Goodnight Saigon: 7

The book is exactly what I expected. Bad time in our past, but well documented.

Overall impression--Wow! A real tour de force. The Vietnam War was complicated, and writing a book about it is like trying to write a flow diagram for a large plate of spaghetti. And yet, Henderson has done it--at least as far as the end game goes. I give it an enthusiastic five stars. Why required reading? As George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are destined to repeat it." And we might be repeating that history today with George Bush's so-called war on terrorism. You can't really answer that question unless you have something from the recent past to compare it with. Goodnight Saigon makes for a fine litmus test. There are some books that are meant to be read once and discarded (e.g., the typical Stephen King novel), some that are meant to be read multiple times at differenct times in your life (e.g., Huckleberry Finn), and some that are meant to be studied (e.g., Hamlet.) Henderson's work falls somewhere between read-multiple-times and studied. The most profound thing about the book is the Interview Notes wherein Henderson details the many players--American and both Vietnams--he interviewed first hand. It punctuates the fact that these people were real and these things happened and none of this should ever be forgotten. Some comments on the other reviews: No maps--true, the book could have used some maps. On the other hand, it is very easy these days to download and print a map from the Internet. Try the site at www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/vietnam/maps.htm, or for even more detail, try Jim Henthorn's excellent site at www.nexus.net/~911gfx/sea-ao.html. To do less is just plain lazy. And to mark Henderson down for this oversight is to obscure his more important achievement, the enormous body of research he collected in order to tell this tale. The 'unended' sub-plot of LTC Tran Van Toan--See p. 302. (Also in the index) LTC Tran made it, his force of 450 men intact, and was assimilated into the defense of Saigon Under RVN Marine Corps commandant, General Bui The Lan. --Ejner Fulsang, author of A Knavish Piece of Work, www.AarhusPublishing.com.

A great book which reviews the closing days of the Vietman conflict. The author interviews military, political leaders, civilians and press from both sides. It's a fast moving piece with plenty of action. The downside of the book is that there are no maps or photos of some of the US Marines discussed, which would have been useful in understanding where battles were located. I found a web site, which has photos and also gives additional information at www.fallofsaigon.org. Great book!

I initially did not want to purchase this book for two reasons. First, there were numerous books on the last days of the Republic of Vietnam and I thought the author would just plow through the same old stuff. Also, the title implied it would just be about the Embassy Marines in Saigon. I was pleasantly surprised! Charles Henderson's primary focus is on the Marines at the embassy in Saigon and the consulate in Da Nang. To a lesser extent he looks into final activities in Can Tho and Nha Trang. However, he gives us more to consider. The author reveals that both the Communist and Republican Vietnamese were essentially on their last legs. America was drastically reducing aid to South Vietnam. But North Vietnam was apparently facing similar problems too! In a last ditch gambit, North Vietnam begins to attack South Vietnam in late 1974. If the campaign goes well, they will likely prevail. If it goes poorly, they will probably never have another chance. Unlike previous stories of this tragic time, Henderson reveals Communist victory was not a foregone conclusion.....at least not initially. ARVN had ample supplies in its two northernmost corps to weather a large scale attack. Unfortunately, South Vietnam's President Nguyen Van Thieu makes the disasterous decision to have I and II Corps fall back and defend key population centers even though these forces were already heavily engaged and would be unable to take most of their supplies with them. This tactial withdrawl resulted in a route that guaranteed the destruction of South Vietnam's military and Communist victory. Another plus about this book is that its more than just about the last US Marines in South Vietnam. Besides the US Marines, we see RVN and NVA generals, Viet Marines, ARVN officers, etc. Henderson even has room for South Vietnamese artists and an actress to come on the scene! Very comprehensive. I was close to giving this novel 5 stars but changed my mind. One of the best sub plots is the epic journey of a South Vietnamese Marine battalion commander who leads his men on a month long journey through enemy lines. Once he gets his unit back into whats left of South Vietnam, he disappears! I would really liked to have seen what finally happened to these guys. Other than that, this is a great book.