I myself am a student from Indonesia, currently studying in Carnegie Mellon University. In light of recent international events, I became attracted to learn the history of my own country from the prespective of Western authors. That is why I read this book at the first place.

I find this book very informative, it gives the reader a good sense of what has been going on in Indonesia from the time of the encounter with the Dutch (~1500), the Dutch colonial period (1600 - 1945), the nation's independence (1945), and the recent reformation of the nation (2000). However, I think some parts of the book are too brief and rather inaccessible for those who do not have prior knowledge of Indonesian history. But that shouldn't be a problem in understanding the overall picture.

I would say that this book is more for the serious readers who want to know more about Indonesia's past and understand its present. A recommended reading especially for students and scholars from Indonesia!

I just want to add that this book does contain several good maps of the nation in great details, so anyone should be able to follow the chain of events that were illustrated in the book.

I myself am a student from Indonesia studying in Carnegie Mellon University. In light of recent international events, I became attracted to learn more about the history of my own country from the perspective of Western authors. That is why I purchased this book at the first place.

I find this book very informative and covered a vast range of time, from the Indonesian first encounter with the Dutch until the independence and reformation of the nation in 2000. This book is definitely for the serious readers who want to get the big picture of what has been happening in the fourth most populous country in the world. Definitely a good buy for anyone who is researching the past of my country and a recommended reading for those students and scholars from Indonesia.

Overall, this book gave a brilliant summary of the whole Indonesian history; those events that have shaped Indonesia in the past and formed our own sense of national identity. I did however think that some parts of the book may be a bit too brief and inacessible for those who do not have prior knowledge of the Indonesian history.

I'm from Penang and I got this book for my American husband for our second trip back to Malaysia. The first thing that made me suspicious of its credibility was the cover photo. What is described as the "durian at the market" looks much more like a pile of nangka (jackfruit). Content-wise, I found some odd phrases in the book. "Plain water" is translated as "air putih" instead of "air kosong", "corner" becomes "pojok", which I have never heard of. "Sudut" would have made more sense to me. "Punggung" translates into "back" (anatomically), which I believe is correct in Indonesian, but would have made many Malaysians I know snicker at the reference to one's rear end. Perhaps these words are more common in parts of Malaysia I am not familiar with such as the east coast or Sabah & Sarawak. If this is the case, it would have been nice to have more than one translation for a word, although probably not practical for a quick reference guide.

In any case, Malaysians are easily impressed with foreigners who speak Malay, so while I may find fault with it, there is much in this little book which visitors would find useful. I particularly like the little tips on Malaysian culture, grammar and food. For those who plan to stay awhile, try the book-and-tapes combo of Survival Malay, and for cultural insight, Heidi Munan's Culture Shock! is a delight even for homesick Malaysians.

This book is extremely useful especially if you are outside the main cities such as Malacca or Kuala Lumpur. Malay people are very self effacing and your use of the phrases in this book will really open doors. Also, the social interaction hints to proper behavior are very good and useful too.

I got this phrasebook as a gift. I was skeptical at first because of its child-like appearance, but once I started looking through it I found it to be amazing. No other Malay book has the detail that this one does. With short paragraphs at the beginnings of each section, it ensures the best understanding of the culture. The authors are very knowledgeable and knows their Malay. I would recommend this reference book to anyone who is even considering a trip to Malaysia or is interested in the culture.

As you probably know, Michael Kelly was killed in Iraq during the late war, at the height of a truly distinguished journalistic career.

This book was written in the aftermath of Desert Storm. It is, as Kelly states in the forward, an impressionistic account of his experiences during the run-up to the war, the hostilities themselves, and the aftermath. With politics and military science largely excluded, it all adds up to a superior piece of travel writing.

Kelly had a great eye for scene-setting, for the telling anecdote, the incongruous detail, and the contrasting pair of viewpoints. Also for the pithy description: he describes a gorgeous couple he met in an elevator in Israel thus: "She looked like Darryl Hannah, and he looked like money and tennis."

The people's tales he tells are sometimes funny, and sometimes haunting. The funny ones often involved himself, as when he records himself gaping across a restaurant in Baghdad for a glimpse of the TV news. No one else shows any interest, and it dawns on him that it's because the Iraqi TV newscast is just a series of Saddam's Great Leader proclamations, boringly familiar to everyone. Some scenes are funny and haunting, as in one where a British TV crew is filming an interview with a Kuwaiti man who is describing his torture ordeal at the hands of the Iraqis. The tearful man is repeatedly interrupted by the blasé producer, to amend some technical difficulty or other.

It's a fine wartime travelogue, and it is a great pity that there won't be any more such from Michael Kelly.

Mike Kelly's account of the Gulf War in Martyr's Day: Chronicle of a Small War, is informative and interesting. The Gulf War was carefully planned, undertaken and won by the United States in little over a month. Kelly has carefully written about the war from behind the lines and places we weren't able to see on CNN. I am quite amazed at one point, that Mike Kelly actually swam across a river into Turkey with smugglers. Courage and bravery Mike Kelly must be commended with. His book should be given the same credit for what he went through to write it.

An amazing account of Desert Storm. Rest in Peace Michael Kelly, for those who are familiar with his wonderful writing in The New Republic, an Atlantic Online, and Washington Post. A conservative thinker with a liberal's heart. True blue.

Kim-Gibson is able to gather the testimonies of many former Korean comfort women - not an easy task. Generally, the content of the book seemed to be excellent, but the writing was, at times, laughable. Kim-Gibson includes comments about her own feelings during her interviews of former comfort women, such as "Relieved, I handed her a piece of Kleenex in silence." Such irrelevant comments take away from the credibility of the book. They make it read almost like a cheap novel. If the writing had been cleaner, without having to listen to Kim-Gibson's experience (since this is, after all, supposed to be a book about the comfort women's experiences), it might have been a great contribution to the literature on comfort women.

Ms. Kim-Gibson thoughtfully personalizes the stories of comfort-women.

Long-suppressed by the Japanese government and often overlooked by historians, the Korean comfort women's story emerges at last. Activist, film maker and writer Dai Sil Kim-Gibson has tackled the monumental task of exposing these Korean comfort women's stories to the public. With empathetic probing and years of patient interviews, Kim-Gibson succeeds in opening up these women whose lives have been pockmarked by the brutality of their surroundings. Their oral history is moving testament to the human's stubborn will to survive. Elucidating and inspiring, this book is a must-read.

This is a novel written by an honest, hard-working seaman, who undoubtedly decided to leave out some of the nastier parts associated with our occupation of The Philippines. All in all, it's a well-written novel and it takes you back to how things were. I visited Olongapo 5 years after the Base closed down, and walking down Magsaysay, I saw the Subic that used to be in the form of ancient ruins. Many of the buildings, bars and discotheques long abandoned. This novel let's you relive the sights sounds and smells of the "Old Sailor Town". I only reccomend this book to people who have been there.

Interesting book, written as a novel from the perspective of a deck seaman serving on the USS Spice, a fictional Military Sealift Command ship (probably based on the USS Spica (TAFS-9) that was actually homeported at the Subic Bay Naval Base). Takes place in the late 80's/early 90's, ably relating the story of everyday life at Subic and aboard an underway repenishment ship (my personal experience is from USS Mars (AFS-1)). The book even tastefully works in the readily available prostitution and its affects on the local inhabitants. World events intrude into life at Subic as the Spice deploys to the Persian Gulf for Desert Shield/Desert Storm. The ship returns just in time for the devastation caused by the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption, as well as the rejection of the U.S. Bases agreement by the Philippine Senate and the end of the U.S. military presence in the Philippines. A must read for any Navy/Air Force man or woman who ever set foot at Subic or Clark Air Base, it will certainly bring back memories. The one drawback to the book is that it appears to have been printed without the benefit of proofreading, and the many spelling and grammar errors can be frustrating. Also, military acronyms are broken out differently in different chapters of the book. Even with these drawbacks, it is still a fascinating look into a place that is gone forever, except in the memories of many service men and women. Many thanks to Mr. Mills for telling this story.

An excellent read for anyone that has ever been stationed in the Philippines while in the service, or for anyone that has ever had the pleasure of making a "port of call".

This book is a very good political (not military) history of the war. It's based on U.S. archives, so it's told entirely from the perspective of U.S. policymakers, even when discussing French or Vietnamese events. Also, although the book is about as objective as possible, you really can't leave politics behind when you write about Vietnam. Schulzinger believes that the United States could not have won the war; that we got involved out of misguided good intentions rather than evil motives; and that the Vietminh and Vietcong were homegrown liberation movements, not puppets of the Soviets or Chinese. Those are common and reasonable views, so I'm just saying know what you're getting. Overall, I preferred Karnow's Vietnam to this book. Karnow's politics and focus (U.S. policymakers) is similar. Schulzinger, a historian, has better command of the written source materials, but Karnow, a journalist in Vietnam during the war, is a better writer and rounds out the story with his own observations. Still, with all those caveats, this is a very readable and informative book.

The conflict in Vietnam was one of the most divisive foreign policy issues in our nation's history. The events which led up to full-scale American involvement in Vietnam vividly illustrated this divisiveness; a divisiveness which would change politics in America and the way in which Americans would look at their government. Robert D. Schulzinger's book, "A Time for War:The United States and Vietnam, 1941-1975", presents a comprehensive and analytical narrative on a war which is still hard for historians and the public to fully understand and interpret. Schulzinger brilliantly portrays U.S. involvement in Vietnamese affairs by analyzing how presidents and their national security teams from Roosevelt to Ford handled foreign policy concerning Vietnam. The objectivity of the book is very important and refreshing and interestingly points out how so many politicians and foreign policy experts predicted the eventual outcome of U.S. military involvement. Schulzinger's analysis of Johnson and his relations with advisors such as Robert McNamara, Walt Rostow, and McGeorge Bundy, tell of a president who knew what he was getting the country into but could not look beyond the short term effects of his decisions. By 1967-68, the war totally consumed Johnson and a point of no return was reached. Schulzinger also points out that the various South Vietnamese regimes failed to give proper support and encouragement to U.S. efforts. U.S. involvement in Vietnam was much too often taken for granted and this was a serious flaw in relations between Saigon and Washington. Unity and sense of nationalism were severely lacking in South Vietnam. Schulzinger's book provides a well-rounded and comprehensive analysis of a difficult time in American history. His primary source research was well done and the objectivity of the book was truly refreshing. The only drawback to the book is that one can easily get lost in his discussions of politics and diplomatic maneuvering. It also might have behooved the author to cover the American soldiers' experiences a little more as well. But, overall, this is a book which definitely stands out among Vietnam historiography.

Dr. Schulzinger's book is the first of a two-part series on the history of Vietnamese resistance. While A Time For Peace is still being written, the prequel, A Time for War clearly describes the hows and whys that caused, first the French, and then the Americans to become embroiled in a controversial conflict that would divide their nations. Although some of Shulzinger's conclusions can be considered suspect (who could ever say that President Diem was not corrupt?), overall, the treatment is well-done.

Race's book describes why the peasant population of a strategic province near Saigon revolted against the South Vietnamese government. He explains by means of interviews and analysis of Communist and non-Communist documents and intelligence data how the National Liberation Front was able to build a base of support for its war against the South Vietnamese government. He also reveals why various counter-insurgency efforts against the NLF failed so badly. The book is full of anecdotal, quantitative, and documentary support, but suffers somewhat from a dry, academic style of analysis. Nonetheless it is one of the true classics on this subject.

Twenty-eight years has not diminished the value of this brilliant study. Jeffrey Race wrote War Comes to Long An as his doctoral dissertation. Also a former US Army officer, Race served as a district advisor in Vietnam. After leaving the Army, Race returned to Vietnam as an independent researcher. He is fluent in Vietnamese-which opened many doors that would otherwise be shut to an American in rural Vietnam. All of these qualifications enhance Race's creditability. Furthermore, they help explain why War Comes to Long An achieves its stated purpose: to show how the Communist revolutionary movement was able to succeed in the South Vietnamese province of Long An. /// Saigon's fatal flaw was their perception of the revolutionary movement, according to Race. The overthrow of the "local elite" at the village level-not the expulsion of the French-was the most significant accomplishment of the Vietminh during the Resistance (p. 40). Vietminh strategy had fused anti-imperialist and anti-feudal themes, resulting in an economic revolution for the countryside. But Ngo Dinh Diem alienated the peasantry by returning the corrupt village councils that had been exiled with the French. Therefore: "... to say that the government later [after the First Indochina War] 'lost control' is misleading, and any analysis which proposes to answer the question of why the government 'lost control' or why there was an 'erosion of mass support for established institutions' is addressing the wrong question (p. 41)." /// Race acknowledges that there were some gains made by the government-as well as internal conflict within the revolutionary movement. But he devotes the majority of the book to analyzing the Communist exploitation of Saigon's ill-conceived policies. Diem's centralized method of government provides an example. South Vietnam was better characterized as a conglomerate of hamlets than as a nation state. Culture varied throughout the country and was largely shaped by local customs. The majority of the Vietnamese population equated "government" with their local village council. Yet the province chief was the first government administrator with any true decision-making authority. (This is one of the reasons the author chooses the province as the basic unit of his study.) In contrast, the Communist Lao Dong Party established their executive agent (the chi bo) at the village level. /// Land is the single most important factor to the peasant in Long An. In addition to its economic value (particularly in the fertile Mekong Delta region-where Long An is located), land is the focal point of family life and religion in Vietnam. It is where a family buries and worships their ancestors and where each family member expects to be interred. For these reasons, concludes Race, the agroville and strategic hamlet programs-by separating the peasantry from their land-were doomed from the start. Furthermore, Race correctly asserts that the revolutionary movement was more successful in "maneuvering the government to overthrow itself" than simply "overthrowing the government" (p. 159). /// Saigon's land reform policy and its effects on the population of Long An receive careful scrutiny. Race successfully applies an analytical methodology to support his assertion: "it is hard to see how the government's land reform could have fulfilled its stated purpose of turning a dissatisfied peasantry into a satisfied one, even if it had been implemented to the fullest" (p. 60). Meanwhile, the Party exploited the government's ineptitude by garnering support from the population. Land was promised to the peasant that supported the revolution. Thus the countryside became inextricably tied to the Party's cause, concludes the author. /// Race presents his evidence effectively. Oral histories from three former province chiefs are introduced in the first chapter. Their recollections are compared with similar accounts from contemporaneous Long An peasants. The results illuminate Saigon's single-minded mandarin approach to "securing" the countryside. These oral histories also demonstrate the conceptual differences between the government and the Party's approach. The government felt the unrest in the countryside was simply a "security" problem. In reality, the Party-in addition to its use of violence and terrorism-was successfully leading a multidimensional socioeconomic revolution. Likewise, the Communists truly knew what motivated the average Vietnamese. Race succinctly illustrates the logic and simplicity of the Party's strategy: "... the accuracy of the Party's judgment was to be proved over and over again in Long An after 1960, as outpost after outpost surrenderedwithout firing a shot. In the Party's view a man will not risk his life only for the sake of his pay, or because he has been drafted. He will only do so for clearly perceived interests involving himself, his family, or his own idea of country (p. 95)." /// There are shortfalls to this book. It is not an easy read. A typical passage: "Whereas the [1968 rural construction effort in Long An] correctly recognized the need for redistributive measures, the program actually adopted by the Saigon and the American governments ignored the redistributive issues and concentrated instead on 'development' and on certain suppressive and intelligence functions." (p. 249) /// Race's methodology also compounds the problem. He quotes extensively from his sources (interviews and documents). (Race does so ostentatiously because the material remained in Vietnamese.) Although this technique is helpful for the researcher, it detracts from the narrative. Race also favors the analytic approach-with his conclusions frequently resting primarily on numerical data. He even offers a "graphic presentation" of his concepts in one of the appendices. Although these tools are effective, they narrow the scope of the book. Additionally, there is no bibliography and the reader is given little direction for further research. /// In summary, War Comes to Long An is a fine piece of scholarship. The author's observations and conclusions regarding the revolutionary movement in Long An extend far beyond the Mekong Delta. The book is best suited as supplemental reading for the graduate or undergraduate student of Vietnam.

This book is an excellent, thorough study of the strategic Long An province, located just south of Saigon. Jeffrey Race looks at the activities of both sides in the formative years from 1954-1965. Unlike most books on Vietnam, Race spends little time looking at events after the US troop commitment. Race attempts to be an unbiased observer as he reviews the historical record. Also, by looking at one province, Jeffrey Race presents this major conflict at a human level.

Filled with top-notch research and a number of insghtful interviews, this book is a little-known but superb resource for anyone truly interested in the Vietnam War.

I was genuinely disappointed by this book given the interesting subject matter and the review posted on Amazon. Beyrer often loses his focus, shifting from discussing the AID epidemic to devoting entire paragraphs to an examination of Thai architecture and the temples of Chiang Mai. I applaud his effort to try to interweave cultural themes, but unfortunately this book reads like a travel guide loosely tied together. While there are some good insights and facts, it seems Beyrer's editors provided him poor guidance to focus his writing.

"War in the Blood" is my favorite Asia book of recent years. It is still the definitive work on Southeast Asia's HIV/AIDS epidemic; but it is also a beautifully wrought travel memoir, written by a compassionate & intelligent observer. I have recommended it to many people interested in Burma. It also would be a fine clear-eyed introduction to contemporary Southeast Asian culture in all of its contradictions and surprises. "War in the Blood" is by no means a depressing work of epidemiology; rather it is a call to action, and in that sense, a ray of hope.

Beyrer combines an incredible amount factual information in a very readable account of the march of HIV through SE Asia. He does best with his coverage of Thailand and Burma, the countries he knows most. He does a fine job of weaving strands of epidemiology, medicine, politics, and culture together. The book goes beyond the often one-dimensional accounts of HIV in the region and with bradth, a credible grasp of facts, and a sympathetic, personal point of view.

After so many years of digging through the Soviet archives, Mr. Morris forgot to double and triple check his supposedly 'facts' and got carried away with believing everything he read from the basements in Moscow.

The problem with Morris analysis is that it left out the Beijing angle. The Vietnam-Cambodian war was driven more from China than from Vietnam and the Soviet. The CCP has a lot of influence and control over this war which was barely accounted for in this book.

There's also another problem with an analysis based solely on ideological ground i.e. communist regime wages war because they can, because they are evil, warlike and undemocratic. Besides being not very useful in pedagogical terms, this of course left out the more important historical analysis that Vietnam and Cambodia has a long history of many small wars. And the Vietnam-Cambodian war could be viewed as an attempt to continue Vietnam's territorial expansion that began from the 17th century.

Mr. Morris assessments in the book should be read in light of his other 'hysterical' pronouncement of having found a document in Soviet archives showing that Hanoi had deceived on POWs.

T.N.

This book is undoubtedly one of the few "must have" books on Vietnam and Cambodia. The author has produced a very carefully argued and superbly researched analysis of the Vietnamese relationship with Cambodia and the Vietnamese relationships with the Soviet Union and China. It shows how our conventional thinking in terms of states only pursuing their national security or economic interests doesn't explain why the Vietnamese and the Khmers Rouges each provoked their larger neighbors (The Khmers Rouges provoked Vietnam and Vietnam provoked China). The idea that the weak can provoke the stronger goes against our "common sense" understanding of how states behave, but it obviously did happen in these cases. Morris also has a very good writing style (I even found the more abstract conceptual discussion in the introduction and conclusion quite easy to follow) and the narrative flows quite nicely. He has also introduced the concept of "hyperMaoism" to explain the outlook of the Khmers Rouges, which is something that I find quite insightful. His research in Soviet archives also brought forth some fascinating revelations, regarding how little the Vietnamese leadership knew and understood about the motives of the Khmers Rouges leaders. And the Soviet documents also bring completely new information on how Vietnam's relations with China broke down during the 1970s. I had read every book published on the Vietnamese communists and the Khmers Rouges, but this book has taught me a lot that I didn't know. The tone of the work is quite dispassionate, and its approach completely objective, as Morris tries to get inside the thinking of all of the parties to the conflict. Highly recommended.

A scholarly analysis of the history behind the 1978-89 Vietnamese invasion and occupation of Cambodia, followed by the author's brutally frank assessment of the consequences. As the author states, a final assessment is premature, but recent events do indeed cause the reader to wonder how long the Vietnamese will continue to be pleased with the tactics of its "clients". Readers will also want to review "Falling Out of Touch" by Goscha and Engelbert for another look at historical relations between the Vietnamese and Cambodian communists.

A neighbor of mine, Jim O'Kelly, contributed to this book. So I ordered it to get to know what he had been through and to relate a little better to his experiences. I was too young for Vietnam, but have always had an interest in the war. I found the book very informative and interesting. Very true to the way life really was for the engineers and others who served over there. The interviews gave me an insight to the feelings the men all felt deep inside about the experience. And the everyday routine of getting the job done, and just trying to survive the enemy and health problems associated with the living conditions. I enjoyed the book a great deal, and it really made me appreciate the small things we all take for granted every day. Thanks to all the men and women that served over there. They deserve to be recognized and admired for their efforts and endurance. It's strange though. Many folks back then did not give the honor the Vietnam vets deserved when they returned home. Knowing what I do about Vietnam and how horrible a war it was to acually be invloved in. I've always thought of the Vietnam vet as one of the most couragous vets. Not taking anything away from other vets. But it was such a different type of war in many ways.

Ms Shellenbarger has done a great job of organizing a lot of information into a book which is easy to read and communicates the experience of having been a soldier in Viet Nam. It covers the initial entry of both the battalion and its members into the war, their experiences while there and upon returning home, and their view of the war from the present. VERY revealing! There is no editorializing or conclusion-drawing by Ms Shellenbarger, which is just fine. The men's words stand alone. An admirable job with difficult subject matter!