Vietnam: Inside Story of the Guerilla War

by Wilfred G. Burchett

Hard Cover; Good; Dust Jacket - Acceptable; International Publishers First Edition / First Printing. Hardcover, Good cloth covered boards; edge wear and staining to covers. Page edges foxed. DJ is Fair with significant edge wear and chipping. Text is tight and clean. B&W photographs.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

253 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Patrick Gilvary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for the personal experiences of the author, which I found very entertaining and informative. This book would likely also serve as a good document for people interested in the history of the Vietnam War.

[Enrique Condés · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un increible reportaje con entrevisats y relatos de primera mano acerca de los primeros años de la guerra en el sureste asiático.

[Daniel Cortes · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, I met Wilfred, a man in his mid-50s who seemed to have lived through situations similar to this one in Asia. That is probably why he was called to witness and write about the Viet Cong (Vietnamese Communists) and how they fought.

It was explained to us what the “special war” meant — a strategy where the U.S. forced young Vietnamese to die for them, using the local government to claim they were not directly involved in the war in South Vietnam. We also learned that, had this strategy succeeded, the same type of war might have spread to South America and Africa as well. (Thanks to the Viet Cong for preventing that.)

Our journey first took us to a city controlled by the U.S.-backed government, where they had placed a puppet in power. We saw Wilfred discovering the types of shoes they wore, how they communicated through letters, signs, and sticks, and the strategies they used to evade helicopters.

These were all ways of keeping the enemy at bay, but Wilfred also documented other forms of resistance — the “silent battle” fought by the elderly, who set and maintained traps; and the efforts of women, who convinced soldiers, often forced to fight against their own people, to stop and realize they might be killing their own mothers and wives. Some even showed evidence of women raped by U.S. soldiers to open their eyes to the reality of the war.

[Bernardo Arcos Álvarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Death, suffering, oppression, napalm, bombs, bullets, rape, genocide of the vietnamese tribes, hunger, teratogenic agents... I don't know if that's what the US government used to know as freedom, or they simply lied, but those are certainly the only things they brought to Vietnam.
Burchett shows a different side of the "Viet Cong", not the wild, blood-thirsty, evil communist monsters that the US government tried to make of them, but the poor, desperate and heroic farmers that stood against tyranny.

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps not the least biased book written as the author was secretly on the payroll of the KGB but very well written and very engaging. Provides access to the narrative which the NLF was selling and insight into their techniques and organisation.