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The Real War: The Classic Reporting On The Vietnam War Paperback – January 7, 2000

by Jonathan Schell (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 19 ratings
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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.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    416 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    January 7, 2000
  4. Dimensions
    8.56 x 5.42 x 1 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0306809265
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0306809262
  7. See all details
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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.

About the Author

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

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Da Capo Press (January 7, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0306809265
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0306809262
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.56 x 5.42 x 1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

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Jonathan Schell

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
19 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Lloy M. Penka
5.0 out of 5 stars Ignorance exposed
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2009
Verified Purchase
All that is needed to expose the darkness is the light and this is done in this book by just giving the facts in a very readable way. My advice to those who would like to wave the flag: read this book and save face! Thanks, Lloy
3 people found this helpful
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winterfell
4.0 out of 5 stars It is informative
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2013
Verified Purchase
Yes this book is a good one-sided perspective of the Vietnam War by a reporter, but it does get a little boring at times. Ben Suc was interesting, but not sure if it really needed all 100 pages to explain it. Since Schell was not a soldier, he got a slight more different perspective on the Japanese villagers, but since he was a white American man, he wasn't really able to gain the trust or have insightful convos with the Vietnamese people. The way he describes the military happenings is pretty good, and probably the best someone can get from an American in the War.
4 people found this helpful
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James Konoplisky
5.0 out of 5 stars read it
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2018
Verified Purchase
really good
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oldman1
5.0 out of 5 stars I love it
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2014
Verified Purchase
excellent
2 people found this helpful
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Al Riley
1.0 out of 5 stars Calling on Schell to fess up up to his lies - bet he won't
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2006
Jonathan Schell's Vietnam reporting is fake. He has portrayed himself as an expert in Vietnam, with little truth.

His story written in "The Vietnam War Remembered From All Sides" by Christian Appy has a number of assertions that must be a fabrication. Mr. Schell tells us that he returned from studies in Japan on an around the world ticket, stopping off in Vietnam. (It was very hard for civilians to get a visa to wartime Vietnam, but let us suppose that is the truth). Then he looks up and is befriended by two famous French journalists, Francois Sully and Bernard Fall, who help him become an accredited journalist with the Harvard Crimson school newspaper. Fall and Sully are dead, so cannot support or refute this claim.

His fake Harvard Crimson credentials gives him entry to military units all over Vietnam, he says.

Here are a few direct quotes:

"So in Quang Ngai I started going up in forward air control (FAC) planes - little Cessna two-seater spotter planes that would direct the pilots to their targets. Those little planes were constantly turning and twisting, in part to avoid ground fire. "

"But I had my little notebook right there in the plane and the setup was unbelievable for reporting."

"The quotes were coming right into the earphones and I wrote them down as if it were a lecture at Harvard. It was an amazing stroke of journalist luck."

"The idea that the US military was operating under constraints in South Vietnam is ridiculous. We pulverize villages from the air if we merely imagined that we received hostile fire. I wintered if with my own eyes and I saw the leaflets we dropped which said, "if you fire on us, we will destroy your village," and then a follow-up leaflet that said, "You did fire on us, and we did destroy your Village."

__________

A two person spotter aircraft is a busy place. The pilot is maneuvering, flying, moving up and down and around to see the target while not getting shot down, talking on the radio, and shooting rockets to mark the target. The other pilot / controller is also very busy, trying to see where friendly forces are located, where the enemy is, trying to read the map and find the right coordinates, and calling for support or fire on several different radios, talking to the ground FAC, the pilots, the DASC, and the pilot.

These pilots / controllers are usually mature college graduates, and Commissioned Officers. And they are careful guys - the non careful guys are already dead.

Mr. Schell says he replaced the second FAC, and took numerous

trips with the pilot, who somehow did all these functions by himself.

Extremely unlikely. Schell tells us he sees repeated war crimes, with the FAC calling in air bombing missions on innocent villages. If so, why did Schell not turn these murderers in to the authorities? Any normal person would do so - would you or I stand by and watch cold blooded murder and not at least try to stop it?

How about some names of the murderer pilots, their units, and dates?

He asks us to believe that a Commissioned Officer of the US takes him along on numerous joy rides where he calls in jets, usually with two man crews in two or four aircraft flights, and bombs villages, apparently with the knowledge and support of ground air controllers, the DASC, and the TACC. So apparently we have dozens of officers happily murdering people and committing war crimes, and happily showing the reporter Schell what they were doing.

Hogwash.

_____________

He made up these lies 35 years ago, and keeps telling them. And no one in the press bothers to call him on it.

Questions for Mr. Schell

Give us the names of the pilots who committed murder and war crimes. If they did the crime they should be prosecuted or at least publicly condemned.

Give us the dates, days, locations, and times of those flights.

Give us the Unit name of the Squadrons who took you on these flights.

Give us the Unit name of the Squadrons that dropped the bombs.

Why did you not report and stop these horrible murders then?

Why not come forward with your charges now? No Statute of limitations on murder.

You no doubt have copies of those amazing leaflets that we supposedly dropped before and after we pulverized the villages "if you fire on us, we will destroy your village," and then a follow-up leaflet that said, "You did fire on us, and we did destroy your Village."

Or, alternatively, why don't you confess you lied about all this?

Bet these answers won't be forthcoming

__________________

Many people lie about Vietnam. It was a big deal to people of the age to serve there. Many vets and wannabes made up stories about service, stretching the truth about their exploits and/or war crimes and angst about those crimes.

And so did some journalists. Including our Mr. Schell.
7 people found this helpful
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Abbot
4.0 out of 5 stars What Vietnam Felt Like
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2014
Verified Purchase
First rate eyewitness journalism of Vietnam War 1967-1968. Highly readable. For what the war "felt" like back then, this is the book.
2 people found this helpful
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Bob Hoskins
4.0 out of 5 stars A superb addition to ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2014
Vietnam era media and history itself. Mr. Schell writes in a straight-forward manner and relays his observations for us. The book is broken out into three parts:

The Real War.
The Village of Ben Suc
The Military Half.

The Real War is a short narrative by Mr. Schell outlining his thoughts and opinion on Vietnam and how the U.S. became involved. Very well written. He brings up history concerning Vietnam and how we got to 1965 when the Marines splashed ashore.

The Village of Ben Suc was the target of a huge military operation into and around the Iron Triangle. Mr. Schell details the operation that involved moving thousands of refugees into temporary camps and how they were treated and processed. Again, he reports what he sees and details his conversations with those in charge. He tends to ask the questions we would all ask were we there at the time witnessing the proceedings. During this portion of the book the hopelessness of the situation starts to creep into his narrative and seems to stick around.

The military half somewhat confirms his feelings as he describes how the military is basically destroying Vietnam in order to save Vietnam. He outlines the unwinnable position the USA is in fighting with an apathetic ally, ARVN, against a gritty and determined opponent.

Overall, a wonderful historical document from a correspondent who was on the ground. The Vietnam war gave the press unrestrained access and allowed them to wander. Wander they did and out of that comes wonderful works such as this.

Another great work is  The Cat from Hue: A Vietnam War Story

(Not sure why the "Verified Purchase" tag isn't there.)
5 people found this helpful
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Jayfred
2.0 out of 5 stars Not recommended.
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2017
So-so. Not good enough to recommend.
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Top reviews from other countries

D.C. Johnson
4.0 out of 5 stars The book documents the destruction of the Vietnamese by the US military
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 3, 2014
Verified Purchase
This is just how the war was fought with Army artillery and Air force bombers, helicopters and fighters just "blowing away" whole villiages and killing everyone in sight, "Kill ém all - let God sort them out." they said. I was in Vietnam and I actually heard this said.
3 people found this helpful
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Belfastlough
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 25, 2016
Verified Purchase
A good book.
One person found this helpful
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