Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War

Douglas Brinkley, a respected historian and biographer, has put together an extensively researched, well-written portrait of a young John Kerry as well as a fascinating account of an important period of American history. Whether you like Kerry the candidate or not, this book will provide insight to the man. Kerry, by the way, gave Brinkley unrestricted access to his letters, journals, and personal papers, and exercised no editorial control over the end result. (And yes, Brinkley interviewed dozens of vets who served with Kerry.) It is telling of Brinkley's professionalism that in almost every subsequent article or commentary about Kerry, "Tour of Duty" is used as a point of reference. The book is cited line and page to settle points about Kerry's life and times. It is also a mark of Brinkley's journalistic integrity that the paperback edition contains clarifications suggested by readers and interviewees. When you scan the O'Neill/Corsi hit piece, compare the quality of the writing, research, and tone to Brinkley's. Like comparing Rush Limbaugh to Edward R. Murrow. (An aside to a prior reviewer - even the FR site has exposed the old "Giap thanks Kerry" bit as an urban legend. Get with it.)

There was Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, now there's this book. This book is the 'authorized version.' It is based on letters Kerry wrote home and 'extensive interviews with virtually everyone who knew Kerry in Vietnam.' I turned first to the story of Kerry's first Purple Heart. The versions in the two books can't possibly cover the same person. In one Kerry is in a fire fight at night and trying to clear his jammed M-16 when he feel a hot, burning thing hit his arm. In the other it is daylight and Kerry shoots a grenade launcher at a rock some distance from his boat and a piece of shrapnel comes back and hits him in his arm. Well, at least they both agree that he was hit in the arm. This is the incident, I understand, where the official Navy records are missing. The essence of democracy is an informed electorate. I'm intend to vote in about five days. Somehow I don't feel very informed. If you're a Kerry fan, this is clearly the book you need to read, it'll make you feel much better. If you're a Bush fan, you may want to read it just to see what the Kerry fans are saying. If you're trying to inform yourself about the character of this man, you probably should read both. One final comment, I was out of the Army before Vietnam got started going good. I've only known two people that were in Swift boats, they both hate Kerry. My guess is that Brinkley didn't talk to them.

Brinkley's text helps explain why every one of Kerry's crew members in Vietnam, regardless of party affiliation, are supporting him in his quest for the presidency. Brinkley's account describes an especially mature, serious, and thoughtful young man, trying to do what he feels is right for the country. Kerry's enormous courage, integrity, patriotism, and strength of character are on full display here. If you want to get a sense of what type of person John Kerry is, read this book.

This is a thoughtful analysis of what it means to be a Vietnam vet. It is also an interesting look into a major politician's life and career. Kerry is a strange mixture. He was a war hero, a war protestor, a liberal northern politician who has been accused of being an "elephant in donkey's clothes", and now he's making an unprecedented comeback in the primaries. He's a series of interesting contradictions, and this book deals with many of them.The book is well-written, and the subject is fascinating. I advise everyone to read this book or buy it for that uncle who always reads war history.

How to deal with the actual, living experience of war, then and now, is the underlying topic of Douglas Brinkley's troubling book. Troubling because in John Kerry's experience of Vietnam as a young soldier, there were no easy answers or solutions, even when it was clear that the war was wrong. How to behave? What decisions to make? How to maintain loyalty to one's comrades and decency to one's enemy? How to think about the experience years later, and apply it to the radically different environment created by the interplay of George W. Bush's insistence on invading Iraq and Saddam Hussein's efforts to disguise his own weakness, in a period when the CIA was warning he had the ability to kill millions with biological and chemical weapons, and was still seeking nuclears. No simple answers here, only the guidance that one has to do one's level best with the struggle to do the right thing. A powerful book, but not a happy one. What it does suggest that John Kerry has been through a crucible that would make him more cautious and serious than the people who got us into Iraq, and the compassion and empathy for others that might make him more capable of helping us find solutions for where we are now with Iraq and with the world.