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World Hotels - The Phoenix Program
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List Price: $26.95
Our Price: $24.25
Your Save: $ 2.70 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 900
EAN: 9780595007387
ISBN: 0595007384
Label: AuthorHouse
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 484
Publication Date: 2000-08-07
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Release Date: 2000-08-03
Studio: AuthorHouse
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Editorial Reviews:
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This is an Authors Guild/BIP title. Please use Authors Guild/BIP specs. "An important work." -John Prados, author of President's Secret Wars "This definitive account of the Phoenix program, the US attempt to destroy the Viet Cong through torture and summary execution, remains sobering reading for all those trying to understand the Vietnam War and the moral ambiguities of America's Cold War victory. Though carefully documented, the book is written in an accessible style that makes it ideal for readers at all levels, from undergraduates to professional historians." -Alfred W. McCoy, author of The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Valentine's book is flawed and misleading
Comment: This book is an excellent imitation of a historical work, but falls apart in light of Valentine's own methodology and the actual historical work done by real historians. The text comprises a tenuous web of interviews and dubious sources, including a surprising amount from known frauds Elton Manzione and Kenneth Osbourne. To maintain his belief that the US government supports evil for evil's sake, Valentine makes a great number of unfounded accusations, and astute readers will notice that his most controversial claims come with no footnote whatsoever. A professional writer, Valentine was able to ape historical writing very well, and unfortunately the conspiracy theorists who patronize his work are ready to believe anything on scant evidence.
Readers interested in the truth about the Phoenix Program would be much, much better served by consulting Andrade's Ashes to Ashes or Moyar's Phoenix and the Birds of Prey. First-person accounts are provided by Herrington in his Stalking the Vietcong or by Cook in his The Advisor. All of these researched, reputable works contradict Valentine's portrayal of the program, and remedy to some extent the damage his work has caused to the historical record and to men who fought in Vietnam.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Revisionist History Discrediting True Hero's
Comment: I regret that I purchased this book. Douglas Valentine demeans the HEROISM of two close personal friends that were part of the Phoenix program. After many years of silence both have shared their experiences with me. Both were wounded several times and have continuing disabilities to this day. The Viet Cong atrocities that each discovered over and over are treated lightly or not at all by Valentine. Neither friend committed any atrocities, ordered any atrocities committed or witnessed any atrocities committed by U.S. or friendly forces. Each friend relives the death of every enemy soldier they killed nightly in their dreams. They never killed in anger or unjustly.
Valentine's book quotes many persons that are either malcontents, liars, Viet Cong spies, or fictional persons with no actual service record.
The book reads like a very dry high school history text. It meanders back and forth through time with little continuity. Valentine's agenda to discredit "Real Soldier's" who served their country is obvious. I forced myself to read this entire book only to find it a "Complete Waste Of Time."
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Comment: The author's intent is very obvious, however, his structure is too detailed in facts that clouded the issues by making a boring and difficult read. The flow and continuity were just not there. I am quite surprised the editor did not have a field day rewriting much of his work.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just one question ....
Comment: One reviewer writes: "It is a sad but telling fact that the CIA's secret supporters have managed to suppress this book"...
Hmmm. If the book is "suppressed," then why can you buy it on Amazon? (In fact, a REPRINT of the original version!)
Maybe the answer is in my motto: never trust anyone, esp. an "author," who talks about himself in the third person. :)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent read, very readable, on a difficult subject
Comment: After having read Douglas Valentine's essay on how the Phoenix is coming home to roost via Homeland Security on his website, I decided to look into his book, The Phoenix Program. Besides his comprehensive, journalistic coverage of the details involved with the program, unafraid to uncover the deeds of all sides involved, two things impressed me even more. First, this type of book usually has alphabet soup groups, projects and missions labeled with acronyms, and so many individuals' names woven through that I grow weary of reading half way through, if that far. Not so with Valentine's opus. Somehow he presents all these details in a readable fashion, which if you begin from the beginning, unfolds those normally boring and confusing details without losing the reader. At least not this one, who is easily confused by such matters. Second, and even more impressive were his interviews. It was more like watching a good documentary than reading. Valentine conveyed the characters and their personalities so that they became real people to me, and he let them tell their stories in a very human, honest way. At times even touching, those interviewed were equally human regardless of rank, station, deed or misdeed. It's rare that an interviewer gets the interviewee's real voice and viewpoint. Great stuff, really soulfull and heartfelt. Read it and check out his article on his website, the Phoenix Program is not just history, and it's not just Vietnam.
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