Description
Book SynopsisThis incisive memoir is essential for better comprehending what the Vietnam experience was like for the Americans who served there. It suggests the need for some fundamental rethinking about Vietnam - not only for the war’s veterans but also for those concerned with the lessons it carries for US involvement in current insurgencies.
Trade ReviewA significant contribution to our understanding of the war and an entertaining story for the general reader." -
Proceedings, U.S. Naval Institute"Lomperis has crafted a useful study of the war through a synthesis of memoir and historical analysis. . . . Lomperis provides a stimulating analysis of the United States intelligence officer during the last American phase of the Vietnam War. His compendium on the history of the war intertwined with his personal account offers a new, dynamic source of information to Vietnam War scholars concerned with day-to-day intelligence activities at the ground level. . . . In addition to his research and discussion, Lomperis provides a concise timeline of the war as well as a useful glossary aptly titled ‘Nam Speak.’ Scholars will find this work as an excellent foundation to further research on the role that intelligence officers played during the Vietnam War." - H-Net Reviews
"Lomperis deftly handles the personal and the political and historical in this well-written and valuable book." - The VVA Veteran
"Lomperis’s conclusions offer refreshing perspectives, making this essential for serious readers in this subject. A valuable contribution on a little understood part of the war." - Library Journal
"An inspired and compelling personal perspective on what was surely the ultimate tipping point in the Vietnam War . . . written with elegance and with an eye to small details and telling human moments." - Frank Snepp, author of Decent Interval: An Insider’s Account of Saigon’s Indecent End Told by the CIA’s Chief Strategy Analyst in Vietnam
"An engagingly written, often touching, candid and revealing memoir." - Lewis Sorley, author of A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam
"Strongly recommended for anyone interested in the Vietnam War." - James H. Willbanks, author of Abandoning Vietnam: How America Left and South Vietnam Lost Its War
Table of ContentsPreface: “What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?”
Part I. Getting There
1. Prelude to the War’s End: The Years 1972-1973
2. Nixon’s “Secret” Plan and How I Got to Vietnam
Part II. Over There
3. My Arrival In-Country
4. How the War Was Run: The Easter Invasion
5. Life in Saigon and a Trip to Tuy Hoa
6. Peace Talks, Christmas Bombing—and an Indian Interlude
7. I Spy 1: My Time as an Intelligence Liaison Officer
8. I Spy 2: The Order-of-Battle Conference
9. Civilian Life: The Kieu and Tay Ninh
10. The Unraveling: An Overblown Medal
Part III. Coming to Terms
11. Conclusion: Going Native and Going Home
12. Epilogue: Secret Mission Revealed—and Its Liberation
Chronology
Notes
Acronyms and “Nam Speak”
Index
