When I read this book sometime back, I was reading it just to read.As I got into the book I found it hard to put down. I cried, I got angry,I hated HATE. I lost two brothers in this mess! Whose loss is greater. Are we not all equal? What these people went through just to survive was dispicable. We take advantage of life! I fell in love with Haing Ngor, I wish I could have met him and hugged his neck. Not in a sexual way, but as a loving sister. This was the most precious kind of man. He gave of himself in a way we should all be doing.What he went through we could only imagine. To watch babies be ripped out of the wombs of women and to go from rich to poor, to watch your world crumble before your eyes and still have love for your fellow man. I have a respect for all life, we all need to open our eyes and look around. Life is a blessing and we should count ours. I love my country,and our people, but that doesn't mean I can't love others to. Haing S. Ngor was a great man who gave for all countries, and all men. He had a heart of gold. May God forgive us all for the Hate we hold.

This book was my first exposure to what had happened in Cambodia. I saw a man go through a typical childhood for his class abnd become a doctor and meet the woman of his dreams. His life was perfect. Then on April 17,1975 it all came crashing down. He and the rest of his family were plunged into some of the worst conditions to ever exist in history. He survived almost his whole family. Then, he had the courage to show the whole world what had happened to his people. Sadly, this man was killed in a "random" murder in his home in LA. We promised the survivors of the Holocaust that we'd never let it happen again, but we did in Cambodia. Read this book and see why again we must try and keep it from happening ever again.

This is an outstanding portrait of a man who survived the barbaric reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Anyone who has seen the movie "The Killing Fields" has a cursory understanding of the Khmer Rouge and their attempt to transform Cambodian society during their control of the country from 1975 to 1979. However, this film omitted most of the astounding atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge as anyone who has visited Tuol Sleng S-21 in Phnom Penh (as I have) can tell you. In this book Dr. Ngor relates his horrifying experiences of life under the Khmer Rouge in detail and in the process educates the reader as to just how horrible an existence it really was.

This book is remarkable because of the detail related by Dr. Ngor and the personal nature of its content. Many Cambodians to this day will not talk about his period in their lives. For many, the mental and physical abuse they suffered during this period was too painful to re-live ever again. As I read this book, I could not help but wonder how Dr. Ngor was able to keep himself together.

Dr. Ngor effectively puts the period of Khmer Rouge rule in historical context by explaining the historical events and forces which led to their capture of the country. These events and forces included the People's Republic of China, North Vietnam, the Vietnam War, the United States, and of course, the C.I.A.

I admire Dr. Ngor for his extraordinary courage, and I regret that I did not have the opportunity to meet him during his lifetime. May he rest in peace.

Offers a wealth of information about traditional Vietnamese culture and society...essential reading

Stories that American have been reluctant to listen to-non-American participants' stories of the horrors of the Vietnam War itself, of escape from new but undemocratic countries, of conflict-ridden adjustment...personal details about the effects of the war...Scott's collection is prefaced by a dramatic frontispiece, a painting by a Vietnamese artist that depicts boat people on the high seas, titles "A people forced to go a dangerous drama across feats of darkness and turbulent seas in favor of freedom." Collected from Cambodians, Laotians, and Vietnamese in Philippine refugee camps in October 1985 [through] May 1 1986, these twenty-five stories are the testimonies closest in time to many of the events they describes. Scott identifies empathetically with the refugees' search for "the freedom land," as well as with those who failed to come here. In lengthy appendices, she provides maps of the Laotian reeducation camps and memorializing lists of those who have disappeared in them. Pictures of the refugees in the Philippine camps supplement the written stories. Some narratives are told by camp advisors; some are presented by "Name Withheld." While one story was given to Scott "in perfect English," others were told only through an interpreter. Scott presents her subjects' narratives entire, occasionally segmented by asterisks, with provocative titles ("The Hope of Ho Chi Minh Is Fallen Now") and with brief headnotes characterizing the individual or the historical situation. The narratives are occasionally quite long; almost all are organized chronologically... Here is Khamsamong Somvong, a former first lieutenant in the Royal Lao army: "In the seminar camp there were a few men who were Communists. They were there to execute the policy of the Politburo. And it was they who decided who should be killed in the camp. We were supposed to respect the Party only. If one of the Communists said, 'This is red,' we had to say, 'Yes, this is red.' If we said, 'No, this is black,' we would be killed. So I lived a very hard life in there. I saw many people killed before me."--Oral History Review 21/2 (Winter, 1993)

Indochina's refugees, who in jungle death camps felt the chill of the heart or saw life turn cold in crowded boats, give their harrowing stories in this collection

Having travelled a lot using the LP guides with no problems I can only recommend them... but even if your not planning a trip to Lebanon- this book is amazing as a reference to the region; making order out of the chaos of Lebanon's recent history in an unbiased and moderate historiography- unswayed by religous or cultural persuasion and remaining sensitive to Lebanon's unique history of generally fruitful co-existance and co-operation between some 15 different religous/cultural groups who inhabit and interpret such a dramatic and tiny country, especially in a region characterised by the sometimes not-so-happy collision between east and west. This is an extremely valuable guide for travellers, people with an interest in the Mediteranean and the Near East, or for that matter, any one of the 13 million Lebanese descendants living outside of that tiny piece of heaven. The section on Mount Lebanon was particularly good, though the author could have covered more of the awesome hiking trails and forest overlooking Beirut to be found in the Metn valleys (midway between Jenkins & Jousiffes Mt Lebanon & Chouf)... but no body's perfect!! :) This book is excellent and very well written- the authors deserve great credit.

I'm not going to tell you how good of a touristic guide this is, because you don't need a book to tell you that Lebanon is beautiful. If all you people who know nothing about the middle east, and how the conflicts came about, and how the wars that happened there within the last half century occured get this book. This book I believe, has the most realistic, unbiased, and totally true account of the crisis thats plagued the middle east since WWII. It goes into much detail, and outlines many sides of the story. It is extremely beautifully well told, and I'm incredibly indebted to this author, and I hope she publishes a book entirely dedicated on the war. The book also contains many beautiful pictures concerning then and now pictures that will literally blow you away. There are so many misconceptions about Lebanon its drives lebanease crazy. But gradually Lebanon is making a come back to what it originally was. The paris of the middle east.

I returned to Lebanon after many years away. This book had everything! My family (who have never left Lebanon) were also amazed by the detail and accuracy of the book (even the cost of a Taxi from Homs to Beirut to within 50 cents US). Insightful and straightforward. Arranged very well. There is very good detail, even on places that the Ministry of Tourism is scant on. Highly recommended!

I have read "Mobile Guerilla Force", "BlackJack 33", and "BlackJack 34" All three of the books are an amazing read, not the typical blood, mud and tears, hovever there is unfortunately a historically real amount of that as well. Not only do you get a sence of what life was like as a special operations operator in VietNam, but the laughs as well as the sorrows of day to day life in VietNam. The author also opened a porthole into the relationship that was built with the indiginous peoples that fought along side the Mobile Geurilla Force whose heroism is nothing short of legondary. As a reader, one can see the author settle into a comfortable writing niche' and progressively make each page seemingly more personal and real ("in the first person" if you will) to the reader. More stories like these need to be told of the triumphs of American Gi's in VietNam.
POW, MIA, VFW, Thankyou, you are not forgotten!
Sincerely Jc

I have read at least 2 dozen books on combat in Vietnam and this is one of the best. The book is very well written. The author really makes you feel as if you are walking in the jungle of Vietnam side by side members of the mobile guerrilla force.

This is one of the most exciting books that I've read about the war in Vietnam. Donahue puts you right there amongst the brave and loyal Khmer soldiers and the cunning and equally committed Viet Cong. Having spent some time in the area written about, I can attest to the accuracy of his brilliantly portrayed environment. This book is going into my permanent collection along with Blackjack-33 and Blackjack-34. Well written book that you can't put down until the end.

The aboriginal Sng'oi of Malaysia are often described with words like "pre-industrial" or "pre-agricultural," but it is a mistake to think of them as living in a former stage of what of our more "advanced" society has become. More to the point, they are living in another world. Having spent half his youth growing up in this non-Western world, Wolff says this: "I learned early on to be in two different realities." One reality was oriented around the clock, efficiency, technology, and harsh realism. The other was fluid, timeless, almost dreamlike, "a world and at a time when people touched each other, when we knew animals and plants intimately." The bulk of this book is spent fleshing out differences between these worlds, in an attempt to teach us Westerners another way of knowing, in an attempt to show us another reality. But in the process of doing so, it quickly becomes apparent that the modern world doesn't measure up.

As slaves to an alienating industrial system, as a completely self-domesticated species, in a state of utter dependence and helplessness, the condescending glance "modern" humanity casts at so-called "primitive peoples" is extremely ironic - indeed absurd. Traditionally referred to as "Sakai," or slaves, by modern Malaysians, the Sng'oi do not take offense. Says one Sng'oi man, "We look at the people down below [literally, from up in the mountains] - they have to get up at a certain time in the morning, they have to pay for everything with money, which they have to earn doing things for other people. They are constantly told what they can and cannot do. No, we do not mind when they call us slaves."

At one point in the book, Wolff recounts a number of silent educational trips into the rainforest with his friend/guide, Ahmeed, who was subtly trying to teach him to interact and connect with the forest on his own terms. After days of walking, Wolff became thirsty. It was precisely then that Ahmeed decided to sneak off and leave him to find water on his own. After searching for hours, he not only discovered water - he also discovered another way of seeing. "When I leaned over drink from the leaf, I saw water with feathery ripples, I saw a few mosquito larvae wriggling on the surface, I saw the veins of the leaf through the water, some bubbles, a little piece of dirt... How beautiful, how perfect." His perception suddenly "opened," and a deep feeling of connection enveloped him. "The all-ness was everywhere, and I was a part of it... I could not be afraid - I was apart of this all-ness."

Contrast this with our culture, a culture walled-in with fear; a culture that "learns - has to learn - to shut off the senses, to protect oneself from all the noise." Unlike the Sng'oi, who are brought up to listen, watch and feel in depth, ours is a culture run amok, set out to expand and colonize every wild space left on the globe; a culture in which many humans are brought up to act like machines only to find themselves replaced by machines built to act like humans. In the other world Wolff experienced, every day - indeed every second - was a miracle. Life, although by no means perfect, was full of smiles, stories, songs and dance. It was a world where fear and domination do exist - that is, until white men in Komatsu bulldozers come to clear away the forest.

The topics Wolff address in this book vary from indigenous medicine to education, from dream interpretation to surviving the onslaught of civilization. The format is a series of anecdotes whose deep wisdom will stay with you, perhaps for a lifetime. This is not simply anthropology or ethnology, but a critique of modern industrial civilization and it's "Development Scheme" in the gentle voice of someone intimate with the Sng'oi. In all, the book amounts to nothing less than an alternative way of being. I found it refreshing, insightful and transformative - three criteria for any great book.

My library finally found Original Wisdom and got it for me. I almost have it finished and I havn't had the book in my hands for 24 hours yet. I highly recommend Original Wisdom to anyone who wants a first hand account of what life is like outside of our Dominant/Taker Culture. Maybe our way isn't the one right way to live.

Well written memoirs of a western trained scientist visiting/living with tribal people over many years. this book touches on everything from crime to dreams. a must read!

AN EXCERPT FROM THE SCOTSMAN: Thursday, 30 November 2000:

"Shelby Tucker's Among Insurgents: Walking Through Burma is the account of an American adventurer who entered Burma illegally from China, was captured by Communist guerrillas, passed on to Kachin freedom-fighters and was eventually arrested by the Indian Army. A hugely informative book of near-lunatic courage."

A BOOK OF THE YEAR! (The Sunday Telegraph, UK)

"For near-lunatic courage and a unique mine of information, [this book] by Shelby Tucker might belong to another century. At the age of 53, Tucker, a maverick American lawyer, decided to cross North Burma, entering illegally from China and departing illegally into India. He was captured by Burmese Communist guerrillas, passed on to Christian Kachin rebels (with whom he was soon consorting), was arrested by the Indian army, and six months later emerged to write this astonishing book: a surreal mixture of "Boy's Own" derring-do and expert knowledge of an almost unknown region."

--Colin Thubron, for The Sunday Telegraph (UK), in "Books of the Year" Column

"I read the book over the weekend and laughed my head off. What an addle-pated odyssey it is. The nonchalance with which he does things that could get him locked up in some bamboo cage for thirty or forty years takes my breath away. I've seldom been more aware of the thinness of the line between courage and lunacy. Luckily for his narrative, he is aware of it too, and has great fun jumping back and forth over it. I take my hat off to him, both for actually doing what he did and for writing so well about it." --Tobias Wolff

"I cannot recommend Among Insurgents highly enough. Shelby Tucker describes a quite extraordinary trek across the genuinely remote and dangerous mountainous north of Burma. His account gets to grips with an immensely complicated political scenario and is written in the classic manner. I was reminded quite often of Fitzroy MacLean and Peter Fleming." --Justin Wintle "To one familiar with the dangers inherent in such an enterprise, the story almost defies belief. A 53-year-old American teams up with a 22-year-old Swede, whom he has met on a train and known for less than an hour, with the aim of trekking across one of the most inaccessible and least explored areas on earth, in a country which, everyone recognizes, is ruled by a military autocracy and which has been engaged in a vicious civil war for nearly half a century." --Stephen Morse

"I read it in growing amazement. What a journey and what a lot of research since! Very impressive." --Robin Hanbury-Tenison

"I think [Shelby Tucker] may have written a classic of modern travel writing." --John McEnery

"Among Insurgents is a vastly impressive piece of work and life. Shelby Tucker may be a mad man, but he certainly writes wonderfully." --Peter Wolf

"I read it at one sitting, with my wife providing earthly sustenance at intervals, and thoroughly enjoyed the adventure. The vitality and freshness of the enterprise shone throughout." --Robert Pelletreau

"Those of us who would never go on such an adventure (and that's most of us!) can have something stirred within us, feel a little freer, more willing to take risks, after reading this book." --Fred Fenton

Edward F. Murphy, Dak To: America's Sky Soldiers in South Vietnam's Central Highlands (1993, New York: Pocket Books edn., 1995)

The appearance of this marvelous little book is deceptive. Its pocket-book format might suggest a brief regimental history or narrow personal account, but author Edward Murphy's text is, in fact, a captivating and relatively sophisticated narrative of the 173d Airborne Brigade's five-month campaign in 1967 in the dense jungle of South Vietnam's Central Highlands. The fighting around a small hamlet called Dak To proved to be especially hard for two reasons: the first concerned the physical conditions and the second was in the nature of the enemy. Daytime temperatures were in the upper 90s, with humidity in excess of 90 percent, and the moisture brought out mosquitoes and leeches. At times, it rained hard practically every day. According to Murphy, "frequently [the American paratroopers'] clothes rotted in the damp jungle," so, about once a month, fresh fatigues were delivered by supply helicopter to the field. The jungle was so thick that visibility often was limited to a few meters, and nearly every foot of ground was covered by vegetation. Sometimes the paratroopers had to carry chain saws to cut through the jungle and to make landing zones for their supply helicopters. (It could take two hours of hard work to hack a landing zone out of the jungle.) Enlisted men carried their weapons, ammunition, and personal gear on their backs in rucksacks which weighed from 75 to 90 pounds. During the rainy season, marching 1,000 meters through the jungle in a day was considered "good progress."

The physical conditions often negated the United States' vast superiority in weapons technology. For instance, according to Murphy: "Artillery [could] be ineffective in the jungle...[because] shells [had] the tendency to burst in the tops of tall trees, scattering shrapnel harmlessly about." "Too often, airstrikes and gunships could not effectively penetrate the thick jungle canopy." Furthermore, according to Murphy: "To prevent U.S. air strikes and artillery from decimating its ranks, the [North Vietnamese and Viet Cong] 'hugged' the Sky Soldiers, closing to within ten to twenty meters of their perimeter." In addition to the difficult conditions, and in contrast to the combat farther south, which was mostly against Viet Cong irregulars, the paratroopers, many of whom were still teenagers, battled elements of the North Vietnamese Army, "professionals who [knew] how to fight." The fighting often was brutal. One of the favored weapons of the North Vietnamese was the RPG, a Soviet-manufactured antitank rocket used as an antipersonnel weapon against American infantry. Furthermore, there was nothing chivalrous about the war at Dak To. After one fierce firefight, Murphy reports, a medical specialist "could hear the wounded screaming for mercy as the NVA walked among them, executing those paratroopers still alive." On another occasion, when the paratroopers returned to the site of one battle to recover their dead, they found that "corpses had been mutilated, their features destroyed, ring fingers cut off, and ears removed." Early in the book, Murphy writes that the "173d possessed great morale. All its men were volunteers for airborne training and most had volunteered for South Vietnam." During the Dak To campaign, however, the paratroopers' frustrations mounted. At one moment, when a "friendly" artillery round landed too close for comfort to an American captain, he grabbed his company's radio handset and screamed: "Send another round this way and I'll kill the son of a bitch who fires it." One of Murphy's clearest themes is the gradual erosion of the paratroopers' confidence in their superior officers. According to the author, the generals' "grand plans meant little to the average Sky Soldier. All he knew was that he was out in the boonies, humping day after day in the monotonous mountains and valleys of the Central Highlands." Furthermore, Murphy writes that when Gen. William Westmoreland, the American commander in Vietnam, flew to Dak To on June 23, 1967 to talk with the survivors of one fierce battle, "You took on a tough NVA unit and whipped their asses," a sergeant whispered to a buddy, "Wonder what he's been smoking?" Murphy offers many glimpses of the cruel ironies and inequities of war. In one instance, after a Marine jet dropped a 500-lb. bomb directly on an aid station for wounded American paratrooper, an American officer on the ground pleaded into a radio: "No more f------ planes. Please no more planes. You're killing us up here. Stop it." The bomb wounded over 80 men badly enough to be brought to the aid station, but nearly all the medics were dead. Meanwhile, the pilot returned "to his base at Da Nang with its air-conditioned officers' club, ice-cold beers, hot showers, and clean sheets," The ongoing controversy about the accuracy of "body counts" is on display here. At one point during the Dak To campaign, when North Vietnamese dead were reported as 1,644, Gen. Westmoreland stated in a press conference: "I think [the battle was] the beginning of a great defeat for the enemy." According to Murphy, however, "these figures are suspect,"and the actual number probably was closer to 1,000. (After one battle, the 173d's after-action report stated that 513 NVA had been killed even though the best estimate of men engaged in the battle was that the number of enemy of killed in action actually was 50 to 75.)

One veteran master sergeant, who fought in three wars, told the Murphy that, in 25 years as a paratrooper, he had never seen anything approaching the death and destruction at Dak To. The author leaves no doubt about the paratroopers' bravery or the 173d Airborne Brigade richly-deserved reputation as one of the elite units of the United States' armed forces. But the answer to the larger question - What were American fighting men doing in the jungles of Vietnam in the first place? - remains unanswered.

This book was fabulous, my brother was the FNG written about. It was the first I ever knew about his experiences in Vietnam and I knew he was wonderful, but I never imagined the experience he and the other soldiers had. For whatever reason, he never discussed his tour with us and after reading this book I know why. It is just so much to bear for so many, so young. They really were heroes. A must read for anyone interested in the Vietnam war.

This is one of the best volumes about a desperate, bloody battle during the Vietnam War. Fought between the veteran paratroopers of the 173d Airborne Brigade and North Vietnamese Regulars in the Central Highlands of Vietnam in late 1967, the author demonstrates through graphic prose and primary evidence just how savage and vicious the fighting in Vietnam was. This legendary fight took place almost immediately before the TET offensive of January 1968 and ruined some of the NVA units that were to take part in that offensive and helped ruin the chances for the Comminists to gain victory. Victory in this fight came at a heavy cost, and this book chronicles just how savage and desperate, and how heart-breaking the American losses were.

For me personally, this book means much, as my brother was a company commander in the 2d Battalion of the 503d infantry, one of the four infantry battalions of the 173d Airborne Brigade, and he was killed in action leading his company on Hill 875.

This book is as good as We Were Soldiers Once And Young, and it is one of the best books I have read on the war in Vietnam. It shows the courage and skill of outnumbered Americans who fought, died, and never quit-something that never really came out of the general media coverage of that unpopular war.

This volume is highly recommended and the author is to be congratulated for he has told a story of high valor and much suffering, and of the ongoing skill of the American soldier doing his duty, appreciated or not, in foreign lands fighting and defeating a skilled and determined enemy.

Virtute et Valore

This is the book I took to Cambodia. For me the important thing was that it had the phone numbers of the various guest houses and hotels. Only 4 stars because Anything other than Phnom Penh and Angkor was given skimpy coverage.

Lonely Planet Guides are always the best sources of info for pre-trip planning and to take along, but the Cambodia LPG has an added feature that really impressed me, and that is the maps and diagrams of the temples and temple complexes, and the great details in the descriptions that go with them. I'm absolutely delighted to have this information to help me plan my photo sessions. In addition, LP has a service on their website where you can get updates to a guide between old and new publications. Also try the Thorntree feature to get questions answered or to contribute info for others. Lonely Planet has done it again. Best guidebooks and best services for travelers. Thanks LP!

I decided to be a little different when I went to Southeast Asia. Instead of taking the Lonely Planet Books which I had done to past trips to China, and England I went with the Rough Guide. What a mistake. Such a mistake that about 1/2 through the trip, somewhere in Thailand I think, I threw the book out and picked up LP guides to Vietnam and Cambodia.

The Cambodia book is great. Great information, easy to follow guides to Angkor what else could you need. LP really tells it as it is. Cambodia is a place changing everyday. Fortunately for the last year or two its been relatively calm and tourist friendly. How long this will last is anyone's guess. I hope stablity have finally come to this country with such a tragic history.

Angkor is a unbelievable place and the LP book will get you through it and teach you a lot.

Get this book before you go!

AASIGNED TO COMPANY "D" 1/46, 196 INF, I KNOW MR. NOLAN HAS TONS IF INTERVIEWS AND DOCUMENTS ON THE SUBJECT, FSB MARY ANN, I BELIEVE THAT VOLUMES COULD AND SHOULD BE WRITTEN AS WELL AS PHOTS, NOT TO STOP SHORT OF A FEATURE FILM.....

This book helped me remember how lucky I am to be here to read it. I was amazed at how much detail he found in his research, best one Ive read on viet nam and what it was really like. Thanks mr. Nolan

The war was winding down but for the men of the 196th LIB home was just a distant dream. As a member of Charlie Company, I can attest to the accuracy and fairness the author treats the grunts of LZ MaryAnn. I only pray that we will never see a war like VN again.