See All Buying Options

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

A Soldier Reports Mass Market Paperback – April, 1980

by William C. Westmoreland (Author)

11 customer reviews

See all 10 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

—

$59.80

$2.50

Paperback

"Please retry"

—

$41.99

$2.47

Mass Market Paperback

"Please retry"

—

$69.95

$2.00

Unknown Binding

"Please retry"

—

$15.00

A Soldier Reports

Available from these sellers.

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Lewis Sorley

119

Paperback
$5.89
Gregory Daddis

15

Hardcover
$26.44
General William C.…

11

Leather Bound
10 offers from $11.04
Michael Herr

376

Paperback
$12.04

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam Paperback

Lewis Sorley

119

$5.89
Westmoreland's War: Reassessing American Strategy in Vietnam Hardcover

Gregory Daddis

15

$26.44

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

Memoir/writings of US Army General in charge of US military operations during Viet Nam War. West Point graduate.

Mass Market Paperback: 605 pages
Publisher: Dell Pub Co; 1st Print, This Edition edition (April 1980)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0440100259
ISBN-13: 978-0440100256
Package Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
Average Customer Review: 11 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,544,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #120223 in Books > History > World
- #285719 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Customer reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars

5 star		37%
4 star		9%
3 star		36%
2 star		18%
1 star		0%

Write a customer review

See all verified purchase reviews

Top customer reviews

An expected read

ByVirginiaon February 24, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I got this book for a history paper, and being interested in the idiocy of the entire fiasco in Vietnam, I thought it would be an interesting read. Going in, I had some preconceptions of what it would be like, with Westmoreland having been commander of the armed forces in Vietnam. Unfortunately, I was right with many of them. He praised just about everything that the US military did, while brushing important failures, such as Dong Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill), aside with only a brief mention not even two pages long. Much of those pages were about how Gen. Zais was completely correct in his actions, though most other books on the topic say just the opposite. Westmoreland was a US General through and through, and that was apparent during the reading of the book. I was a bit disappointed, though, to see that he apparently lacked any kind of respect for the native Montegnards of the Western A Shau Valley, as well as the culture and language of the Vietnamese people. This may have been me reading too deep into it, but it bothered me to see names of places like Dong Ap Bia or Da Nang condensed to Apbia and Danang, ignoring the fact that each should be two words and capitalized. In other books written by veterans of the war, such as Hamburger Hill: The Brutal Battle for Dong Ap Bia, May 11-20, 1969 by Samuel Zaffiri, always list places by their properly written names. To me, it came across as almost childish.
The book did give a good general overview of the war, as well as the life of the man who led the American forces in Vietnam for more than half the war. It gives a good counter view on some points, like Dong Ap Bia, so if you have to do a paper on Vietnam for IB, this book is great. Otherwise, you might want to check some of the 'facts' against other Vietnam sources.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Ye Shall Know Them By Their Fruits.

ByT. Murphyon February 12, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

General Westmoreland thought he was supposed to be infallible. That mental condition, instilled by his father and magnified by the Academy, is how he conducted his life. In order for him to be infallible, “He had a way of creating truth in his own behalf that, while improbable, was not totally incredible.” - Martin Hoffman.

This entire book is General Westmoreland’s futile attempt to justify his conduct of the Vietnam War. Additionally, it is his attempt to justify his personal conduct and interactions with others during the Vietnam War, during his tenure as Chief of Staff, and during the rest of his life. He failed on all accounts, but could never accept that he had failed, that he was fallible. In many ways, General Westmoreland was the personification of Charlie Brown and the kite (Vietnam). The problem was that the kite had a mind of its own, and neither General Westmoreland nor Charlie Brown could accept that they did not understand it.

There is no need for any reviewer of this book to point out all of the inaccuracies, and, in many cases, downright lies General Westmoreland states in order to “set the record straight”. Lewis Sorley did that in his book “Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam.” I highly recommend readers read “A Soldier Reports” first, and then read “Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam.” Sorley rebuts almost every word in General Westmoreland’s book, and stays on track, giving a reference for each statement. I do not recommend this book to anyone who is not going to read some of the other great, truthful books on General Westmoreland. A good place to start is the selected bibliography of Lewis Sorley’s book. What the reader will find is that Sorley is not alone in his condemnation of General Westmoreland. Some, including General Westmoreland, think that history will be kinder to General Westmoreland than the sentiment reported by all of these authors, and others who knew the General. Unfortunately, General Westmoreland went to his grave believing the final lie in his life.

As Winant Sidle pointed out, General Westmoreland was not a grammarian, and the book reflects that in every paragraph. I can only assume that the editor (Charles Macdonald) allowed General Westmoreland the latitude to have the book read the way it does. Too often, General Westmoreland chooses words poorly, and does not get them into a correct sequence to insure clarity. I suspect the words tumbled out of General Westmoreland in the same way he thought them and spoke them, causing the reader to reread some statements several times to understand the text. Additionally, the poorly written text is a reflection on General Westmoreland’s ability to convey to others what he expected of them and of the system.

I feel truly bad for General Westmoreland, and I am glad that I was in the US Army during his time as Chief of Staff. His proudest assignment was as the Commander, 101st Airborne Division, and I feel the same about my two assignments with the Screaming Eagles.

“It’s hard to be a turkey when you’re surrounded by eagles.” - Unknown

I wish it could have been different for him.

Thomas E. Murphy
Master Sergeant, USA, Retired
HHC, 577th Engineer Battalion Construction, 18 July 1968 – 20 July 1969
ARVN 5th Infantry Division, DCAT 70, 6 May 1971 - 6 April 1972

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

history book

ByTracion February 25, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

great book fast ship just as described

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Disappointing

ByAmazon Customeron September 25, 2013

Format: Hardcover

I've read lots of books regarding the Vietnam War. This book had always been on my "to read" list for quite some time as I was quite familiar with General Westmoreland and his running of the war. In this book, he talks about the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese perspective for about the first two hundred pages. But, that's the point - he writes about Vietnamese politics; their culture; the great accomplishments of the South Vietnamese army (ARVN); the countryside; life in the hamlets; Vietnamese war strategy; etc. I thought to myself - so where do the Americans fit in here? Very little mention of them. You would think that the ARVN singlehandly ran the war from what Westmoreland writes.

The book finally starts to get interesting by chapter 16 when he starts to talk about the American soldiers and their life in Vietnam. The only battles Westmoreland discusses at length are Tet and Khe Sahn. And that's it. He never really talks about how he ran the war as he was up against fighting the war with his hands tied and letting Washington dictate policy. He never really goes into this aspect. A Look Back, the final chapter, was good reading where he tries to put all this into perspective.

Would I read this book again knowing what I know now? No.

One positive aspect of this book was that I bought it at a library, used, for $1. Inside the front cover was General Westmoreland's autograph, dated 10/1976, and inscribed to an Air Force colonel!