Book Description
One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians. The covert and controversial "Brides for Indians" program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians into the white man's world. Toward that end May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetime. Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time.
Customer Reviews:
Wild story from the wild west.......2007-10-08
May Dodd is the daughter of a wealthy family in Chicago who humiliates them by running off with her lover and having two children by him without marrying. Her family has her committed to an asylum as her indiscretion could only be caused by insanity. But she is ultimately given an opportunity to gain her freedom from the asylum - she must relocate west and become the bride of a Cheyenne Indian.
Little Wolf is the Cheyenne Chief who proposes to President Grant that the two nations trade 1000 white women for 1000 horses. It is Little Wolf's belief that by having children with the white brides that the offspring will bring the Cheyenne closer to the white world and thus begin the process of assimilation. The US Government takes the Indian Nation up on its offer in secret sending only those women who volunteer or want the freedom to escape their current lives, such as women in asylums and jails. May Dodd jumps on this opportunity and becomes a leader amongst the other women who believe the west has something to offer.
This novel is comprised of the journal entries of May Dodd and letters that she writes to loved ones back home understanding that they will never be mailed. Her writing chronicles the daily life of the Cheyenne from the elaborate wedding ceremony the white women experience, to the everyday chores and friendships that are born on the vast prairies. It is a unique look at how the Native American life may have been in the late 1800s, but also provides a sharp contrast between that life and that of the whites. The story is not without conflict and does a good job of presenting the perspective of the Native American as the white man trampled over their lands and customs.
Something about this book just didn't grab me and hold on. It was interesting and informative, but I had trouble buying into the May Dodd character. She was a bit too strong willed to be plausible. While others around her experienced terrifying fear, she almost brushes her own experience with fear and danger aside too callously. Not to say that she didn't acknowledge the people and circumstances that scared her, but it was minimized in such a way that it became hard to read her as a believable character. The story is moving, but was missing something that is hard to put a finger on.
Engrossing read.......2007-10-06
I loved this book! At the very beginning I was a bit skeptical but once I got into it I couldn't stop listening. I read some other reviews that mentioned finding men writing in a woman's voice not believable but I disagree. An author is a story teller and can tell a story from many perspectives, you need to use your imagination... it's fiction! After only a little way into the book I was immersed in the time, place and beauty of the setting. I loved the characters, a lot of variety and different peronalities. The Native American way of life was quite interesting and although this book was written in a plain spoken way it really came alive for me. I would highly suggest this book to anyone. It's an easy read and I think a "page turner."
Loved it.......2007-10-03
I loved this book and am so sad that it ended. I hope his other books are as good as this one because I really liked his writing style. I read all the time and this is the best book I have read in a long time. Once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. I would highly reccomend it!
Great read with unexpected story line.......2007-10-03
I asked some friends what was the best thing they'd read lately. When they mentioned the title of this book I could not imagine what it was about and visualized something like the Million Man March...in reverse? :-)
Even when they told me a bit of the plot line I wasn't sure about "One Thousand White Women". But they said they couldn't put it down so I gave it a try. I loved it - so much so that I bought it as a gift for someone else. The book intertwines a bit of a real story with 'what might have been'. I found myself so engrossed in the book that I forgot it was fiction...and wished it wasn't.
one of the best.......2007-10-02
One of the best books I've read in a long time! Right up there with Memoirs of a Geisha, from the point of view of a man writing as a woman and getting it so perfectly. Also because, like Geisha, the book transports you to another place and time and you feel like you have met a whole bunch of new friends. Read it!!!!
Customer Reviews:
ONE THOUSAND WHITE WOMEN: THE JOURNALS OF MAY DODD.......2007-03-12
I would highly recommend this book because the author offers a wonderful plot and storyline. His writing is very descriptive, with round, in-depth character descriptions that transcend the book into a very moving, interesting classic. This is a quality work of art that is based on historical fiction.
May Dodd decides to leave an insane asylum, where her family has sent her many years past, in an effort to start a new life as the bride of a Cheyenne Indian Chief. Learning the ways of the Cheyenne, building a new life within their culture, and transitioning from the world of the whites is truly an interesting plot. This is a classic work, which means no profanity, and the characters and plot are relatively timeless. Treat yourself, and purchase this book today!!!
Product Description
Johnny Hendry was an unusual lawman for the West-he didn't believe in violence. He believed that living by the gun could only end in dying by it-and winding up in an early grave. Then Johnny learned that the man who had been like a father to him all his life had been murdered. Pick Hendry, on his way to register his claim on the gold mine he'd been working, had been cruelly shot in the head. Johnny's philosphy no longer mattered. All he cared about was destroying the man who had killed Pick-and maknig that killer suffer for his crime.
Amazon.com
The Secret War Against Hanoi documents American covert actions in Vietnam, beginning in 1961 when John F. Kennedy decided that if Hanoi could wage a guerilla war against the South, the U.S. could do the same in the North. Dissatisfied with the CIA's initial results, Kennedy passed responsibility for covert operations to the Pentagon--which never fully supported them. For example, in an interview for this book, General Westmoreland, Commander of American forces in Vietnam, vastly underestimated the imaginative ways in which underground activities could destabilize an enemy. American covert action focused on disrupting two vital "centers of gravity": the North's own internal stability and the Ho Chi Minh Trail that ran through Laos and Cambodia. Such activities ran counter to the Geneva Accords, however, and nervous diplomats placed them under severe constraints. Permission always had to be obtained from the top, which after 1964 meant an excessively cautious President Johnson, concerned that China would be goaded into intervening openly in Vietnam as it had in Korea. The creative thinking that went into America's secret exploits reads like a racy novel, from the adroit brainwashing and release of captured fishermen to the fabrication of a phantom secret society based on a 15th-century anti-Chinese hero, plus innumerable nasty booby traps. Author Richard H. Shultz has had unusual access to prominent protagonists and to thousands of classified documents made available only to him while he researched this book. The Secret War Against Hanoi clearly lays out what was achieved and what might have been achieved by covert action in Vietnam, ending with a thoughtful analysis of lessons learned for future politicians and operatives in a post-cold war world. --John Stevenson
Book Description
From 1964 to 1972, the United States executed an extremely secret campaign of covert operations against North Vietnam. Controlled by the Pentagon's Special Operations Group, under the cover name "Studies and Observation Group" (SOG), it was the United States' largest and most complex covert operation since World War II. Because it was so highly classified and politically sensitive, once the war was over the story of SOG was buried deep in the vaults of the Pentagon--until Dr. Richard H. Shultz, Jr., one of the world's leading experts on SOG's activities in Southeast Asia, began his impressive investigative research and wide-ranging special interviews.
The Secret War Against Hanoi is based on thousands of pages of recently declassified top-secret SOG documents, as well as interviews with sixty officers who ran SOG's covert programs and the senior officials who directed this secret war, including Robert McNamara, Walt Rostow, Richard Helms, William Colby, William Westmoreland, and Victor Krulak. It is the first-ever definitive and comprehensive account of the covert paramilitary and espionage campaign, with many eye-opening disclosures.
Dr. Shultz reveals how in 1963, President Kennedy, dissatisfied with the CIA's ineffective guerrilla operations against North Vietnam, turned over operational control of the covert war to the Pentagon and demanded results. Despite Kennedy's strong directive, those results were slow in coming. United States policymakers and the senior military leadership had little interest in or understanding of special operations and resisted any expansion of the secret war. When SOG finally did get started in January 1964, under newly inaugurated President Johnson, it was constantly hobbled by the micro-management of the National Security Council, State Department, and Pentagon leadership.
Despite these restraints, SOG conducted its intense secret war for eight years, through the Johnson and Nixon administrations, and managed to execute a range of operations, including the dispatch of numerous spies to North Vietnam and creation of a sophisticated triple-cross deception program: psychological warfare through a fabricated guerrilla movement, manipulation of North Vietnamese POWs and kidnapped citizens, and dirty tricks; commando raids against Hanoi's coast and navy; and operations on the Ho Chi Minh Trail to kill enemy soldiers and destroy supplies. Ultimately, the Pentagon's spies, saboteurs, and secret warriors would produce both spectacular and disastrous results.
There are lessons to be learned from Washington's conduct of the secret war against Hanoi that will be valuable and valid for years to come for presidents who engage in covert special operations to meet twenty-first-century threats to vital U.S. interests.
Customer Reviews:
Snatching Defeat From Victory.......2006-07-28
Richard H. Shultz provides a well researched book to support the claim that politicians caused us to lose the Vietnam War. He describes how some SOG operations were extremely effective despite interference from Washington. This effectiveness is based on relatively recent information from the Vietnamese, not just declassified US records. The book itself is a pretty good read. Although some parts drag along, the majority of the book moves quickly.
Even though this book was published in 1999, it contains many valuable lessons that are acutely applicable to today's War on Terrorism. The Vietnam era Pentagon contained many officers who believed conventional warfare to be far superior to special operations. The book makes the argument that special operations can provide invaluable support to a conventional war, but cannot win the war by itself. Similar discussions were held prior to the recent war in Afghanistan. The military would have preferred to fight a conventional war but was forced by time constraints to send in special forces. In hind sight, the reader can compare Vietnam to Afghanistan where Special Operations not only fought a war, but won it single handedly. This bit of historical hind sight makes the book all the more disturbing. Had SOG been given a real chance, the outcome of the Vietnam War might have been different.
Specifically, the author describes how the national command authorities were afraid of success. The Pentagon and the White House were afraid that if SOG's activities were too successful, they might widen the war and draw in China. The book also illustrates the incredible lack of common sense displayed by administration officials. Numerous covert action plans were denied because they differed from overt US policy. This explanation lacks any logic. If covert action activities were in sync with overt US policy, then there is no reason to do it covertly. Covert action should be for activities that support national objectives but which cannot be disclosed openly because they may run counter to our public policy.
The book does not pull punches. The efforts of Ambassador Sullivan and Averell Harriman seem almost treasonous. They waged a bureaucratic war against the Pentagon that effectively kept SOG from doing its job. The North Vietnamese could not have had better friends.
Bottom line, this book tells a compelling tale of how senior military and political figures failed to aggressively prosecute the Vietnam War. It is a good insight into how Washington, in an effort to avoid a repeat of the Korean War, was simply afraid of being too successful. The criminal aspect of this policy is that if the Government sends the military to war, it has an obligation to at least try and win it.
The Story of the Mythical SOG.......2004-09-29
I had heard of the Studies and Observations Group as far back as the early 80s. As it the organization was so shrouded in mystery, it was hard to tell what was fact. Richard Schultz pulls the shroud away in this scholarly work and we discover the truth is stranger than fiction.
In the early 1960s, JFK directed his underlings to unleash a covert war against North Vietnam. Sort of a do to them what theyre doing to us deal. The CIA and then Defense Department create the Studies and Observations Group (SOG)and give it four primary missions. These were to insert Vietnamese spies into North Vietnam, conduct attacks on the North Vietnamese Coast, undermine North Vietnam with Psychological Warfare (Psywar), and finally to collect intelligence on and impede use of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
The author comes to the reasoned conclusion that SOG was a moderate failure. He shows the main factors in this failure to be timidity of policy makers to use SOG to its full potential out of a fear too much success would expand the war, indifference on the part of conventionally minded military leadership, a failure to incorporate SOG's unconventional war with the conventional war and effective North Vietnamese countermeasures.
Despite these fatal flaws, Schultz shows SOG did manage to provide some assitance to the war effort. In particular, the psywar program apparently drove the already paranoid North Vietnamese of the deep end and SOG recon teams on the Ho Chi Minh trail collected valuable intelligence and eliminate significant amounts of men and materiel.
The best part in my opinion was the portions relating to psywar. SOG went so far as to develop a fake resistance movement and left physical hints of its existence in interesting ways. Other psywar efforts included fake letters meant to implicate the Communist faithful in coup plots and exploding ammunition inserted into supply caches. Pretty cool stuff!
The only down side to the book is its kind of dry reading. By all accounts, SOG was the most highly decorated unit in US history. To his credit, Schultz touches on this but should have gone farther. There is no mention of Fred Zabitosky, Roy Benavides or Bob Howard (a man nominated three times for the Medal of Honor before finally receiving the award). Also, he does not quantify the success of the Ho Chi Minh Trail activities. The author tells us that recon team activities hurt and annoyed the North Vietnamese but there is no mention of exact tonnage of Communist equipment destroyed or the thousands of Communist soldiers tasked with patrolling the Trail because of SOG activities.
All and all a good, solid work. But sadly incomplete. To get the full picture, read this book in conjunction with John Plaster's "SOG".
Can't anyone here play this game?.......2004-08-03
It's not often that a particular work of history speaks directly to our immediate times. Richard Shultz has written a compelling account of the largest secret operation of the Cold War--the U.S. military's covert campaign against Hanoi during the Vietnam conflict. He lays out why the US military establishment and US policymakers alike were to blame for the complete failure of this secret effort. Shultz could well have subtitled the book, "How Not to Conduct Secret Warfare." Today's US warfighters confronting the Iraqi insurgency would do well to read this book.
Triple cross theology.......2002-10-03
This reads like a guidebook, sort of a secret Bible of things to do so everyone involved in global politics will think that you can do exactly what they are doing. There is an index, but it does not have a listing for triple cross thinking (covered mainly at the end of the "Going North" Chapter). The index is more helpful on the Counterinsurgency, Counterintelligence, Covert action, Covert operations, and Covert paramilitary campaign (listed topics) thinking which finally produced the triple cross operation. Without trying to explain how numerous officials in the United States were supposed to approve everything that was being done to create the kind of revolution which superpower thinking truly wanted, in their effort to make the people with power in North Vietnam think that an internal Sacred Sword of the Patriots League considered itself to be potentially more popular than the government of North Vietnam, a more recent approach to understanding this guide might consider how well this guide would work as a plan for triple cross activities, possibly including elections, elected officials, and the courts, to convince people in the United States that a Sacred Sword of the Patriots League had successfully taken over government operations in the United States of America. Specific comments in this book about the triple cross:
Could SOG create a triple-cross system to convince Hanoi that, in fact, it had uncovered only part of a much larger and more intricate subversion operation inside its borders? (p. 93).
The triple cross was not just against Hanoi but also "against our compatriots," noted the chief of OP 34, who was convinced that the STD was infiltrated by enemy intelligence. (p. 114).
"Of course, we were setting these guys up because there was no team to contact." (p. 115).
"We might also provide information about corrupt government officials who we claimed we learned about from messages sent back from agent teams inserted by us." (p. 115).
To make Project Oodles believable, different false radio messages were sent from OP 34 to each phantom team. (p. 119).
Finally, radios that sent messages out from these fake teams were air-dropped into North Vietnam. This completed the communications loop. Messages were coming in and answers were being sent out. (p. 120).
In effect, it was real evidence of spy commandos, as Hanoi referred to them. (pp. 122-3).
Finally, in November 1968, when the United States was going to have an election, MACVSOG was called by Washington, D. C., and told, "we are going to publicly say that we have no activities north of the parallel." (p. 124). Teams in North Vietnam had to get out immediately. Some people (and candidate Richard Nixon did not actually say this) were still thinking, "Just deny that you're engaged in MACVSOG operations and then crank them up. This was the way the operators saw things." (p. 126). I think about triple cross operations when I see a lot of political advertising on TV, but some of the Americans who created such operations might be engaged in other occupations today, and it would be extremely difficult to convince me that they aren't.
Turned out less well than the Peace Corps.......2001-01-04
As each book based on declassified data comes out, the story of Vietnam and the Great American Stumble there becomes more clear.
"The Secret War Against Hanoi" is particularly good in its own way. It elucidates the liberal train of thought as they were starting the war in 1961. On January 28 Kennedy had been president for 8 days. Vietnam was divided, the French were gone, and the Viet Cong were prosecuting a campaign of terrorism in the South in order to destabilize it and absorb it into the North. On that day Kennedy met with his National Security Council and listened to what was (in his view) the bad news on Vietnam: if the current conditions persisted, the South would fall to the Communists.
Why a little underdeveloped country in Asia should have been of such concern to Kennedy is anyone's guess, but what is no longer in doubt is that major American involvement in Vietnam began at that NSC meeting of Jan 28, when Kennedy stated that he wanted "guerillas to operate in the North". All that followed for 13 years was built upon that one simple sentiment expressed by the new president.
He wanted guerillas to operate in the North because, as he expressed it in April of that year, "We are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerillas by night instead of armies by day." Kennedy was intent on fighting back in kind: infiltrating, subverting, and deploying guerillas by night.
Presumably, the CIA would train Vietnamese spies and guerillas and inflict them on the North. But the Bay of Pigs fiasco happened that April, and the Kennedy brothers were convinced the fault for that lay with the CIA. Therefore they gave the job of training and inserting spies and guerillas into North Vietnam to the Pentagon, which had little experience in such operations.
There followed a string of failures, where hundreds of Vietnamese spies and saboteurs were sent up north, and never heard from again. Or North Vietnamese fishermen would be hauled off to an island and treated to an elaborate charade intended to show them that a revolt against the communist government was imminent. Shultz discusses these attempts in a dispassionate tone, but one gets a growing sense of waste and futility from the narrative. Any of the career espionage people at the CIA could have told Kennedy that it was virtually impossible to plant people in a closed totalitarian society like North Vietnam, even if, as in the case of the CIA, that's your business. But to have the Pentagon take a crack at it? Well, you might as well try to get HUD to send a rocket to the moon.
But Kennedy's obsession with and faith in covert action remained unabated till the day of his death. His cabinet, McNamara in particular, shared his enthusiasm. Eventually the Pentagon adopted the attitude that if you want anything done in Vietnam, you have to do it yourself. So covert actions began to include Americans, at the same time the overt effort began ramping up under Johnson.
The efforts were redirected toward more practical targets, such as the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the construction of which began in 1959), but the approach was no more practical. This wasn't a "real war", according to the brightest minds in Washington; it was more of a diplomatic game. Therefore, restrictions had to be placed on the units operating against the trail builders. Special forces could not go beyond 10 kilometers into "neutral" Laos. The North Vietnamese, displaying the practicality and opportunism that became their hallmark, would then route their trail 11 kilometers from the Laos-Vietnam border. Their spies, unlike those of the Pentagon, were quite effective.
It wasn't any secret that cutting off the Ho Chi Minh trail would cut off the stream of men and materiel into the South. Shultz quotes Bui Tin, the NVA officer who accepted the surrender of the South in 1975: "If Johnson had granted General Westmoreland's request to enter Laos and block the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Hanoi could not have won the war."
As simple as that. Straight from the lips of an opposing officer. In retrospect, it seems like the logical thing to do: cut off the enemy's supply line. But from its very beginning on January 28, 1961, the Vietnam War was not conducted logically.
Perhaps the Kennedy-Johnson crowd's truly wacky ambivalence can best be glimpsed on pages 34-35. Shultz relates how President Kennedy was "stunned" by the images of Buddhist monks immolating themselves in protest of the Diem government's repression. Diem's sister-in-law, who seems to have been a cross between Immelda Marcos and Leona Helmsley, referred to the immolations as "barbecues". At the same time, South Vietnamese generals were planning a coup. It was dawning on the government of the US that the government of its ally was corrupt and effete and repressive. So where did the Kennedy Administration choose to direct its energies? Toward Hanoi: "escalation of the covert war against Hanoi became a major agenda item. The decision was made to turn up the pressure on the North."
With policy like this being made by the Best and the Brightest, one can only shudder at what a catastrophe we'd have had if our leaders had been merely average.
Average customer rating:
- This book is nonsense
- Ridiculous
- Some Fact, Some Fiction, Some Fantasy, Some Good, Some Bad!
- The book is fiction written by a liar.
- Sometimes captivating ... let me down hard
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Covert Warrior: Fighting the CIA's Secret War in Southeast Asia and China, 1965-1967
Warner Smith
Manufacturer: Presidio Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0891415971
Release Date: 1996-06-01 |
Book Description
CIA/Naval Intelligence veteran Warner Smith tells the remarkable, true account of a secret soldier's twenty-month combat odyssey through Southeast Asia.
Customer Reviews:
This book is nonsense.......2002-12-09
This alleged memoir has been repeatedly exposed as a fabrication by genuine Special Ops veterans' groups and the U.S. Naval Institute's PROCEEDINGS. Mr.Smith was apparently a real Naval officer during the Vietnam War, but his Southeast Asian service was limited to the Philippines. During the period of the novel, he was actually serving as Treasurer of the Officers' Club at Sangley Point Naval Air Station, PI. However, I am sure people who wish to believe these things will find his account insightful, along with other such "true" war stories like "The Dirty Dozen" and "La Femme Nikita".
Ridiculous.......2001-05-01
I am no military expert nor a buff by any means I am totally new to most true life military books having just become interested in these type of books, but even I could tell this was totally bogus. First of all he was the only survivor of this elite team? My how conveinent no one to back up his story. Second it just does not ring true he come off like a guy who watched to many Vietnam movies about tortured vets who went through hell and back. It is just is to cheesy to be real.
Some Fact, Some Fiction, Some Fantasy, Some Good, Some Bad!.......1999-10-09
I have read the reviews of some of the readers of the book, and I am dismayed at their lack of basic knowledge of the workings of the CIA covert actions. Why can't we find out about the authors history, CIA! why can't the facts be confirmed or denied? CIA! It's true that the author took liberites with the situations, but over all, we need to hear everybodys recollections of that war and we need to take into account every detail. Were there young men recruted right out of boot camp to serve in covert activities? Were those young men and women sent into harms way? Were those people ever acknowledged for their service or bravery? Were some even forgotten in the jungles of SE Asia,Cambodia and other places we wern't suppose to be at the time? Lets get to the facts as to why this war was fought, not over one man's recollections over anothers. I don't think that too many people really want to know the facts about the war in VietNam, I don't think that we really want to know who wore the halos, or who were the friendlys and who were the bad guys. I suppose that the Vietnamese have their versions also, I suppose that they could tell some stories that we would dispute because we didn't do those kinds of things, did we?
The book is fiction written by a liar........1999-07-24
Do not waste your money buying this book. From the beginning, there are aspects of the book which do not pass the "smell test". I stopped reading the book less than half through it. I had purchased it from the Military History Book Club and I called them and demanded my money back on the basis of being defrauded by the author. Being a Vietnam vet myself, it was not difficult to quickly ascertain that Smith had never been there, or if he had, it certainly was not in the role which he claims in this book. Do not buy this book, and just as important, tell others not to buy it.
Sometimes captivating ... let me down hard.......1999-05-22
I enjoyed the scene development. I enjoyed the fantasy. The mistake of identifying the Birddog aircraft (Liaison) as a fabric aircraft was jarring! It is a metal airplane! The kid in me wanted to believe, but I had to declare it a fake. Too bad!
Average customer rating:
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Secret Wars: Covert Operations in Vietnam
Addison Wesley
Manufacturer: Addison Wesley Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0201119447 |
Book Description
This true story of a special forces officer in Vietnam in the mid-1960s exposes the unique nature of the elite fighting force and how covert operations are developed and often masked to permit-and even sponsor-assassination, intentional killing of innocents, illegal use of force, and bizarre methods in combat operations. The fear that these warriors share with no other military person is revealed-not fear of the enemy, but fear of the wrath of the U.S. government should they decide a special ops agent is "expendable." This book centers on the CIA mission to assassinate Cambodian Crown Prince Nordum Sihanouk, the author's unilateral aborting of the mission, the CIA's dispatch of an ARVN regiment to attack and destroy the camp and kill every person in it as retribution for defying the agency, and the dramatic rescue of eight American Green Berets and hundreds of South Vietnamese.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book!.......2007-02-15
I agree with the recent review that says he bought it because the detractors did not disprove the authors exploits. While it is almost impossible to prove a negative, it seems as though it should be relatively easy to discredit the author if he is being untruthful; and apparently a jury agreed. This mans experiences remind me of the treatment that Terry Reed, the covert CIA operative and Air Force intelligence veteran, got when he attempted to expose the agency using his company for drug trafficking out of Mena; while Reagans' administration was telling our kids to just say no.
Anyone who doesn't or won't believe that the Presidency is co-opted from Langley is delusional. I found this book to be very credible and supported by facts and evidence. Where is the other sides info?!
Great Premise, lousy book.......2007-01-10
My review in three words? Don't buy it.
This is the kind of story that interests me. Unfortunately, the author is no author. As a soldier, I sure he is the best, but his storytelling ability leaves a lot to be desired. I'm not interested in the exact names of the places involved, nor do I need the exact locations of everything in the control perimeter. I want stories about the events that took place. Not the background fluff and filler. I'm halfway thru this book, and it hasn't gotten my attention or interest, yet. I can't even finish it. The only good thing about this book, are the pictures. They had some interest, to me.
Government plot o kill Green Berets Proven in Court .......2006-10-29
This book, now proven to be true in Federal Court (Charleston South Carolina in January 2006), lets the world know that our government asked the Special Forces Team Commander in An Phu, South Vietnam, in 1966, to ambush and kill then Cambodian Crown Prince Norodum Sihanouk, tells how then Captain Dan Marvin unilaterally aborted the mission, threw the CIA agent (Walter Mackem) out of his camp and how the CIA then sent a heavily armed ARVN Regiment to attack and destroy Captain Marvin's Camp with its teams of Green Berets (US and ARVN) and approx. 400 Buddhist Hoa Hao Iregulars. It then shows how ARVN LTG Quang Van Dang learned of the attack, flew over the regiment with US Army Colonel William Desobry, ordered the Regiment back to its base and flew into Marvin's camp and gave them all his gurantee of immunity.
Court-Approved, by a South Carolina jury.......2006-02-07
Howdy,
I am Kris Millegan and representing the publisher TrineDay, am here to tell you that the book Expendable Elite was the focus of Libel trial in Federal District Court in Charleston South Carolina. The Special Forces Association financed the action and supplied the attorneys. There was a five day trial in-front of eight jurors. Lt.Col. Marvin and TrineDay's defense was the book was true and that we had not defamed anyone.
We were defendants compelled to appear and stand-up for our good names and reputations. The plaintiffs testified that their was no action, that their camp was a "resort." That the "book was 100% lies." That is all that they brought forth in testimony, excepting three retired soldiers; a former top JAG, retired Major General, who testified that the men broke a General Order (which not he or anybody can produce), and two soldiers (one a Medal of Honor winner) that weren't there.
We brought pictures, newspaper articles, letters and audio-tapes made by the plaintiffs themselves (which substantiated every major point of the story), and a deposition of a twenty-year veteran of the San Diego police department, a gentleman who was a Vietnamese translator who also verified personally aspects of Lt. Col. Marvin's story.
Lt.Col. Marvin and TrineDay were found unanimously NOT GUILTY in a little over two hours.
You see folks, most of the negative reviews generated here have come about because of a campaign by the Special Forces Association. In intelligence parlance it is called a steamroller operation. The SFA has drove the steamroller before. Covering up our history. Not hiding it from our enemies but from us, citizens. Denying us a true account or our history ... so they may continue their ungodly wars.
I also find interesting that Amazon runs interference also by continuing to try a sell the paperback, when they know it has never been printed. They keep taking orders and messing with folks. They don't do it with other books of mine that didn't make it all the way to market. Interesting.
Right now there are just a few hundred books left. Hopefully, TrineDay will recover from the staggering cost of defending ourselves and we will finally issue the paperback (with updates) in the fall of 2006.
Peace,
Kris Millegan
Critics improve sales..........2005-03-13
The negative reviews of this book made me decide to purchase it. Why? Because the attacks on the book were not substantive, the critics only said it "isn't true". They provided no evidence to make me think this book is fiction. It's hard to see how he has profited financially from the book, it seems the opposite is the case. I can't say it is "true" either, but the critics provide no basis to make me believe them.
Books:
- Out of Place: A Memoir
- Pioneer Women
- Pursuit Of Freedom: A True Story Of The Enduring Power Of Hope & Dreams
- Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey
- Sailing Alone Around The World
- Shakespeare by Another Name: A Biography of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the Man Who Was Shakespeare
- Sharon and My Mother-in-Law: Ramallah Diaries
- Stick Figure
- Stop-Time: A Memoir
- Swamp Fox
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer
- Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook
- Emanuel Goldberg and His Knowledge Machine: Information, Invention, and Political Forces
- History: Fiction or Science
- Godard on Godard: Critical Writings by Jean-Luc Godard
- Introduction to Combustion Phenomena
- Ignited: Managers! Light Up Your Company and Career for More Power More Purpose and More Success
- Miller's: American Quilts: How to Compare & Value
- Follow Your True Colors To The Work You Love: Instructor's Guide
- Foundations of Economics: A Beginner's Companion
Water for Elephants: A Novel
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
The Other Boleyn Girl
Pope Joan: A Novel
The Wild Girl : The Notebooks of Ned Giles, 1932
