200 sheets of yellow "copy paper," as it was called by newspapermen of the day. Once a week, or more often if I could, I came out of the field and sat down with that typewriter and wrote about my travels. I mailed the typescript to a pal at home who promised to send a $20 bill to the return address on the envelope. (I then took the bill to the local money changer at the black market rate.) Less often, I wrote an article for Carey McWilliams at The Nation magazine, who in turn sent the $65 fee to that same pal. In this way I financed my months in Vietnam.
Nearly forty years later, I happened to read my accounts of Saigon, the Mekong Delta, the Central Highlands, and the seacoast. I felt the heat again, and the thirst and the mosquitoes -- the good fellowship of the American, Vietnamese, and Montagnard troops -- the taste of iodine from my canteen -- and most of all, the optimism and innocence that we all felt about America's adventure in Southeast Asia. So here it is, just as it was written, before anyone guessed how badly it would all turn out. -- Daniel Ford, August 2017
About the Author
Daniel Ford was a budding novelist in 1964, when he took time off to become the Ernie Pyle of the Vietnam War. By the time he was home, however, President Johnson had sent American ground troops into the country, and American jets were bombing North Vietnam. So he turned his experiences into fiction, in a novel that was later filmed as Go Tell the Spartans.
The author of a dozen books, Ford has been published by Doubleday, Smithsonian Books, HarperCollins, and his own imprint, Warbird Books. He lives and works in New Hampshire.
