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Loading... Shooting at the Moon: The Story of America's Clandestine War in Laosby Roger Warner
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Well-woven narrative that is a coherent and readable book on the Laotian war. I say coherent and well-woven, because it can be difficult to follow the the changing loyalties and compositions of the different Laotian factions. In the same vein as Charlie Wilson's War. Takes an obscure individual and uses him as a vehicle to tell the story, in this case a CIA agent. I felt the author was overly critical of the anti-war movement in general and specifically the ex-pat he describes as degenerate hippy. The CIA is given a bit of a pass and are described as idealistic men who made some mistakes. The human toll of the bombing seemed to be a bit glossed over. But despite my criticism of political aspects, this book was a great read overall. An engaging read even for those that know little about the wars in Indochina and just want a good story. ( ) no reviews | add a review
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References to this work on external resources. Wikipedia in English (42)Until now, the history of America's war in Vietnam has been incomplete. The origins of that conflict - the most controversial and painful chapter in American history since the Civil War - were in Laos, a remote, landlocked, mountainous country where the CIA waged a secret war against communism. Drawing on unprecedented access to previously closed files and on extensive interviews, Back Fire fills in the last missing piece in the puzzle of America's tragic involvement in Southeast Asia. Taking us to the heart of the war in Laos - from CIA headquarters in Washington to the Hmong tribesmen's huts, where ideals were discussed and promises made and then broken - Roger Warner tells the previously untold story of the secret war through the experiences of the key players. Beyond his narrative of key players and events, Warner shows how the secret war in Laos was connected to the larger war in Vietnam, and how Vietnam was central to the shifting alliances of Cold War geopolitical rivals. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)959.704History and Geography Asia Southeast Asia Vietnam 1949-LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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