The Night They Burned the Mountain

by Thomas A. Dooley

The Night They Burned the Mountain by Thomas Dooley Hardcover 1960

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Biography Memoir

142 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Thomas Anthony Dooley, III.

Doctor, US Navy officer, and humanitaian.

Graduate of Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

For his humanitarian service in Southeast Asia, he was awarded the Legion of Merit (United States), the National Order of Vietnam, and in 1962 he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President John F. Kennedy.

Reviews

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

ENGLISH: I have read this book twice in three months. I had never read it before. It's very similar to the previous one, The Edge of Tomorrow. In this book Dooley tells about his work in Laos to create a new hospital in a remote village.

Apart from telling about the work his team had to do to create a hospital from almost nothing, Dooley describes a few more atrocities performed by communists, as well as anecdotes about those illnesses and medical problems they had to deal with. The book is a little unordered and could have been improved by a revising, but obviously Dr. Dooley had no time for it.

An interesting quote, perfectly applicable today: Our unhappy world is torn an tortured and the people of all countries walk in fear, lest through no fault of theirs the dogs of war are unchained again... Perhaps this fear is greater than the danger itself because it is fear which drives men to act foolishly, to act thoughtlessly, to act dangerously.

ESPAÑOL: He leído este libro dos veces en tres meses. No lo había leído antes. Es muy similar al anterior, The Edge of Tomorrow. En este libro, Dooley habla de su trabajo en Laos para crear un nuevo hospital en un pueblo remoto.

Además de contar los trabajos que tuvo que emprender su equipo para crear un hospital a partir de casi nada, Dooley describe algunas otras atrocidades cometidas por los comunistas, así como algunas anécdotas sobre las enfermedades y problemas médicos que tuvieron que abordar. El libro está un poco desordenado y una revisión podría haberlo mejorado, pero es obvio que el Dr. Dooley no tuvo tiempo para eso.

Veamos una cita interesante, perfectamente aplicable ahora: Nuestro mundo infeliz está desgarrado y torturado y la gente de todos los países camina con miedo, no sea que por causas ajenas a ellos los perros de la guerra se desencadenen de nuevo... Tal vez este miedo es peor que el peligro mismo, porque es el miedo lo que impulsa al hombre a actuar de forma estúpida, irreflexiva, peligrosa.

[Sherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a tortured soul in junior high, I read and was inspired by this man. He instantly replaced Roy Rogers as my hero. I was crushed when I read that he might have been involved with the CIA.

[Mariangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent complement to the previous 2 books, with the set up of another hospital in the mountains of Northern Laos. Confronted with similar problems as described in "The edge of tomorrow", Dooley manages to avoid repetition in his third book, which talks more of the political situation in Laos and his own disease.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Good

[Norma Dushack]

it's a very factual book about Tom Dooley and Laos in the late 1950's before Vietnam.

[Bryan Worra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Night They Burned the Mountain was written with mid-20th Century sensibilities, but it's also one of the few first-hand American accounts of the experience in Laos that comes from neither the diplomatic or military/CIA perspective before the war began escalating.

For comparisons to other American experiences, I'd probably pair this with the memoirs of Dr. Charles Weldon and James E. Parker, and the biographies of the RAVENS Forward Air Controllers and Ed Buell, although these volumes are increasingly difficult to find. I would also probably look at Penelope Flores' Goodbye, Vientiane, an account of the Filipino experience in Laos and the Filipino Operation: Brotherhood organization.

[Elaine Head · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took weeks to arrive in my mailbox....from a book dealer in the USA. Thank goodness there are people in the business of preserving "classics" and getting them into the hands of interested readers.

The writing of this autobiographical work is dated, but straight forward and right from the heart of an amazing American who served the sick in SE Asia.

There are two things that Dooley wrote eloquently about, his beloved mountain in Laos and his own dedication and faith.

[Marci · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of three books by Dr Thomas Dooley - Incredible story, fantastic read

[Lobug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth reading. Quite fascinating, really. I had never heard of Dooley's work before, and it was awesome.