Four Hours in My Lai

See Larger Image	List Price: $17.00 Our Price: $11.56 Your Save: $ 5.44 ( 32% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics) Written By: Michael Bilton,Kevin Sim Average Customer Rating:


Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 959.704342 EAN: 9780140177091 ISBN: 0140177094 Label: Penguin (Non-Classics) Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics) Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 448 Publication Date: 1993-03-01 Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Related Items Vietnam: A History Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War: Documents and Essays (Major Problems in American History) The Vietnam War: Vietnamese and American Perspectives In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story
Editorial Reviews: On March 16, 1968, a battle-scarred U.S. fighting unit entered the Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai. There, a group of soldiers murdered 500 unarmed women, children and old men. Simply and courageously, Four Hours in My Lai tells the truth about what happened--a story that should never be forgotten. Companion to the Emmy Award-winning documentary Four Hours to My Lai.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent reading Comment: I read the true story of the My Lia Massacre when it first came out, and then knew why when we came back we were called baby killers. Now that I have read this book on My Lia I wonder how they let something like that happen and what makes me mad is that nothing more has been done about the people that done it all. I personelly think that all the people that took part should be put in jail and left there, but other then that it was an excellent book to read. Customer Rating: Summary: An Important Book Comment: My family fled Vietnam in 1979 and settled in the U.S. I always believed that the Americans were the "good guys" in the Vietnam War. After reading this book, I now have a much different view. I see the conflict as something that is much more complex than what I was taught in high school. The Viet Congs committed many atrocities during the war, but it seems as though the Americans committed just as many--if not more--atrocities. The My Lai Massacre is a shining example of the low regard that a large number of American soldiers had for Vietnamese peasants. I highly recommend this book as it debunks the myths surrounding the Vietnam War. In addition, the authors call into question the moral character of not only the "grunts" that gunned down old men, women, children, and even babies, but also the officers high up the chain of command that tried to cover up the massacre. Moreover, the authors are highly critical of the military justice system that basically looked the other way even in the face of overwhelming evidence that a massacre indeed did occur. The book serves as an important reminder of the horrendous nature of war where good young boys can turn into cold-blooded killers. In light of the recent events in Haditha, Mukaradeeb, and Hamdania, among others, we need to learn from past mistakes so that we don't repeat them. Customer Rating: Summary: Strangers in a strange land Comment: An excellent and even-handed book. As a father of four, I would take my helmet off to Thompson and hope that I would have done the same thing in those circumstances. However, as a jumpy eighteen-year-old who had spent three months seeing his buddies slaughtered in booby trap after booby trap, having their heads blown off by snipers you never see or get to track, Army trucks full of draftees decimated by grenades thrown by smiling elderly villagers and children, I really don't know how much I would have given a damn for any village anywhere in that country. Yes, the massacre was wrong, and thank God for men like Thompson, but if anybody is going to judge My Lai or any other total breakdown of discipline and artificially-sustained morality, it should be men and women who have served in extreme combat environments, not bourgeois middle-class Liberals who have never had to get their hands dirty. Vietnam was a filthy war, and because it never had a distinct purpose or Win Scenario driving it, it was a pointless war. Ironically, one of the things that triggered My Lai was the very fear and frustration generated by the VC's own tactics, including the mutilation of American corpses and the constant goading and provocation that GI's had to endure. This was the same Enemy that massacred French garrisons and lined the approach roads with the severed heads of the defenders to demoralize the relief columns. The same Enemy that even booby trapped live babies in order to kill American soldiers and shock them into a state of psychological collapse. Read the book, by all means, and be outraged. Yet while the massacre can never be justified, with the kind of background, only some of which I have just outlined, it can perhaps be understood - above all, as others have rightly said, in the absence of strong leadership and the stability provided by having a good sprinkling of experienced Vets throughout the Company. No, it should never have happened, but then, neither should the War. Customer Rating: Summary: rayandjoy@alltel.net Comment: I thought that Lt Calley was made a scapegoat for the event that happened at My Lia, but after reading the book. I find that he was a coldblooded killer,and cause many other young men to be the same way. I will never understand why Cpt Medina,and the other oficers involved in this incident was not brought to trail. The order given by these Oficers were just as much the cause of the problem, as were the men that did the actual killing. I served two tours in Nam , and I thank God that I never witnessed any such thing. I would probably have been brought to trail myself for killing those that would do such a coldhearted thing. However I must say that I am exremely proud of those that did not participate in the shooting. Customer Rating: Summary: No the complete story Comment: The major problem with this work is that from the beginning, it tries to explain the My Lai massacre as a function of the corruption inherent in the Vietnam War. It is reminiscent of Jospeh Caputo's attempts to exonerate himself by blaming the war for the corruption of his soul and his order to assasinate two suspected Vietnamese spies. The problem with both of these approaches is that the events are never placed in their proper context, that is, as occuring during a war whrer millions of soldiers served honorably. Instead, the event transcends time and space and is explained as product of the impersonal forces of war and their effects on the soldiers who served in Vietnam. My Lai, then becomes the epitome of this "Zietgiest", if you will, of the corrupting influence of war and its effeects on the participants. Granted, the behavior of the men of the Americal division in the My lai episode is simply unforgivable, but plenty of heroic soldiers served in the division, as did millions of other soldiers in Vietnam without the requisite number of massacres one should expect if the war was so traumatizing and corrupting. A better approach would be to explore the personal flaws of those involved and begin an explanation from there. The real tragedy is not the effect of the war on the perpetrators, but the real human failure of those who participated and the circumstance they would find themselves in that exploitred their deficiencies of character. The victims are truly victims because they were subjected to the actions of these men not because of something they did, but by the mere juxtoposition of events that allowed these terribly flawed men to enounter them in war. It seems disingenous, as well an insult to the victims and those who served honorably, to blame this event on impersonal forces such as the "corrupting nature of war" rather than focusing the blame squarely on those individuals responsible. If not, the tendency is to transcend space and time, take the event out of context and view as a manifestation of an American Holocaust in Vietnam. Nothing could be further form the truth. The authors should be reminded that those who cannot distinguish between a tragedy and a holocaust yearn to be taught the difference. More Reviews