Death in the Ricefields: An Eyewitness Account of Vietnam's Three Wars, 1945-1979

Well written by a Journalist covering 34 years of conflict. The author gives intimate descriptions of the people of indochina, their religions and ideologies. There are discussions of the high-level political arm-wrestling of Vietnam, Cambodia, Loas, France, America, China and USSR. Don't expect front-line accounts of the conflicts, but mainly the author's personal experiences with high level officials, bureaucrats, common soldiers and citizens.

One of the best books I ever read. If you want to to know the truth about Vietnam, this book ist a must. Peter Scholl-Latour was present in Vietnam from the French intervention to the Chinese episode. He writes very cromprehensive and with great knowlegde. Partuculary exciting is that it is a report of his personal experiences, without pretending to be a political or military scientificly valid study. That makes it more accessable to non-political expert readers. Of course, he is a worldwide acknowledged expert.Particulary for american readers, I think this book from a non-american is important to read. Often, the american vision about the Vietnam war is somehow distorted.So it is a very exciting and informative lecture.