Hello Mrs. Kim Ha

Thank for your book. Around me, personally I know that there are four poeple died on the sea during the trip escape from vietnam. My sister, She came on boat and we never have any information about her again. My highschool teacher. After the summer we could not find him in our school and my friend told he was death on a trip escape to Hong Kong. And a litle girl next to my door she was just 4 year olds her mother could not save her from death because they was out of food when their ship was lost on the sea. Many many young girls was raped by Thailan robbers then killed. Sometime I wanna look up the sky and ask who cause all the pain for many generations. Sometime I just feel really hunger for the revenge. My English is not good but one thing I am sure that It is good enough to show my appriciation to your work.

Toan Nguyen

Dear Mrs. Kim Ha, I hope this letter eventually reaches you. Yesterday afternoon, I finished reading your book, Stormy Escape. A friend of mine at work (Mrs. Nu Que Thai) recommended that I read it. I believe one of her brothers' was your former high school teacher. From the first page, your words tore at my heart. I found myself wanting to jump inside the book to try and help; but the only thing I could do was, keep reading. My heart raced faster, I was overcome with several emotions; but mostly, I felt ashamed as a human being for being ignorant. I know you must be busy, so I will make this short. First, I want to thank you for writing this book. I wish you and your family the best of health and all the happiness that life can give. Secondly, I must return the book to Mrs. Thai, however, your words and story will stay with me til my last sunset. Thank you, and God Bless, Sincerely, Michael L. Milligan

Great Book focusing on the "baba nyonya" chinese. Give a refreshing view and angle of the strait chinese. A reminder of historical past to the straits chinese themselves.

Oon Soon Teik

Dr. Khoo has gathered and set to paper an amazing body of knowledge about a little known but vital part of the history of Southeast Asia. The photography and sources alone are more than worth the price of the book. This book is required reading for anyone wishing to have a complete view of the history and dynamics of this region.

I have already "mastered" beginning Thai, so I can't judge how helpful this book would be for a complete beginner, but I suspect it would be very helpful. There's a lot of very useful vocabulary for daily conversation that I wish I had learned much earlier, words that you hear dozens of times a day: "`nueay" "`jep 'thooeng" "~naow" "'rooen" and so on. In addition, the romantic terms are great to know, and the terms sometimes needed in the bedroom are well chosen (although these do not always match the terms I have heard most frequently).

In sum, if you are a gay man who is planning to visit Thailand, I would regard this book (plus the tape set) as indispensable.

Highly recommended, and fun too!

I got the tape set before I got the book, and so I decided to listen to it just out of curiosity, and it seems great! It starts out with some nice Thai pop music which will instantly transport you to the Land of Smiles, and the young man speaking most of the lines is someone the author must have found through auditions: a truly wonderful... voice. I really enjoyed hearing that voice and it brought back many wonderful memories. From what I have heard, the book is designed to teach you Thai from scratch. It starts at the beginning, so no other introductory text is needed. (Of course, if you are really going to learn a foreign language, you should surround yourself with materials in that language and use them all!)

This book can help one build on what they learned in the Beginner series, or one can use this book and tape set, if they never studied under the first set to begin with. Tons of useful vocab, phrases, and contextual dialogues are in here. In real-life, you can use what you learn here, and the writing, reading, and listening sections will help a person adapt to the short and long vowels and tones quicker, it seems, than those who just work on the language on their own.

There isn't really much to say about the tapes themselves but I wanted to put my review here for people that weren't sure about buying the tapes without hearing them first. Well, there's not much to say. The tapes follow the book, first vocabulary then sentences, then a conversation just as in the book. And like the book, these tapes have a lot of information in a short amount of time. You'll need to listen and read along many times if you're not already familiar with what's being said. If you already have the book then you really should get the tapes, if you are trying to decide on getting the book and tapes or one of the other I would suggest this: If you only want to learn to speak and don't need to see it written on paper like I do then you can get by with only the tapes because it has the English first, then the Thai - except for the end of each lesson when you get into the sentences and conversations. If you want to learn to read then get the book too. Both are good alone but they are even better together.

This book is larger than the average phrasebook, but then it is probably not like any language book you have ever seen. I truly believe that to understand a language you have to first understand the culture of the country. This is exactly what this handbook does. I bought this book when I first came to Thailand and found it invaluable for not only learning the language but it also helped me understand the culture and customs. I was sad when I lost my copy but was so please to rediscover this book when it was reprinted in 2003.

A great book for people who want to learn something about the country before they visit as well as to learn many useful phrases.

As a "farang" married to a Thai I've been through a lot of Thai phrasebooks and this is the book I recommend to anyone who not only wants to be able to communicate in Thai but also to understand something of the culture and customs.

This is the most modern and comprehensive phrase book I've seen anywhere and the transliteration system will get you closer to native pronunciation than any other.

The book is divided into various subject areas, e.g., "Eating and Drinking," "Being Polite," "Getting Around," etcetera, and is written in a fun, breezy, narrative style.

If you are planning a trip to Thailand, this is the book you must have.

But it is essential for the serious student to have both McFarland and Haas. One is not enough, even when backed up by the large Thai-Thai dictionaries. It is also worth remembering that these two excellent dictionaries are now quite old - don't expect modern technical vocabulary.

It's next to Thai-English Student's Dictionary by Mary R Haas the second best dictionary and I recomend all who are really serious to learn Thai to buy it (if you already have bought M. R. Haas'). It has more explaination than Haas' and many words that Haas' don't have. I strongly disliked the very complicated method to do transcription of Thai and to show the tones of the words by McFarland.

As just another digger I found this book to be most worthy.
Having been through the training regimes as recommended by Ted Serong in Australia and having the understanding of the type of war we were involved in I could never understand the manner in which the Americans fought the war.
After reading this book I now understand it to have been a distrust of non American ideas and arrogance of the"we know better" type and impatience, thinking always that bigger is better rather than looking at quality.

The Vietnam War, and especially the reasons for its loss, from both military and political standpoints, will continue to be a matter of importance for those who are concerned with the survival of democracies.

Much has been written on political considerations, but military questions have been more neglected. Hence this book, which examines the role of Brigadier Ted Serong in the conflict, will be of great interest to a variety of readers.

Anne Blair is a research associate with the National Centre for Australian Studies at Monash University. Her interest in Serong is well-based. He had a central role in the development of military strategy and tactics, although to a large extent his views conflicted with those ultimately applied by the United States in Vietnam.

Early during his time in Vietnam, Serong concluded that the American forces were not properly directed, and that the South Vietnamese Army also should have directed its efforts in different ways.

He was involved in the development of the Police Field Force (PFF), with the aim of destroying the structures of the Vietnamese Communists in rural and mountain areas, and also the networks by which guerrillas obtained weapons, food, information and recruits.

Serong's concept (which is particularly persuasive in retrospect) was that the PFF would clear areas of Viet Cong influence, thus freeing the South Vietnamese Army (the AVRN) for combat against the North Vietnamese regiments that were operating in the border areas.

Unfortunately the United States forces showed a lack of patience, and were not prepared to support adequately the gradual advance of the program.

The PFF was absorbed by other US mission programs in 1966-67, but Serong himself remained invaluable and was consulted constantly by government advisers and by military commanders at the highest level.

At all times, his perceptions of the strategic position were sound. For example, he was one of the first to appreciate that the 1968 Tet Offensive constituted, contrary to media reports, a militarily disastrous loss by the Communists.

This book is very valuable. It is well researched. The author had the advantage of numerous conversations with Serong, and her account is expressed carefully, with much detail and appropriate references.

It is impossible to read it without concluding that Serong is a great Australian, and a great man in any context, a figure of enormous importance whose advice, had it been followed properly, would probably have led to a different result in Vietnam.

It is therefore a book which, in addition to its general readership, should be studied closely by military strategists and tacticians, and by the various academics, think-tanks and institutes which are so influential in the application of political and military policy.

- I.C.F. Spry, News Weekly book review, Melbourne, Australia

I read this book when it first came out. It is a must read book for people of all ages.

His first was shows the struggles of a young American of Mexican decent making his way in life at an early age. When Roy Benavidez entered the Army he had no idea what was to become of him for the rest of his life.

Roy's second war covers his time in the military. His training is explained in this book. His tours of duty are also explained. His courage under fire is really covered very well. He wasn't suppose to be on board a chopper when it went to rescue some fellow soldiers but he jumped on at the last minute to help in any way he could. He soon found himself embroiled in a battle for life--his life.

He was one of a very few survivors that fateful day. His struggle to live makes this book. BUT his third war was that of fighting the US Government for recognition of what he had done--and yet it wasn't he who was doing the fighting--it was those others who survived who wanted him honored. It took more than a decade but he finally received the Medal of Honor.

As a footnote to this review--a ship was named for him and christened on 21 July 2001. The USNS Roy P Benavidez will no doubt see action in a war just like its namesake.

Excellently written book of the last medal of honor recipient (at that time) of the Viet Nam war. The award was presented by Ronald Reagan in 1982. Chilling account of the battle that earned Master Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez the Medal of Honor. Read about his boyhood life in Texas and his rise through the ranks to become a Green Beret, Special Forces soldier. Learn of his devotion to "duty, honor, country," the words he lived by. You will not believe his act of courage and bravery as he set out to save a trapped and doomed patrol of 12 men that had been inserted into the jungle, unbeknown to the command, amongst a battlion of over 300 Viet Cong soldiers. Although at a base camp in Loch Ninh, he disregarded his own safety and ordered the chopper to fly him into the fire fight. The book accurately describes the battle and Benavidez's heroism. His actions where one of the bravest in the annals of U.S. military history. Oscar Griffin is a great writer who does an excellent job of bringing the story to us. He utilizes his talent and skill in the use of the written word to not just bring us an historical account, but a story of great magnitude to life. The story keeps you riveted from beginning to end. It's more than a story of a soldier, it's a story of an American Hero.

Al Santoli's book, To Bear Any Burden, is a narrative of stories told by 47 Americans, Vietnamese (both North and South), and Cambodians regarding their experiences before the US involvement, during the US war, and the war's aftermath (after the departure of US troops). Each tale (from two to 10 pages in length) is riveting in itself. The book moves in relative chronilogical order beginning in 1954 and concludes with the present (circa 1985). Each tale is successfully interwoven with the next story such that there is a cohesiveness and a logical flow to the story telling timeline.

Some of the stories are quite stunning: from the description of US soldiers being called baby-killers and spat on after they returned to the US [difficult to comprehend in this patriotic post 9/11 world] to the horror stories of the Communist regimes in Cambodia and in North/South Vietnam after the fall of Saigon [after reading theses stories, one should question why the US would want to establish ties to Vietnam].

This "straight from the hip" narrative is recommended to anyone wishing to learn more about the scenes from a participant's point of view.

I first read To Bear Any Burden when it was originally released in 1985. This has been a 'must-read' classic of American involvement in Southeast Asia since it was published. For it, Santoli interviewed, in depth, 47 individuals representative of that involvement from 1945 into the 1980s--Americans, Viet-Namese (communists and anti-communists), Cambodians and Laotians. The book is so artfully compiled as to flow like a single narration; yet the 'cast of characters' are separate in time, space, culture and social rank--an entire spectrum from ambassadors to villagers, soldiers to politicians, in one volume. No ones education about the Viet-Nam War is complete unless they've read this book.

This book is, to say the least, well-written. It is concise, detailed, written with the same degree of passion for history that characterizes all of Hunt's work. I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in the response to the Vietnam War and its impact upon American society.

This remarkable account takes the American people inside the framework of one of the most spiritual and politically cutting-edge organizations founded within American boundaries during the entire Cold War, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). "The Turning" by Andrew E. Hunt is a must-read for all serious students of the Vietnam War contemplating its profound effect on both American culture and the very veterans who were ordered to "pay any price and bear any burden" for the mistaken political and military policies of their nation's involvement in the Southeast Asian conflict. The book's account of the various veterans--from Bobby Muller, John Kerry, Barry Romo, Bill Ehrhart, just to name a few-- who so courageously faced down the entire nation by witnessing in repeated public demonstrations what was REALLY GOING ON in the war, is a stunning reminder to all Americans and the World that for democracy to last, it must have a strong, clear, core collective conscience. No other organization so poignantly and forcefully challenged U.S. policy in Indochina as did the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Even today, all history texts pertaining to this period touch the subject of VVAW's presence as the cutting edge of the American anti-war movement, and indeed, of our national conscience at the time. It is not surprising to me that the veterans of VVAW, such as Mr. Bobby (USMC lst Lt. 1968-69), also launched the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) in 1979, which fought for the rights of the veterans of that conflict against an embarrassingly silent American government. Mr. Muller went on in his life to also found the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) in 1980 which dealt with the issues of war and its consequences. This remarkable veteran organized the first visit of VVA vets back to Hanoi during Christmas in 1981 and, in doing so, launched the entire process of reconciliation between veterans' groups and the governments of both America and Vietnam which culminated in the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations in July of 1995. While following this most courageous path of peace, VVAF--under Mr. Muller's leadership-- initiated rehabilitation and humanitarian clinics in both Vietnam and Cambodia in the early 90's, assisting the thousands of forgotten, innocent landmine victims suffering throughout Indochina. This effort lead to Mr. Muller's conception of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) in 1991 which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 and became a legally-binding international treaty in March of 1999. The core qualities of seeking justice and witnessing truth inherent in VVAW's spiritual influence on the veterans who belonged to it in the 60's, 70's and up to the present, can be evidenced today in the continued remarkable achievements of those vets like Mr. Bobby Muller. By understanding the organization VVAW--its orgins and evolution-- the reader will learn to appreciate how men,-- under heavy fire of both war and protest of war--, have carried within their souls the spark to enlighten and change the world and humanity for the better. Anyone with a conscience should read this book and be challenged by the information it contains. Thank you, Mr. Hunt, for taking the time to compile this vital history of a unique organization which helped the conscience of this nation turn towards sorely-needed enlightment.