Al Santoli has collected the recollections (including his own) of thirty-three American soldiers who fought in Vietnam. The soldiers include an Army enlistee who finds a "nine-to-five war" when he arrives in Vietnam in 1962; an Army drill sergeant who worries that the Army prevents him from teaching his men the killer instinct; and a Navy SEAL whose job is terrorism. ["It was a business, and the business was terrorism." (pg. 219)] The soldiers also include a naval aviator who as senior POW officer worries as much about his men's mental health as his own; and a medical corpsman present during the 1975 fall of Saigon.

Most of these recollections do not emphasize bloodshed. Instead they emphasize the Vietnam War's effect upon men and women soldiers; white and minority soldiers; and enlisted personnel, officers, and their families. The recollections discuss the relationship between the Americans and the Vietnamese people. The recollections also discuss the Viet Cong war philosophy: terrorism and erosion of will.

On April 30, 2000 a copyrighted Reuters news article "Vietnam Celebrates War Anniversary" reported that Vietnamese "Officials paid glowing tribute to the three million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians who died during the war. More than 58,000 American troops were also killed in the conflict." The same article reported that many Vietnamese "also express growing unease over Vietnam's woes: graft, smuggling, heroin addiction, prostitution, excessive party control over the economy and a feeling that the world is getting wired to the future and leaving them behind."

The Vietnam War was long, confusing, and controversial. Al Santoli's collection of oral histories dispels some of the confusion, but the controversy remains. Did anyone win the Vietnam War?

Savage Landor attempts to Reach the Province of Lhassa around 1897 at a time when this part of the world existed only in the fables and stories in the western world.The path to Lhassa was ridden with bandits who lived on lootings.It used to take eight months from Lassa to Peking in those days and people used to travel in groups for fear of these bandits.That was a reason why Landor chose to call this a forbidden land.But Landor also tried to find the source of the Great Indian rivers ie Indus,Ganges and Bhramaputra.He also travels to Burma which at that time is considered almost inaccessible due to its inhospitable conditions.The book provides a lot of insights of the people of the land ,the beleifs they carried at that time and their weird customs and rites.But Landor has his way to control things around him and goes to lenghts like at one point to present a person with a human skull which he boils in milk to make it white in appearence.

What is most remarkable about this book is the sheer mileage the two ladies covered in what must have been a remarkable trip. Although, sadly, some of the places mentioned have subsequently been overwhelmed with tourist development and/or civil strife, the book remains a valuable addition to the backpack of anyone contemplating a visit to Indonesia. I was particularly impressed with the way cultural or background information is imparted to the reader humorously avoiding the temptation to lecture.

I have cruised several seasons to Southeast. This is the best guide.

I first read this book when I was a young Australian engineer in Singapore in the 60's. It (and an earlier even better book "The Chinese Looking Glass") had an enormous impact on my understanding and appreciation of the Chinese people. By this time I had lived in Singapore for several days and just did not realise how little I understood the world I lived in. I have never since found a more readable book on the subject. I am at this site looking for a copy as I made the mistake of lending mine.

This dictionary is definatly the one to go with if you are learning Farsi. Each word features a phonetic transcription, making it much easier. There is however, not much about grammar in it, but that's okay. I can easily say that this is the best book for your money, and an absolutely mandatory purchase if you're learning Farsi.

I had the opportunity to participate in a research project in Nicaragua. A local Nicaraguan university library allowed me to check out and use any field guide I wanted. Within days, all other field guides were permanently stowed in the bottom of my bag until I could return them to the university.

Having never been to the tropics before, I was still able to identify every bat I caught using mist nets with only the aid of this book (my local guides were unfamiliar with the bats).
This book will be your best piece of equipment if you plan to study mammals in Central America.

One of the first things I did when I returned home was order my own copy of this wonderful book.

This field guide is a definitive yet handy guide that will surely be a classic of its type. It covers all the living species of native mammals from Mexico to Panama (including aquatic species such as whales and otters). For each species there is a careful description of its physical appearance along with notes on habitats, ranges (with maps) and behaviour, as well as other useful comments such as the best place to see a particular species, what the ground tracks look like and the status of threatened species. It is an absolute mine of fascinating information, much of it newly gathered or previously available only in obscure academic sources. There are excellent introductory sections on the main mammal groups, and good indexes and bibliographies -- in short , everything one needs to find and enjoy looking at mammals. But the most unique and useful feature (as well as the greatest delight -- and why this is a true classic), are the illustrations - hundreds of beautifully drawn colour plates painted from life (often in the most demanding of circumstances), that will allow you to settle important questions like "Is that a Woolly False Vampire Bat or a Great False Vampire Bat that just bit you" without flaming your travelling companions. (The book is especially strong on Bats.) Flying squirrels, monkeys, oppossums, sloths, deer mice, armadillos dolphins and skunks, they are all here. I would highly recommend this book both for amateurs and professionals (whether they are going to central america or not!). Every academic library should have a copy of it.

The care taken over detail throughout make the book both scientifically valuable and highly readable. It is a true labour of love - and just look at this quote from the author's preface! "Some species I painted while sitting in a truck, using the steering wheel as an easel, and some in a tent with a hadlamp at night, but most were done outside during the day, sitting on the ground or on a log. The white background of the plates suffered from a continuous onslaught of dust, sweat, and grime, and other indefinable debris. Carrying the plates throughout Central America involved some harrowing experiences, one of which was a short flight to Tortuguero in Costa Rica. The pilot had at length persuaded me to put my portfolio in the front baggage hold in the nose of the plane, and after we took off he realized that the door to this hold had come open. While the other four passengers agonized over the possibility of the plane going down if the luggage became tangled in the propellors, I was trying to follow our coordinates so I could search for my plates if they fell to the swampy ground below. Fortunately, we landed at a small airfield, corrected the problem, and lost nothing but peace of mind."

You really can't make it all over Indonesia to go diving witout a lot of time and money so the book covers a lot of territory. They do have good diving stories in general, beautiful color photos and quality maps. I intend to buy the Asia's Top Dive Sites because this book is so good.

This book is on the "Recommended Reading List" of Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 295, Indianapolis, Indiana

Don Millus knows how to catch fish. But more importantly, at least for the reader, he knows how to catch your interest. His sunny style cuts though the fog that, many times, seems to hover over the usual run of fishing yarns, some plagued with too much technical detail, some with self-serving bravado and bravura, others simply cut and dried. You'll enjoy, as I did, the "take" this college professor-outdoorsman manages always to find, his perennial optimism, and the mysterious way he transports the reader to his "backyard"--a coast, physical and metaphysical, that is always fair and seasonable, even on the coldest winter night.