Rating: 
Summary: Loved the book-Hated the story.
Review: I have never read a book as powerfully thought provoking and compelling as Mr. Appy's presentation of oral histories of the Vietnam War. I would recomend this as a great read for anyone of Vietnam War vintage, or anyone trying to understand, not only the Vietnam War but the American Culture of that time. The defineing historical event of my generation that influenced all manner of art, music, philosophy, and life styles that reverberate in our life today.
Not only where all sides heard from and seemingly all points of view considered, but MR. APPY'S commentary filling in the facts and history of the Country and the Conflict both named Vietnam gave me and, all I have recomended it to, an understanding of events that I wish I had 35 years ago.
The stories told by Americans and Vietnamies are of a civil war on the other side of the globe that pitted brother against brother and father against son one the steets and campus's of the USA as well as in the Jungles of Vietnam. In both places those battles are still being fought, if only in skirmishes of ideology apperant in the varied reviews, seen on this foram.
If you think you Know all about the Vietnam war or if you know little or nothing about it, you will moved, provoked, angered and sadened. Perhaps not the same emotions will be illicited by the same passages for everyone. You will learn of facts an events you will not belive or want to believe, you will read the stories of heros, and feel the pain lives left in taters. You will learn why some were there and why some were not. The highest compliment I can pay an author of a serious work, in this case Mr. Appy, is that it made me think, it evoked stong emotion and for the first time in my life a book made me cry.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Vietnam Oral History Yet
Review: I have read a few oral histories focused on the American phase of the Vietnam War. I have found them all faulty for one of three reasons. They are either fraudulent, the authors biases scream out at you, or they are incomplete (most common is not including South Vietnamese viewpoints). Mr. Appy has surmounted these pitfalls and produced a decent work.Most refreshing to me is seeing the pro-West South Vietnamese perspective. I found the South Vietnamese Diplomat who specialized in trying to sell the war to Americans and the captured ARVN commando most intriguing. But there is more. Appy has samples of the whole spectrum. You can find high ranking pro war, low level anti war, communists, republican (South Vietnamese that is), soldier, guerilla, pilot, etc. You name the type of person, he/she is probably represented.....except for parties from the Free World Forces (Korea, Australia, Thailand, etc that also fought in the war). Still, this is a pretty minor omission. I docked this book one star. To say Mr. Appy is biased is too harsh. I think its better to say has bought into the notion the US/Republic of Vietnam war effort was pointless. Ive seen Appy do a few interviews on TV. He always states the South lost because they were just puppets dependent on foreigners to keep them afloat (which ignores the fact that AK47s dont grow on trees and the Chinese Army units that garrisoned the North to free up NVA units going South were far from home grown). This attitude can also be found in the book. A good example is a footnote of Appy's that reinforces a Communist Vietnamese source's notion that Korean troops were just mercenaries. I am plugged into the Korean community and know quite a few of their Vietnam Vets. Money (in the form of US aid) was a very minor consideration in their participation. Despite this, Appy gives all sides a voice in his book. For this, he should be commended!
Rating:
Summary: Best Vietnam Oral History Yet
Review: I have read a few oral histories focused on the American phase of the Vietnam War. I have found them all faulty for one of three reasons. They are either fraudulent, the authors biases scream out at you, or they are incomplete (most common is not including South Vietnamese viewpoints). Mr. Appy has surmounted these pitfalls and produced a decent work. Most refreshing to me is seeing the pro-West South Vietnamese perspective. I found the South Vietnamese Diplomat who specialized in trying to sell the war to Americans and the captured ARVN commando most intriguing. But there is more. Appy has samples of the whole spectrum. You can find high ranking pro war, low level anti war, communists, republican (South Vietnamese that is), soldier, guerilla, pilot, etc. You name the type of person, he/she is probably represented.....except for parties from the Free World Forces (Korea, Australia, Thailand, etc that also fought in the war). Still, this is a pretty minor omission. I docked this book one star. To say Mr. Appy is biased is too harsh. I think its better to say has bought into the notion the US/Republic of Vietnam war effort was pointless. Ive seen Appy do a few interviews on TV. He always states the South lost because they were just puppets dependent on foreigners to keep them afloat (which ignores the fact that AK47s dont grow on trees and the Chinese Army units that garrisoned the North to free up NVA units going South were far from home grown). This attitude can also be found in the book. A good example is a footnote of Appy's that reinforces a Communist Vietnamese source's notion that Korean troops were just mercenaries. I am plugged into the Korean community and know quite a few of their Vietnam Vets. Money (in the form of US aid) was a very minor consideration in their participation. Despite this, Appy gives all sides a voice in his book. For this, he should be commended!
Rating:
Summary: It's difficult to praise the book enough!
Review: I'd like to begin this review with a few of the things that may have been left out in the reviews below. First, although this is a lengthy book, it is constructed in such a way that it could be almost twice as long and the reader would wish for more (in fact the author states that he had to excise plenty of great material in the interests of brevity; I wish that he hadn't). This is because within the broad chapter overviews he has condensed interviewee statements into spaces sometimes as small as a couple of paragraphs. In fact, it is amazing how much pith the author is able to include in such abbreviated memoirs. Second, as is hinted below, Mr. Appy has produced a book with the broadest time spectrum yet of the English language literature that has been produced on the war, that I am aware of. Third, Mr. Appy has generously included a plethora of book titles within the body of the work and in the bibliography from both participants in his survey and books that he has used for reference. Many of these books were new to me and I've read or passed on dozens of Vietnam War books in the past two years. So, if you are on the hunt for new reading material this is a great resource. Finally, one of the things hinted at but not specifically mentioned in reviews below, the unfolding of events in Vietnam and the way they were canned and served to the American public has some very disturbing parallels to the present Bush Administration's machinations in Iraq (No, I don't believe that Iraq is America's new Vietnam war, rather I suggest that the reader look toward Russia's involvement in Chechnya for a more apt simile). Apart from this, the book's wide breadth of time and topic, and broad spectrum of views guarantees that, no matter how expert one fancies oneself to be on the Vietnam War, he will inevitably glean new information or insight into this little bit of Indochinese nastiness that was the Vietnam War (the American War in Vietnam). I go so far as to make two additional predictions. One is that those of you who either have children or are above the age of 35 will find yourselves with tears welling up in your eyes at least once in the course of the book. The other is that you will find yourself reading some of the narratives here in this book in a state of either amazement or shocked outrage, perhaps both. Finally, a quick overview of how this book is set up: The book is arranged under 5 broad topics: Beginnings, Escalations, Endings, etc. Within these broad categories are smaller ones with headings such as War Heroes, Triage, Families At War, etc., and within these are the narrative accounts from various participants from all sides and from numerous different angles. Often, the author has embellished these micro-accounts with a kind of preface and aftercommentary treatment, and while the going is at times quite heavy, at no point does this book cause one to wish to walk away from it. What otherwise might have taken me a couple of days to read was a three or four day journey just because there was so much emotional debt to pay for all of the information contained in this book. This trenchant read is a really, truly magnificent work that demands your attention, commands your respect, expands your mind and yes, wins your heart.
Rating:
Summary: It's difficult to praise the book enough!
Review: I'd like to begin this review with a few of the things that may have been left out in the reviews below. First, although this is a lengthy book, it is constructed in such a way that it could be almost twice as long and the reader would wish for more (in fact the author states that he had to excise plenty of great material in the interests of brevity; I wish that he hadn't). This is because within the broad chapter overviews he has condensed interviewee statements into spaces sometimes as small as a couple of paragraphs. In fact, it is amazing how much pith the author is able to include in such abbreviated memoirs. Second, as is hinted below, Mr. Appy has produced a book with the broadest time spectrum yet of the English language literature that has been produced on the war, that I am aware of. Third, Mr. Appy has generously included a plethora of book titles within the body of the work and in the bibliography from both participants in his survey and books that he has used for reference. Many of these books were new to me and I've read or passed on dozens of Vietnam War books in the past two years. So, if you are on the hunt for new reading material this is a great resource. Finally, one of the things hinted at but not specifically mentioned in reviews below, the unfolding of events in Vietnam and the way they were canned and served to the American public has some very disturbing parallels to the present Bush Administration's machinations in Iraq (No, I don't believe that Iraq is America's new Vietnam war, rather I suggest that the reader look toward Russia's involvement in Chechnya for a more apt simile). Apart from this, the book's wide breadth of time and topic, and broad spectrum of views guarantees that, no matter how expert one fancies oneself to be on the Vietnam War, he will inevitably glean new information or insight into this little bit of Indochinese nastiness that was the Vietnam War (the American War in Vietnam). I go so far as to make two additional predictions. One is that those of you who either have children or are above the age of 35 will find yourselves with tears welling up in your eyes at least once in the course of the book. The other is that you will find yourself reading some of the narratives here in this book in a state of either amazement or shocked outrage, perhaps both. Finally, a quick overview of how this book is set up: The book is arranged under 5 broad topics: Beginnings, Escalations, Endings, etc. Within these broad categories are smaller ones with headings such as War Heroes, Triage, Families At War, etc., and within these are the narrative accounts from various participants from all sides and from numerous different angles. Often, the author has embellished these micro-accounts with a kind of preface and aftercommentary treatment, and while the going is at times quite heavy, at no point does this book cause one to wish to walk away from it. What otherwise might have taken me a couple of days to read was a three or four day journey just because there was so much emotional debt to pay for all of the information contained in this book. This trenchant read is a really, truly magnificent work that demands your attention, commands your respect, expands your mind and yes, wins your heart.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book and extremely informative!
Review: If you want to read an outstanding book on all aspects of the Vietnam War this is the one. Well researched, gets detailed accounts from both sides on the war and makes one want to read and learn more about a very contraversial war.
Rating:
Summary: Vietnam War: Tragedy or Triumph?
Review: In this important book, Appy interviews over a hundred participants of the Vietnam War. The scope is as extensive as the number of interviewees. It starts with American involvement in Vietnam during WWII and ends with the post-Vietnam War era. There are interviews with soldiers, intelligence officers, doctors, nurses, entertainers, war protesters, draft dodgers, and other participants. Appy interviewed people from both sides of the Vietnam War. It was enlightening to me to read the various accounts of North Vietnamese interviewees. For example, I learned of the constant threat that builders of the Ho Chi Minh Trail faced from American bombers. I also learned that many Vietnamese families were torn apart by this civil war. Many North Vietnamese families were dislodged from their homes by American bombing. In South Vietnam, where most of the fighting occurred, the Vietcong had many supporters among the rural population. Unfortunately, the Americans made enemies among the South Vietnamese because they forced many South Vietnames to evacuate their villages to create free-fire zones. Patriots shatters several misconceptions about the Vietnam War.
It's alleged that the American policymakers were ignorant of the dim prospects of victory. Wrong. Appy's interviews with American advisors indicate that the upper echelons of government knew that an American victory was unlikely but continued to wage war in order to avoid an embarassing withdrawal. It's also believed that the media were opposed to the war and were responsible for the growing public opposition. This is also false. For most of the war, the American media reported favorably military operations in South Vietnam. Many people believed that Americans fought the war for the South Vietnamese. The truth is that the South Vietnamese military sustained significantly more deaths and injuries than did the American military. There were also many more South Vietnamese POWs than there were American POWs. There are other enlightening truths about the Vietnam War in Appy's book. In conclusion, Patriots argues that the Vietnam War was damaging to the Vietnamese and Americans. It created turmoil for the populations of both Vietnam and America. Families on both sides were divided internally. Many soldiers on both sides were young and lost their innocence after fighting for their countries. For many participants, it is only after about thirty years after the fall of Saigon that there can be healing. American veterans of the Vietnam War have started traveling to Vietnam and sitting down with their former enemies to discuss the war. Patriots is an important addition to the literature of this devastating war.
Rating:
Summary: The full tragedy of the Vietnam/American War
Review: No one who reads this book will be unmoved. Mr. Appy has collected more voices on the war (the book is an oral history) than any other author (or for that matter anyone)who has taken on this momentuous period in the history of both nations and set them out in such a juxtiposition that their collective voice is profound in its eloquence and unassailable truth. The truth being that the war was an unmitigated tragedy for all involved. My expercence,and that of others who have read the book (550 pgs.), is that while the stories (along with Mr. Appy's introductions and other comments)are compelling, one can only read a few stories at a time because the accounts are so powerful and so affecting that the reader needs time to digest the emotions they reflect and evoke. A truly important and, on top of that, riveting book.
Rating: 
Summary: A deep disappointment
Review: Over the past few years I have become increasingly interested in reading works that provide an insight into the Viet Nam war from the "other" side. Most notable, I think, Bao Ninh's "The Sorrow of War." I found the opportunity to read a collection of works from all sides irresistible. Sadly I found this book to be seriously flawed and disappointing. Each section has a piece by the author that "sets the stage" for the stories that follow. The author has not seen fit to include any references to the works he used to write these sections. I find this to be a significant oversight, we must accept his interpretation of actions and intents he ascribes to various political and military figures. Any work which deals with such a controversial time should provide references to its sources. I had hoped to learn much more about the thoughts and motivations of the South Vietnamese soldiers, yet although North Vietnamese veterans are included in great depth, there voices are almost absent. It would seem that there would be a great number residing in the U.S. with an equal right to tell their stories. I have a particular issue with the tone of the book which seems to be very much a platform for many of the North Vietnamese veterans and U.S. protesters to trot out the old rhetoric of the 60s. Yet as a veteran of that war I also must accept that, like the North Vietnamese vets, I will never be able to look at our mututal experience from the outside. Buy the book, there are some heart rendering stories from all sides of the experience. But I urge any reader not to view this as the definitive source for information on the Vietnam War. It is not.
Rating:
Summary: Bar none the best oral history of the war to date...
Review: Read it and you'll understand why - poignant, compelling and thought-provoking. A real gem of a book!
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