An intimate, thorough wartime history of Vietnam’s Que Son Valley in 1969.
A pair of debut authors blend memoir and history in this reflection on one of the Vietnam War’s deadliest regions.
Co-author Hughes (the primary author of this book) first became friends with Hast in the 1970s; the two came in frequent contact while coaching their sons in youth sports and serving as Cub Scout leaders in the greater Cincinnati area. Both had also previously served in the military in the late 1960s during America’s conflict in Vietnam, and in 2013, the pair returned to Southeast Asia to retrace the places of Hast’s time with the 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 4-31st Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. Positioned along the western edge of Que Son Valley (nicknamed at the time “Death Valley”), Hast saw action in one of the war’s deadliest regions during a major 1969 offense by pro-Communist forces. In this volume, he retells his experiences to Hughes, who supplements the memoir vignettes with historical research and the perspectives of dozens of other soldiers on both sides of the war who also fought in the area at the same time. While Hast received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his service, his narrative focuses less on his own heroism than on the bravery of his comrades and the tragedy of warfare. “One cannot erase some memories,” the author reflects, noting that he can’t forget seeing “the agony of the dead and dying, hearing the guttural moan of someone’s last breath, the smell of blood, the odor of death, [and] the grasp of a fellow soldier’s hand whose eyes are pleading for help.” While Hast’s narrative certainly contains moments of adrenaline-fueled recollections of battle, he also effectively captures the daily experiences of soldiers through detailed commentary on the “excruciating boredom,” the physical challenges of jungle living, feelings of homesickness, and the ever-present fear of unseen threats.
While Hast’s story could easily exist as a stand-alone war memoir, what makes this volume special is the larger historical context Hughes provides. Not only does the work show the perspectives of other American soldiers who served in Que Son Valley, it also provides the Vietnamese perspectives on both sides of the conflict. This approach makes for a nuanced work that both acknowledges the sacrifices of American soldiers while also noting the political motivations of the North Vietnamese. The book’s ample research is backed by a network of footnotes that reference primary source documents, academic books, and oral history interviews conducted by the author; these elements all serve to authenticate and expand on Hast’s account. Hughes similarly provides historical context to the war, noting both the Cold War–era motivations of America’s decision-makers and the exasperation of the Vietnamese people after centuries of imperialist conquest of their land. The book’s writing style is not for the fainthearted, both in terms of its harrowing content as well as the sheer density of Hughes’ overview of Que Son Valley in 1969. This material makes for a heavy read, but one that’s well researched and balanced by the literary flourishes provided by Hast’s story (“The morning chill had worn off as the oppressive heat of the jungle sapped their strength and caution”).
An intimate, thorough wartime history of Vietnam’s Que Son Valley in 1969.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9798317091705
Page Count: 264
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Buffs of the Old West will enjoy Clavin’s careful research and vivid writing.
Rootin’-tootin’ history of the dry-gulchers, horn-swogglers, and outright killers who populated the Wild West’s wildest city in the late 19th century.
The stories of Wyatt Earp and company, the shootout at the O.K. Corral, and Geronimo and the Apache Wars are all well known. Clavin, who has written books on Dodge City and Wild Bill Hickok, delivers a solid narrative that usefully links significant events—making allies of white enemies, for instance, in facing down the Apache threat, rustling from Mexico, and other ethnically charged circumstances. The author is a touch revisionist, in the modern fashion, in noting that the Earps and Clantons weren’t as bloodthirsty as popular culture has made them out to be. For example, Wyatt and Bat Masterson “took the ‘peace’ in peace officer literally and knew that the way to tame the notorious town was not to outkill the bad guys but to intimidate them, sometimes with the help of a gun barrel to the skull.” Indeed, while some of the Clantons and some of the Earps died violently, most—Wyatt, Bat, Doc Holliday—died of cancer and other ailments, if only a few of old age. Clavin complicates the story by reminding readers that the Earps weren’t really the law in Tombstone and sometimes fell on the other side of the line and that the ordinary citizens of Tombstone and other famed Western venues valued order and peace and weren’t particularly keen on gunfighters and their mischief. Still, updating the old notion that the Earp myth is the American Iliad, the author is at his best when he delineates those fraught spasms of violence. “It is never a good sign for law-abiding citizens,” he writes at one high point, “to see Johnny Ringo rush into town, both him and his horse all in a lather.” Indeed not, even if Ringo wound up killing himself and law-abiding Tombstone faded into obscurity when the silver played out.
Buffs of the Old West will enjoy Clavin’s careful research and vivid writing.Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21458-4
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.
The authors have created a sort of anti-Book of Virtues in this encyclopedic compendium of the ways and means of power.
Everyone wants power and everyone is in a constant duplicitous game to gain more power at the expense of others, according to Greene, a screenwriter and former editor at Esquire (Elffers, a book packager, designed the volume, with its attractive marginalia). We live today as courtiers once did in royal courts: we must appear civil while attempting to crush all those around us. This power game can be played well or poorly, and in these 48 laws culled from the history and wisdom of the world’s greatest power players are the rules that must be followed to win. These laws boil down to being as ruthless, selfish, manipulative, and deceitful as possible. Each law, however, gets its own chapter: “Conceal Your Intentions,” “Always Say Less Than Necessary,” “Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy,” and so on. Each chapter is conveniently broken down into sections on what happened to those who transgressed or observed the particular law, the key elements in this law, and ways to defensively reverse this law when it’s used against you. Quotations in the margins amplify the lesson being taught. While compelling in the way an auto accident might be, the book is simply nonsense. Rules often contradict each other. We are told, for instance, to “be conspicuous at all cost,” then told to “behave like others.” More seriously, Greene never really defines “power,” and he merely asserts, rather than offers evidence for, the Hobbesian world of all against all in which he insists we live. The world may be like this at times, but often it isn’t. To ask why this is so would be a far more useful project.
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-670-88146-5
Page Count: 430
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
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