THE FALL OF SAIGON: Scenes From The Sudden End Of A Long War

blue & brown 1/2 cloth hardcover 8vo. (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. vg+ cond. binding square & tight. covers have a few spots and smudges. edges clean. erasure spot on front flyleaf, otherwise contents free of markings. dustwrapper in vg cond. wrinkles & small tears along top edge, spine top missing little piecs, scratches on rear, not price clipped (no price listed). nice vintage copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking, underlining, remainder markings etc~. high quality book club edition. endpaper maps. 510p.+ about the author. b&w photo illustrations. sources. index. world history. vietnam war. military history. american history. far east history. asian history. ~Ten years ago in April the Vietnam War abruptly ended with the apocalyptic departure of the United States from the rooftops of Saigon. Now The Fall of Saigon describes those hectic days with all the passion and drama inherent in the situation. Not since Is Paris Burning? has a book re~created so entirely the pulse and feel of a climactic historical event. The Fall of Saigon weaves together the lives of more than thirty persons caught in the crisis of those days, from the U.S. ambassador to a host of men, women, and children ~American and Vietnamese~ trapped before the onrushing juggernaut. Drawing on original sources and photos as well as his own firsthand notes and impressions, David Butler, journalist for Newsweek and Playboy ~and himself present in Saigon during the days he describes~ narrates in gripping fashion the drama of those eventful moments. Before dawn on April 29, 1975, the North Vietnamese Army, poised three miles outside of Saigon, shelled Tan Son Nhut airport, thus precluding fixed~winged evacuation of the capital and pulling the plug for the Americans left in the city. From this dramatic moment, The Fall of Saigon moves back to follow the explosive last two months of the war, beginning in March with the disastrous unilateral decision of President Thieu to evacuate his troops from the central and northern provinces of the country, thus setting off the rout that would lead inexorably to defeat. Here is the story of the soldiers, ambassadors, civilians, newsmen, politicians, Americans, South Vietnamese and North Vietnamese who lived those tumultuous days, including: The advance of General Dung, the commander of the North Vietnamese forces that "liberated" the South. The horrendous evacuation of the central provinces that took untold thousands of civilian lives along the "Convoy of Tears". The daring unauthorized flight to Da Nang to evacuate personnel caught behind the lines. The maneuvers of Ambassador Graham Martin to avoid chaos in the Southern capital. The northward trek of an American family taken prisoner by the communists. The harrowing southward odyssey of an ARVN captain before the advancing communist troops. The tragic fate of the Vietnamese orphans airlifted from Saigon. The desperate kidnaping of a half~Vietnamese girl by her American father on the eve of evacuation. The Fall of Saigon captures the human drama of these days in all their poignancy and excitement, from the conflicts at the highest levels of government to the desperate last~minute struggles on the streets of Saigon. It is a book that brings vividly alive a place, a time, an event. Whatever one's political opinion about the Vietnamese war and the American participation, no one will fail to be moved by the sheer drama and excitement of these pages~or stirred by the courage and determination with which the people caught in the throes of this tumultuous event met the crisis. What emerges is a portrait of human beings at their best and worst, a story that offers an original contribution to our understanding of that controversial time, a book that reads with the authority of the best history~and the excitement of the most gripping fiction.…