Rating: 
Summary: CIA, Elephants and Umbrella operations
Review: I was severly disappointed by this book. Pages 19-52 are missing--a full three chapters. There are other minor, but daunting typographical errors throughout the book. Overall, it is a "just the facts, ma'am" account that leaves much of the culture of the country of Laos, its people and the motivations of the major American actors out of the book. (Or perhaps they are in the missing three chapters.) Warner, the author, is a journalist who researched and interviewed various elements and then compiled their stories for his book. While succeeding in his attempt to maintain literary objectivity, Warner has disconnected himself from the story. The effect is a book written as if it were from eyewitness accounts, yet strangely disconnected, leaving a vast space between the reader and the events taking place. Because Warner was not an eye-witness to the events he writes about, his book fails to give them context in the story. What is missing from this book is the back-story. Warner has sifted through and managed to reheat the leftovers for us, the flavor of the original meal, however, is missing. This book would be a good addition to a set: one specifically on the country of Laos, one on Vietnam, one on eyewitness accounts from actual survivors and key players in both wars, and finally this one, to develop a chronology and a list of characters. Overall, Warner's book is a long, dry footnote.
Rating: 
Summary: An Examination of Conscience
Review: Meticulously researched and written in a style reminiscent of and often as moving as Dinesan's "Out of Africa", Warner's book tells the sad story of how our national hubris crushed and corrupted the intense love affair many of us had for Southeast Asia and particularly Laos in the 1960s. I've just read the book for the second time after yet another visit to Laos; Warner's book confirms my long held belief that this humble land may outdo us all in its capacity for living and letting live. Lasting scholarship, a joy to read.
Rating:
Summary: The Complete History
Review: Others have written segments of the United States involvement in Laos while Roger Warner has brought forth the detailed historical accounts written by those who lived them into an interpolation of the events as they occurred. Anyone who participated in the operations which took place in Laos will completely enjoy this wonderful account and glean a great deal of informative information concerning the events which took before and after their tour of duty. John Sweet 56th Special Operations Wing Tactical Units Operations Center Nakhon Phanom 69-70
Rating:
Summary: This Title Also Known as "Back Fire"
Review: Roger Warner has published the only comprehensive, unbiased account of the strange but tragic "sideshow" war in Laos, the mountainous, landlocked neighbour of Vietnam that was consumed in the same domino-theory meltdown as the two Vietnams and Cambodia, but which was assiduously kept out of the media's scrutiny for most of the 1960s. The sporadic war between the American-sponsored tribesmen and the communist Pathet Lao was wholly financed, on the American side, through the CIA, with unofficial air support from the USAF (traveling incognito) and private CIA front airline. Warner tells the story from several angles, including the zealous mid-western missionaries who traveled to Laos in the early 1960s to help improve agriculture, the often equally idealistic CIA field operatives who trained the tribesmen and the less saintly backroom boys in Washington who made sure Congress kept giving the money. He reserves special praise for the brave freelance journalists who helped expose the secret bombing, albeit all too late: by the end of the conflict there were parts of the Plain of Jars (a prominent Laotian land feature near the North Vietnamese border) that resembled a lunar surface. For reasons obscure this title has a different paperback name ("Shooting at the Moon") than hardback ("Back Fire").
Rating:
Summary: This Title Also Known as "Back Fire"
Review: Roger Warner has published the only comprehensive, unbiased account of the strange but tragic "sideshow" war in Laos, the mountainous, landlocked neighbour of Vietnam that was consumed in the same domino-theory meltdown as the two Vietnams and Cambodia, but which was assiduously kept out of the media's scrutiny for most of the 1960s. The sporadic war between the American-sponsored tribesmen and the communist Pathet Lao was wholly financed, on the American side, through the CIA, with unofficial air support from the USAF (traveling incognito) and private CIA front airline. Warner tells the story from several angles, including the zealous mid-western missionaries who traveled to Laos in the early 1960s to help improve agriculture, the often equally idealistic CIA field operatives who trained the tribesmen and the less saintly backroom boys in Washington who made sure Congress kept giving the money. He reserves special praise for the brave freelance journalists who helped expose the secret bombing, albeit all too late: by the end of the conflict there were parts of the Plain of Jars (a prominent Laotian land feature near the North Vietnamese border) that resembled a lunar surface. For reasons obscure this title has a different paperback name ("Shooting at the Moon") than hardback ("Back Fire").
Rating: 
Summary: Readable
Review: Shooting at the Moon details the "alliance" between the American government and the Hmong (Meo) minority people of Laos during the Lao civil wars. Roger Warner writes with a very readable, journalistic style that draws the reader in. The book tracks several main "characters" throughout the war's development and escalation, explores possible motivations for American involvement, and the aftermath of the American betrayal of the Hmong. If you have read "The Ugly American," then you will see many instances of those fictional events happening for real in Shooting at the Moon. As a university student who read this book to complement a research paper, I was disapppointed. Although very reader-friendly, Warner's style also verges on fiction and it is difficult to separate true fact from his interpretations of events. In such a book, this may be unavoidable, given that he attempts to plop the reader down into Laos of the late 1960's and 1970's. Warner does his job in that sense, but in doing so he blurs the line between fact and fiction. Moreover, I find that he often glosses over events and writes in a very American style, sometimes very dismissive of the Lao and Meo peoples. However, if you are looking for a "real life" wartime Communism vs. Capitalism cliffhanger, then Shooting at the Moon should fulfill that role quite nicely. For more thoroughly researched and more comprehensive books on Lao history, including the Lao Revolution, I would recomend Arthur J. Dommen's Laos: Keystone of Indochina and anything by Martin Stuart-Fox.
Rating:
Summary: Readable
Review: Shooting at the Moon details the "alliance" between the American government and the Hmong (Meo) minority people of Laos during the Lao civil wars. Roger Warner writes with a very readable, journalistic style that draws the reader in. The book tracks several main "characters" throughout the war's development and escalation, explores possible motivations for American involvement, and the aftermath of the American betrayal of the Hmong. If you have read "The Ugly American," then you will see many instances of those fictional events happening for real in Shooting at the Moon. As a university student who read this book to complement a research paper, I was disapppointed. Although very reader-friendly, Warner's style also verges on fiction and it is difficult to separate true fact from his interpretations of events. In such a book, this may be unavoidable, given that he attempts to plop the reader down into Laos of the late 1960's and 1970's. Warner does his job in that sense, but in doing so he blurs the line between fact and fiction. Moreover, I find that he often glosses over events and writes in a very American style, sometimes very dismissive of the Lao and Meo peoples. However, if you are looking for a "real life" wartime Communism vs. Capitalism cliffhanger, then Shooting at the Moon should fulfill that role quite nicely. For more thoroughly researched and more comprehensive books on Lao history, including the Lao Revolution, I would recomend Arthur J. Dommen's Laos: Keystone of Indochina and anything by Martin Stuart-Fox.
Rating:
Summary: Shooting at the Moon is on the Mark!
Review: Shooting at the Moon is the great image Roger Warner employs to shed light on the USA strategy in Laos and perhaps for all of Southeast Asia. With literary aplomb, Warner brings to life many of the key figures in the CIA 's covert attempt to level the playing field in Laos as the overt war raged in Vietnam. The incredible shift from a small operation to a technically air dependent approach in the context of global political strategy, set up the Hmong people, our allies, for inevitable genocide. Warner succeeds in placing the reader inside Laos in its last days of glory as "The Land of a Million Elephants and a Parasol." In the end, shooting at the moon eclipses the sincere efforts of a handful of people to stave off the darks days in Laos following the communist takeover.
Rating:
Summary: Shooting at the Moon is on the Mark!
Review: Shooting at the Moon is the great image Roger Warner employs to shed light on the USA strategy in Laos and perhaps for all of Southeast Asia. With literary aplomb, Warner brings to life many of the key figures in the CIA 's covert attempt to level the playing field in Laos as the overt war raged in Vietnam. The incredible shift from a small operation to a technically air dependent approach in the context of global political strategy, set up the Hmong people, our allies, for inevitable genocide. Warner succeeds in placing the reader inside Laos in its last days of glory as "The Land of a Million Elephants and a Parasol." In the end, shooting at the moon eclipses the sincere efforts of a handful of people to stave off the darks days in Laos following the communist takeover.
Rating:
Summary: A Gripping Read!
Review: The author of Shooting at the Moon certainly does capture the "magical perversity" of Laos which sometimes reads as a tragedy-comedy. And he does so by detailing not merely the lives of those involved but also by showing how their backgrounds prepared them for their roles. I arrived in Thailand in 1966 but didn't make it to Laos until 1972. Mr. Warner's book has the ring of truth as to the political and cultural background as the drama unfolded, and also portrays the almost indescribable feel of Laos, its perverse magic, its beguiling lethargy. It is certainly the most innocent who suffer the most. This is a fine book well worth reading.
|
