Indochina and Vietnam

[Jason]

I haven't, but I will now. Right up my alley.

[EggSalad]

Nope.

But I did just get a hardback copy of Fire in the Lake for $2.

[Jason]

I'm trying to remember how Windrow presented it. I think he probably did spend time talking about caches, but he also spends a lot of time talking about how far off Fall's estimations were. I feel like he spent more time on the ordinance expended that what was still in reserve.

I don't think new evidence should really change the way we think about how the siege ended, the French weren't still there counting shells and just trying to wait until what they thought the cache was was expended. In some ways maybe it shows that the Viet Minh did a better job than anyone has given them credit up to now.

This does highlight a big gap that I've been aware of, and trying to fill, in that I haven't read anything from the VM/NLF/PAVN perspective (unless you count Fire in the Lake [ :O) ]) from either war. I have a couple on my wish list, and will some day finish Infinite Jest and get back to my non-fiction reading.

[Jason]

As an update, Pleiku is awesome. Highly recommend.

I also read The Sorrow of War, which is a novel about an NVA veteran written by an NVA veteran. It's a good companion piece to The Things They Carried.