Vietnam and The Sixties, Vietnam 5
170. HERR, Michael. Dispatches. NY: Knopf, 1977. Herr, reporting for Rolling Stone and Esquire from Vietnam, was one of the first of the young writers to bring the sensibilities of the 1960s and the conventions of the New Journalism to the "first rock-and-roll war," and it was a perfect match: nobody had told the tales Herr was finding in Vietnam and sending back in a riveting series of dispatches, legendary at the time. "Hell Sucks," "Illumination Rounds," "Khe Sanh," and his other pieces told the stories of the war in voices so authentic the uncensored words of the participants themselvesthat their impact was shattering. The official picture of an orderly progression to the warBody Counts, Vietnamization, Winning Hearts and Mindsbore no relation to the sheer madness and absolute hell that Herr found when he barely scratched the surface and got a glimpse of how the war looked from a grunts'-eye view. His writings helped define the "credibility gap" that made Vietnam so different from earlier wars. The prose is crystalline: absolutely nothing is wasted, and every awful nuance makes horrible sense. This is the war that took place on the other side of the looking glass, never reported on from the Pentagon or other official sources. These are the individual "dispatches" short, separate, individual pieces sent back from Vietnam at different times and from different places. Each is powerful and complete in itself, and takes time to digest. A small volume that adds up to much more than the sum of its parts by virtue of the sheer intensity of each part. Some of the most powerful reporting on the war. Fine in fine dust jacket.
171. -. Another copy. Fine in near fine dust jacket.
172. -. Another copy. This copy belonged to Gustav Hasford, author of The Short-Timers, and collaborator with Herr on the production of Full Metal Jacket, the film adaptation of his novel. With Hasford's blindstamps, underlinings and marginal annotations throughoutwhich reveal an attentive reader who is both sensitive to the content and also to the style of expression Herr uses. An interesting glimpse at one of the important literary figures to emerge from the Vietnam debacle. Apart from the markings and some minor sunning to the cloth edges, the book has been carefully read and is near fine in a fine dust jacket, and an excellent association copy.
173. -. Same title, the paperback edition (NY: Avon, 1978). Second printing. Blurbs by Robert Stone and John LeCarré which do not appear on the original edition. Unevenly sunned. Good.
174. -. Same title, the first English edition (London: Picador, 1978). Only issued in softcover in the U.K. Pages browning as usual; spine lightly creased from reading; otherwise this is a very good copy, inscribed by the author to his publisher in 1980, "with admiration and regards." Reprinted many times in England, the first printing is moderately difficult to locate, and signed copies are scarce, let alone a good association such as this.
175. HERSH, Seymour M. My Lai 4. A Report on the Massacre and Its Aftermath. NY: Random House (1970). Investigative reporting by the reporter who first broke the story and won a George Polk Memorial Award for doing so, and is now one of the most highly respected investigative reporters in the country. Fine in price-clipped dust jacket.
176. (History/Analyses). NGUYEN Van Thai and NGUYEN Van Mung. A Short History of Vietnam. Saigon: Times Publishing Company (1958). An overview of Vietnamese history published for the Vietnamese-American Association relatively soon after the partition of the country. Near fine in wrappers. An interesting glimpse of Vietnamese history through the lens of a very particular moment in time.
177. (History/Analyses). Vietnamese Studies. The Year 1968. Hanoi: (n.p.) (1970). Day by day chronology and analyses of the war's watershed year, from the perspective of the North Vietnamese regime. Cheap paper browning with age; spine-creased and covers edge-chipped; still very good in fragile wrappers. With several fold-out maps.
178. (History/Analyses). The Pentagon Papers. The Secret History of the Vietnam War. NY: Quadrangle (1971). Co-written by Neil Sheehan, Hedrick Smith, E. W. Kenworthy and Fox Butterfield -- practically a Who's Who of Vietnam reporting of that era. Sheehan later went on to win the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his biography of John Paul Vann. Dampstaining to lower edge of boards and jacket; still about near fine.
179. (History/Analyses). Two, Three... Many Vietnams. A Radical Reader on the Wars in Southeast Asia and the Conflicts at Home. San Francisco: Canfield (1971). A view of the war from the perspective of the left-wing Western intelligentsia, including such notable figures as Noam Chomsky, Jean Paul Sartre, Eldridge Cleaver, Carl Oglesby and others. Compiled by the editors of Ramparts magazine. Fine in wrappers.
180. (History/Analyses). Vietnam. A History in Documents. NY: NAL (1981). Second printing. First thus, an abridgement of a two-volume edition published in 1979. With an introduction by Gloria Emerson which appears in this edition for the first time. Very good in wrappers.
181. (History/Analyses). Vietnam and America. A Documented History. NY: Grove (1985). As the subtitle says, a history, mostly covering 1945-1975, supplemented by numerous key documents of the period. This is the issue in wrappers. Small hole punched upper right corner of front cover, otherwise fine in wrappers.
182. (HO CHI MINH). President Ho Chi Minh. Hanoi: Foreign Languages Publishing House (n.d.). [c. 1963]. A political biography in two partsthe first written by Pham Van Dong, who later became Prime Minister of North Vietnam in the period of the Paris Peace Talks. This volume, although undated, appears to have been contemporary with the Diem regime in South Vietnam, i.e., circa 1962-3. Very near fine in wrappers, with errata sheet laid in.
183. HOHENBERG, John. New Era in the Pacific: An Adventure in Public Diplomacy. NY: Simon & Schuster (1972). A critique of American diplomatic policy in the Pacific, drawing on the perceived failures of American policy in Vietnam. Slight foxing to top edge; else fine in near fine dust jacket.
184. HOLLAND, William E. Let a Soldier Die. NY: Delacorte (1984). The author's first book, a well-received novel of helicopter warfare. Fine in near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
185. HOOPES, Townsend. The Limits of Intervention. MY: David McKay (1969). Insider's account of the critical six months ending in March, 1968, when the American policy of escalation in Vietnam was reversed. Near fine in near fine dust jacket. Written by the former Under Secretary of the Air Force during the Johnson Administration.
186. HOPE, Bob. Five Women I Love. Garden City: Doubleday (1966). Later printing. Personal account by the comedian who toured Vietnam numerous times to entertain the troops. Very near fine in near fine dust jacket with moderate rubbing.
187. HUGGETT, William Turner. Body Count. NY: Putnam's (1973). A novel of Marines in Vietnam, winner of the "Putnam Award," and written by a former Marine. Called by Newman "one of the very best novels of Marines in Vietnam" (Newman 126). Near fine in dust jacket.
188. -. Another copy. Spine buckled; very good in similar jacket.
189. HYMOFF, Edward. First Marine Division in Vietnam. NY: M.W. Lads (1967). A unit history written by a war correspondent. Quarto, heavily illustrated with photographs. Two pages have a wrinkled tear at the top, otherwise near fine in a good dust jacket.
190. ISOART, Paul. Le Phénomène National Viêtnamien. Paris: Librairie Generale de Droit et de Jurisprudence, 1961. Acidic paper darkening; else fine in wrappers.
191. JACK, Alex. Dragonbrood. Brookline: Kanthaka (1977). A play about Vietnam, written in verse, by a writer who covered the war as a journalist in Vietnam and Cambodia. One of the many significant small press books done on the war. Only issued in wrappers. Remainder stripe; extremely rubbed; about very good.
192. JAMES, Allston. Attic Light. Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1979. One of the personal accounts of the war that straddles the line between autobiography and autobiographical fiction. The author served in Vietnam in 1969 and this, ostensibly, is an account of his time there and its effects on him afterwards. Fine in near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
193. JEFFERS, H. Paul and LEVITAN, Dick. See Parris & Die: Brutality in the U.S. Marines. NY: Hawthorn (1971). Nonfiction account of the Marine Corps boot camp on Parris Island where, in a five-year period 60 Drill Instructors were court-martialed for brutality, half of whom were convicted. Near fine in jacket chipped at lower front corner; otherwise about very good.
194. JENSEN, Jay R. Six Years in Hell. (Bountiful): Horizon (1974). The first edition of this book that was reissued in 1989 in a different form and format. Autobiographical account of the author's time as a prisoner of war of the North Vietnamese, with inspirational and religious tones to the narrative. Owner's embossed library stamp front endpaper and label under front flap; otherwise fine in very good dust jacket. Uncommon POW narrative.
195. JOHNSON, G.P. I Was Fighting for Peace, but, Lord, There Was Much More. Hicksville: Exposition Press (1979). A vanity press publication. Poems about the war by a veteran who was drafted in 1968 and wounded in Vietnam in 1969. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket. Scarce.
196. JONES, James. Viet Journal. NY: Delacorte (1974). Personal account of a trip to Vietnam. First book of nonfiction by the author of From Here To Eternity. Fine in price-clipped jacket with a short edge tear.
197. JURY, Mark. The Vietnam Photo Book. NY: Grossman, 1971. The uncommon hardcover issue of this classic book of photographs of the war, inspired by Robert Capa's Images of War. Fine in fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
198. JUST, Ward S. To What End. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968. The author's first book, reportage and personal accounts from his 18 months in Vietnam covering the war for the Washington Post. Small spot to top edge; else fine in near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with slight spine-fading.
199. -. Another copy. Slight spine roll; very near fine in very good dust jacket with one significant chip at the top edge of the front panel, affecting title.
200. JUST, Ward. Stringer. Boston: Atlantic Little Brown (1974). A novel about an intelligence agent on a guerrilla mission in Vietnam. Fine in near fine dust jacket.
201. JUST, Ward. Honor, Power, Riches, Fame and the Love of Women. NY: Dutton (1979). A collection of stories, some of them set in Southeast Asia. Fine in very near fine dust jacket with a slight degree of spine fading.
202. JUST, Ward. In the City of Fear. NY: Viking (1982). A novel of Washington, with the Vietnam war as a backdrop. Fine in fine dust jacket.
203. KAHIN, George McTurnan and LEWIS, John W. The United States in Vietnam. (NY): Delta (1969). Fourth printing of the second, revised edition. Very good in wrappers.
204. KARLIN, Wayne. Us. NY: Holt, 1993. The fourth novel by one of the editors of the important early anthology of short stories by Vietnam vets, Free Fire Zone. Fine in fine dust jacket.
205. KARNOW, Stanley. Vietnam. A History. NY: Viking (1983). A massive study of the Vietnam war, done in conjunction with the production of the 13-part Public Television history of the war, which facilitated hundreds of exclusive interviews and unearthed many previously secret documents. Fine in fine dust jacket.
206. KIRKWOOD, James. Some Kind of Hero. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell (1975). A novel of a POW in Vietnam, by one of the creators of A Chorus Line. Fine in fine dust jacket.
207. -. Another copy. Near fine in near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
208. KOVIC, Ron. Born on the Fourth of July. NY: McGraw-Hill (1976). One of the first of the personal accounts to come out in the aftermath of the war, and still one of the angriest. For all the memoirs that have since been prompted by experiences in Vietnam, this one still resonates with a bitter irony that has not been surpassed, and which is a vivid reminder of just how much we paid for our misadventure there. Without the searing pain of stories of this kind, the notion of reconciliation and recovery would be hollow indeed. Kovic was born on the Fourth of July and it is fitting that he be the one to take his country to task for the price he and, by extension, we paid in Vietnam. Basis for the award-winning Oliver Stone film. Fine in fine dust jacket.
209. -. Another copy. Cloth mottled; good in very good dust jacket.
210. -. Another copy, this being a complimentary copy presented to Hal Ashby from United Artists. Near fine in a dust jacket with a series of small edge chips, else very good. Together with a promotional brochure announcing the release of the video by MCA/Universal in 1990. Folds out to 22" x 34". Fine. For both:
211. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Near fine in wrappers.
212. KRASLOW, David and LOORY, Stuart H. The Secret Search for Peace in Vietnam. NY: Random House (1968). "The untold story, in dramatic detail, of the behind-the-scenes maneuvers to negotiate an end to the war in Vietnam." Near fine in near fine dust jacket.
213. LANG, Daniel. Casualties of War. NY: McGraw-Hill (1969). A nonfiction account of the kidnapping, rape and murder of a Vietnamese girl by four American soldiers, which originally appeared in The New Yorker, and was much later the basis for the well-received and controversial Brian de Palma film of the same name. This is a fine copy of the issue in wrappers.
213a. Another copy. Rubbed, with price inked out on front cover; otherwise very good.
214. LANGER, Paul F. and Zasloff, Joseph J. North Vietnam and the Pathet Lao. Partners in the Struggle for Laos. Cambridge: Harvard, 1970. A RAND Corporation study. Upper outer corner nicked, and jacket unevenly chipped there; still near fine.
215. LANSDALE, Major General Edward Geary. In the Midst of Wars. An American's Mission to Southeast Asia. NY: Harper & Row (1972). A discussion of America's involvement in Vietnam in the 1950s from the perspective of the author, who was one of the significant participants. Lansdale was a CIA operative in Vietnam in the mid-'50s and was the model for Graham Greene's The Quiet American as well as the enormously popular bestseller The Ugly American. Inscribed by Lansdale in 1979. Fine in good, externally repaired dust jacket.
216. LARSEN, Wendy Wilder and Tran Thi Nga. Shallow Graves. Two Women and Vietnam. NY: Random House (1986). The story of a friendship between an American woman and a Vietnamese woman, in Vietnam. An unusual, even unique booka dual memoir that is written entirely in verse. Fine in fine dust jacket.
217. LARTÉGUY, Jean. The Centurions. NY: Dutton (1962). First American edition of this novel about French paratroops in Indo-China and Algeria, written by one of the most experienced French war correspondents in Southeast Asia. Near fine in near fine dust jacket.
218. -. Another copy. Owner label front pastedown; minor cloth mottling; very good in near fine dust jacket.
219. LARTÉGUY, Jean. Yellow Fever. NY: Dutton, 1965. A novel of Vietnam in the '50s, as the French are pulling out. Owner name front flyleaf and crease to spine; else fine in very near fine dust jacket with slight rubbing to extremities and folds.
220. -. Another copy. Offsetting to endpapers and bleeding to upper front spine fold; near fine in jacket with some rubbing to the front panel.
221. -. Another copy. Page edges foxed; otherwise near fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket.