Remebering Vietnam - A Review of "A Rumor of War"

books:


	• A Rumor of War Philip Caputo Ballantine Books, 1980 average customer review:based on 105 reviews
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Unusually well-written account of Vietnam

I think this book comes closest to achieving in literature what Platoon did for the movies, putting you in the war in Vietnam. Im not suggesting after reading this you will have a full grasp of the daily life in the Marine Corps outside Danang in 1965 but, hopefully, its as close as many of us will get. It is a horrible account of the disintegration of the human spirit and the humane sensibility that we all have. It takes us to very dark places and provides no easy answers, only tough questions evoked through powerful and beautiful writing. I have to stress the writing because it is exceptional.
As the author states, it is a memoir of his experiences and not meant to be read as an overview of the war itself, but in many ways it is better than that, for instead of mere numbers, we are given the true nature of the war, one we were slowly pulled into and one we seemed to be unable to get out of. For me, I barely remember the Vietnam War and we barely discussed it in History class, but I think a book such as this would be an important addition to our history classes, especially in high school. Its not a long book. It is very intense and can be quite graphic at times but I was impressed that the author didnt dwell so much on the blood and guts but on the men themselves, who they were at the start and who they became later on. That is the fascinating and disturbing part of the book for me. It is philosophical without forcing it, dramatic in the best sense and one I know I will want to read again. Highly recommended!

for more information click here

The realities of war

I found this book to be so raw, and so terrifying that it was difficult for me to put it down. Philip Caputo puts the life of an everyday solider during the Vietnam War into a light that I believe does justice to every veteran of the war. He very articulately describes the horrors, and utter impossibilities of fighting a guerilla war in unfamiliar territory, and does so with a writing style that will make you feel as though you are crouched in a foxhole right next to him in the dense jungles of Vietnam. This book is an absolute must read for anyone interested in the Vietnam War, or for anyone who is sick of the constant "glamorization" of war by Hollywood.

for more information click here

Excellent!

I was very impressed with the order of A Rumor of War. The book shipped quickly and arrived between the 7-14 day window. The service was professional. The book details matched the quality of the book. I am very pleased with the service provided.

Good Transaction

Good Transaction.. Received the book quickly and in great condition. Brand new and wrapped nicely.

Remebering Vietnam - A Review of "A Rumor of War"

In keeping with the theme of this Memorial Day weekend, I would like to offer my thoughts on "A Rumor of War," a classic tale of Vietnam. Philip Caputo has crafted one of the most moving and disturbing testaments to the men who fought and died in that far away land. When the book was first published in 1977, the New York Times called it "The troubled conscience of America speaking passionately, truthfully, finally." I became aware of this classic memoir when my friend, Capt. Kyle Kalkwarf, West Point Class of 2002, told me that it was one of the best books about war he had ever read. He recommended that I add it to my reading list. He was right in doing so.

Caputo's recollections of his time as a Marine in Vietnam are filled with anger and sorrow at the misbegotten policies promulgated in Washington and carried out with disastrous results by General Westmorland and his subordinates. The author makes it clear in his introductory remarks how he felt and feels about that war and the impact that it had upon him and his comrades in arms:

"Beyond adding a few more corpses to the weekly body count, none of these encounters achieved anything; none will ever appear in military histories or be studied by cadets at West Point. Still, they changed us and taught us, the men who fought in them; in those obscure skirmishes we learned the old lessons about fear, cowardice, courage, suffering, cruelty and comradeship. Most of all, we learned about death at an age when it is common to think of oneself as immortal. Everyone loses that illusion eventually, but in civilian life it is lost in installments over the years. We lost it all at once, and in the span of months, passed from boyhood through manhood to a premature middle age. The knowledge of death, of the implacable limits placed on a man's existence, severed us from our youth as irrevocably as a surgeon's scissors had once severed us from the womb. And yet, few of us were past twenty-five. We left Vietnam peculiar creatures, with young shoulders that bore rather old heads. . .

This book is partly an attempt to capture something of its [the war's] ambivalent realities. Anyone who fought in Vietnam, if he is honest about himself, will have to admit he enjoyed the compelling attractiveness of combat. It was a peculiar enjoyment because it was mixed with a commensurate pain. Under fire, a man's powers of life heightened in proportion to the proximity of death, so that he felt an elation as extreme as his dread. His senses quickened, and he attained an acuity of consciousness at once pleasurable and excruciating. It was something like the elevated state of awareness induced by drugs. And it could be just as addictive, for it made whatever else life offered in the way of delights or torments see pedestrian." (Pages xv-xvii)

Caputo's last comments in the section just quoted seem to be eerily in keeping with the themes of the stunning films, "The Deer Hunter" and "Apocalypse Now."

In one of the most gripping passages in the book, Caputo recaptures the spectrum of emotions he felt during a helicopter assault - running the gamut from fear to courage:

"A helicopter assault on a hot landing zone creates emotional pressures far more intense than a conventional ground assault. It is the enclosed space, the noise, the speed, and, above all, the sense of total helplessness. There is a certain excitement to it the first time, but after that it is one of the more unpleasant experiences offered by modern war. On the ground, an infantryman has some control over his destiny, or at least the illusion of it. In a helicopter under fire, he hasn't even the illusion. Confronted by the indifferent forces of gravity, ballistics and machinery, he is himself pulled in several directions at once by a range of extreme, conflicting emotions. Claustrophobia plagues him in the small space: the sense of being trapped and powerless in a machine in unbearable, and yet he has to bear it. Bearing it, he begins to feel a blind fury toward the forces that made him powerless, but has to control his fury until he is out of the helicopter and on the ground again. He yearns to be on the ground, but the desire is countered by the danger he knows is there. Yet, he is also attracted by the danger, for he knows he can only overcome his fear by facing it. His blind rage then begins to focus on the men who are the source of the danger - and of his fear. It concentrates inside him, and through some chemistry is transformed into a fierce resolve to fight until the danger ceases to exist. But this resolve, which is sometimes called courage, cannot be separated from the fear that has aroused it. Its very measure is the measure of that fear. It is, in fact, a powerful urge not to be afraid anymore, to rid himself of fear by eliminating the source of it. This inner, emotional war produces tension almost sexual in its intensity. It is too painful to endure for long. All a soldier can think about is the moment when he can escape his impotent confinement and release this tension. All other considerations, the rights and wrongs of what he is doing, the chances for victory or defeat in the battle, the battle's purpose or lack of it, become so absurd as to be less than irrelevant. Nothing matters except the final, critical instant when he leaps out into the violent catharsis he both seeks and dreads." (Pages 277-8)

Caputo's thoughtful and passionate recounting of the growing up that he did in the cauldron of Vietnam added to my understanding of what many of my generation experienced as they fought in Southeast Asia and returned to a country that had grown sick of the fighting. As our nation once again wrestles with combat fatigue and the questions of when to withdraw and how to withdraw from Iraq, I am grateful that this time around - unlike the situation that existed in the late `60's and 70's - even those who oppose the war have not showered those returning from the Gulf with opprobrium. They desire our admiration and our gratitude.

Thanks Kyle, for recommending this book, and for your continuing service to our nation.

Al

for more information click here

reviews: 1, page 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

search for books
rumor of war, rumor, war

Impressum / about us