STREET WITHOUT JOY

Originally published in 1961, "Street Without Joy" offered a clear warning about what US forces would face in the jungles of South-East Asia: a costly and protracted revolutionary war fought without fronts against a mobile enemy. It describes in shocking detail the brutality of the Indo-China War, the savage eight-year conflict in which French forces suffered a staggering defeat at the hands of Communist-led Vietnamese nationalists. With its front-line perspective, vivid reporting and careful analysis, the book was required reading for policymakers in Washington DC, and is now considered a classic.