John Stewart Bowman was an American author and librettist. He received a B.A. in English literature from Harvard University and attended Trinity College, Cambridge University, and the University of Munich. Bowman worked as an editor for more than 40 years and as a freelance writer for almost as long.
Very well-balanced book in an almanac form. The front two-thirds of the book cover places and chronological events. The balance of the book tells about politics and worked events that took place in the background.
There is a short introduction by Fox Butterfield of The New York Times; he visited Vietnam a year after Tet if 68. The index is incomprehensible. Each small blurb is like someone reporting secondhand. We do have some color pictures but none that I could relate to and I was there at the time. I did recognize some of the M48 tanks used in armed reconnaissance.
The editor, John S. Bowman did a fair job of organizing the book.
Even though there are no new insights, this book is well worth the cost.
This book seriously needed maps of all SE Asia. It would have helped to put so much more daylight into dense reading. This is a good source of day to day events of the Vietnam War from the American perspective.