Vietnam and The Sixties, Vietnam 4
129. FORD, Daniel. Incident at Muc Wa. Garden City: Doubleday, 1967. An early, important novel of the war, later filmed as Go Tell the Spartans. Written by a journeyman reporter in Southeast Asia and presaging many later novels in dealing with many of the ambiguities of the Vietnam war. Fine in near fine dust jacket.
130. FORD, Herbert. No Guns on Their Shoulders. Nashville: Southern Publishing (1968). Personal accounts of a number of Seventh Day Adventist medics in Vietnam. Fine in a very good dust jacket with wear at crown and an edge tear on the front panel. An uncommon book.
131. (Free Speech). Free Speech for Gis. The Case of Pfc. Howard Petrick, A Soldier Opposed to the Vietnam War. (NY): (Committee to Defend the Rights of Pfc. Howard Petrick) (1967). A pamphlet recounting the case of a GI court-martialed for expressing antiwar and socialist views. Includes an interview, photographs and brief statements in support of Petrick by a number of notable figures. Corner staining to cover and first pages; else about near fine in stapled wrappers.
132. FULLER, Jack. Fragments. NY: Morrow (1984). A novel by a writer who was a combat correspondent for Stars and Stripes in Vietnam. Review copy. Fine in very good dust jacket with several edge tears and one piece missing from the lower front flap fold.
133. GARDNER, Lloyd C. Approaching Vietnam. From World War II through Dienbienphu. NY: Norton (1988). A comprehensive overview of the postwar period and the events that precipitated the French-Indochina war, the Geneva accords, the partition of Vietnam, and the later direct American involvement. Fine in fine dust jacket with slight rubbing.
134. GIAP, Gen. Vo Nguyen. People's War Against U.S. Aeronaval War. Hanoi: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1975. In a series of speeches given in 1969-1970, the most celebrated Vietnamese general analyzes the North Vietnamese strategy for the defeat of the U.S. air and sea war. Published two years after the American pullout from Vietnam, and during the year that South Vietnam finally fell. Mild surface soiling; near fine in wrappers.
135. GIBSON, Margaret. Considering Her Condition. NY: Vanguard (1981). A collection of short stories by an award-winning Canadian author, one of them consisting of letters between a soldier in Vietnam and his girlfriend in Canada. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a crease on the front flap and a short edge tear on the front panel.
136. GLASSER, Ronald J., M.D. 365 Days. NY: George Braziller (1971). The author's first book, a classic of the war, describing a year in the life of a doctor stationed in Japan who saw some of the most badly injured of the wounded victims of Vietnam who survived: most who made it to Japan had injuries too serious to be treated in-country in Vietnam. Glasser recounts his own experiences as well as his patients' and a number are absolutely heartrending: they remind the reader that the typical soldiers over there were teenagers, with no real idea of what they had gotten themselves into. In a controversial case in Maine, this book was banned by a school district, ostensibly for profanity but more likely for the grimly negative portrayal of the war it presents. Fine in near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
137. GRAUWIN, Paul. Doctor at Dienbienphu. NY: John Day, 1955. Harrowing account of the months-long siege, by the chief medical officer. An early and important personal account, and quite scarce. Tape shadows on endpapers where formerly a dust jacket protector was affixed; no other markings. Very good in dust jacket.
138. GREENE, Graham. The Quiet American. London: Heinemann (1956). Uncorrected proof copy. One of the first novels to explore the American involvement in Vietnam and the theme, so often repeated later, of good intentions gone awry. Based on actual characters and eventswith an American protagonist modeled after Col. Edward Lansdale, the CIA operative who has been called "the attending physician at the birth of South Vietnam." A scarce, early proof, which gives an incorrect publication date on the copyright page: the book was actually published in December, 1955, and the trade edition corrects the date. Very good in wrappers.
139. -. Same title, the trade edition. Fine in near fine, spine-darkened dust jacket, with publisher's wraparound band present. A fresh, crisp copy, with the ephemeral band.
140. -. Another copy. Spine slightly cocked; near fine in dust jacket.
141. -. Another copy. Previous owner's name and date (December 19, 1955) on front free endpaper. Otherwise very good in very good, price-clipped dust jacket.
142. GROOM, Winston. Better Times than These. NY: Summit (1978). The author's first book, one of the self-consciously "big" novels of the waran ambitious book that tries to explore the important issues of the time from a number of different angles through its various characters. Fine in near fine dust jacket. A nice copy of a book that, because of its construction, most often shows up well-worn. The author has since become most well-known for the movie adaptation of his novel, Forrest Gump.
143. GROOM, Winston. Forrest Gump. Garden City: Doubleday, 1986. Advance reading copy of the author's fifth book, a comic novel of a Vietnam vet whose simple-minded perspective provides fertile ground for satirical social commentary: a Jim Harrison blurb calls it "a line bred out of Voltaire and Huck Finn." A minor contemporary classic recently released as a major movie, to excellent reviews. Fine in illustrated wrappers, which reproduce in a single color the artwork that was later incorporated onto the dust jacket of the finished book. Made into one of the top-grossing films of all time.
144. HALBERSTAM, David. The Making of a Quagmire. NY: Random House (1965). First book of reporting by the New York Times journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Vietnam in 1964, as well as several other journalism awards. An early, critical, controversial piece of reporting on the war. Fine in fine dust jacket. An important book, which is now becoming quite scarce, particularly in nice condition.
145. HALBERSTAM, David. One Very Hot Day. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968. A novel of the war by this Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, whose nonfiction ranks among the best and most influential written on the war. This is a fine copy in near fine dust jacket.
146. HALBERSTAM, David. Ho. NY: Random House (1971). Brief political biography of the Vietnamese leader. Fine in fine dust jacket.
147. HALBERSTAM, David. The Best and the Brightest. NY: Random House (1972). Halberstam's magnum opus, a study of American government under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, the individuals involved and the policies they pursued. Much material relating to Vietnam, needless to say, and one of the most important studies of the political dimension of Vietnam. A classic whose title has worked its way into the language as an ironic comment on well-meaning intelligence gone awry. A remarkably scarce book in the first edition. Fine in fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
148. HALDEMAN, Joe W. War Year. NY: HRW (1972). First book by this author who has since won a number of major awards for his science fiction. A short, semi-autobiographical novel of his year in Vietnam. Signed by the author. Fine in near fine dust jacket with a light strip of dampstaining to the lower edge.
149. HALL, H. Palmer. Foreign and Domestic. (n.p.: n.p., n.d.). Computer print-out of this collection of poetry and prose (published?). Bound in 3-hole notebook. Fine.
150. HARDESTY, Steven. Ghost Soldiers. NY: Walker (1986). A novel by a writer who was an artillery officer in Vietnam, about a group of soldiers, some alive and some dead, fighting together. The book focuses on various soldiers' fantasies, and how the fantasies become survival mechanisms. Fine in fine dust jacket.
151. HARDY, René. The Sword of God. London: Hamish Hamilton (1954). First British edition of this early novel of the Indochina war, and power struggles among the Viet Minh. Strips of offsetting to endpapers; else fine in bright, very near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
152. HASFORD, Gustav. The Short-Timers. NY: Harper & Row (1979). The author's first book, a novel that was made into the landmark movie Full Metal Jacket by Stanley Kubrick. A short, grim book, it has been called one of the most powerful to come out of the war and the movie was equally stunning in its portrayal of the brutalization of the recruits who were being sent to war, both before they went and after they arrived. This is a very fine copy in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket, and is signed by the author and dated 1982. The author had a reputation as an uncompromising man of extremes, and few signed copies of his books have turned up over the years, particularly his first and most famous book. Hasford died of complications from an illness contracted during his stay in prison as a result of his conviction on charges of book theft. His avid love of books led him to become not only a writer but also a hoarder of books, many of which had apparently been wrongfully removed from libraries. In the space of a couple of years, Hasford went from being a celebrity Vietnam vet novelist, with the screenplay of a major Hollywood production of his own novel to his credit, to a convicted thief serving time in jail and virtually shunned by his former associatesall of which seem to be attributable in some fashion to post-traumatic stress.
153. -. Another copy. Fine in a fine dust jacket and inscribed by the author to the novelist Kate Wilhelm in the month of publication: "For Kate/ who had faith/ Love,/ Gus/ Morro Bay 1/10/79." A nice literary association.
154. -. Another copy. Inscribed by Hasford to Allen Ginsberg "from an admirer" in 1979, and signed by Ginsberg in 1994. Fine in near fine dust jacket.
155. -. Another copy, unsigned. Fine in fine dust jacket.
156. -. Another copy. Minor foxing to top edge of pages; otherwise fine in fine dust jacket.
157. -. Same title, the first British edition (London: Century, 1985). Published just prior to the release of the movie Full Metal Jacket. Fine in fine dust jacket. Uncommon.
158. HASFORD, Gustav, HERR, Michael, and KUBRICK, Stanley. Full Metal Jacket. NY: Knopf, 1987. The published screenplay based on Hasford's The Short-Timers. Introduction by Michael Herr. Fine in wrappers. Together with the publicity brochure for the film. Near fine. For the two:
159. HASFORD, Gustav. The Phantom Blooper. NY: Bantam (1990). His second novel, a sequel to The Short-Timers, with several of the same characters. Fine in near fine dust jacket. A surprisingly uncommon book these days.
160. HASFORD, Gustav. A Gypsy Good Time. NY: Pocket Books (1992). His third book, a hardboiled novel which was only issued in softcover. The main character is a rare book dealer who is a Vietnam vet. Fine in wrappers.
161. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Fine in wrappers.
162. HASSLER, Alfred. Saigon, U.S.A. NY: Baron, 1970. Introduction by George McGovern, then a Senator. A critique of the South Vietnamese government by the executive secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an interdenominational peace group. Minor cloth mottling; near fine in very near fine dust jacket.
163. HATCH, Dorothy. Waking to the Day. (Roslyn): Stone House Press, 1985. A finely printed chapbook collection of poems, 11 pp., illustrated with woodcuts by John De Pol. One 2-page poem, which has the volume's only illustration other than the frontispiece, is entitled "Elegy On TV News From Vietnam." One of 125 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in saddle-stitched self wraps. Fine.
164. HEINEMANN, Larry. Close Quarters. NY: FSG (1977). Some have called this combat novel, about a squadron of APC crews, the best to come out of the war. It is doubtless one of the best: well-written, tightly constructed, it conveys with seemingly artless ease the plight of the grunt in Vietnamthe hours of boredom punctuated by moments of pure terror which characterize the combat soldier. It is also darkly humorous, as are a number of the best books about the waras if only humor, and humor of a particularly dark and somewhat bent sort, could convey a portion of that unbelievable set of experiences for which one's normal and previous frames of reference no longer applied. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
165. HEINEMANN, Larry. Paco's Story. NY: FSG (1986). The author's second novel, about a badly maimed Vietnam vet who is the only survivor of a vicious firefight, and his life after returning from the war. Surprise winner of the National Book Award. Fine in fine dust jacket and inscribed by the author in 1991.
166. -. Another copy, unsigned. Fine in fine dust jacket.
167. -. Another copy. Fine in very near fine dust jacket slightly crimped at spine crown.
168. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Fine in wrappers.
169. HENDRICKS, G.C. The Second War. NY: Viking (1990). Coming-of-age novel about a Southern boy who goes to Vietnam as a pilot and is shot down there. Glowing dust jacket blurbs by Tim O'Brien, Robert Mason and Craig Nova. This is an advance review copy. Fine in fine dust jacket.