Clarke Books

Outside of a few good movies, I never had much interest in the Civil War. On the other hand, the Border War on the Missouri-Kansas Border, I found fascinating. Kansas territory was a Hotbed for abolitionists and Lawrence, Kansas was known as the center of this hotbed. For several years under the guise of Freedom, Kansas abolitionists, known as Jayhawkers and Redlegs led by men like George Hoyt, Charles Jennison, Sen. Jim Lane, and Pastor Hugh Fisher crossed the border into Missouri to murder, loot, and plunder. Most of these people didn't even own slaves...They were honest hard working farmers that lived in the wrong place.
Since the State Government of Missouri didn't commit to the South the State soon found itself without any (Southern) Army and fell to the mercy of Union Troops and the Kansas Militias.
After about three years of murder and looting and the collapse of the Kansas City Jail where several Missouri Women were killed,, Leaders of Guerilla Bands like Bill Quantrill, George Todd, and Bill Anderson Crossed the border into Kansas to ''set things right.''
On Friday August 21, 1863 Quantrill and around 300-400 'Bushwackers' raided Lawrence, Kansas killing nearly 200 men. Sen Jim Lane who was No. 1 on the 'hit list' managed to escape. The Bushwackers spent the day killing and looting. They left the burning town taking loot that had mostly come from Missouri in the first place and had to be discarded along the way after Union troops began their pursuit.
In War,,,the winners get to write History. Good Guys Win and Bad Guys Lose. Good Guys ''Raid'' and Bad Guys 'Massacre.''
When I saw the Author lives in Lawrence, Kansas I thought this was going to be another Slanted History. I was pleasantly surprised at the objectivity of this book. It seems that in most History,,, the Question '''Why Did This Happen'' is seldom addressed. The book gives plenty of background on this historical event and reasons Why these Guerillas rode 50 miles into Kansas to raid this town. For those interested in the Border War this book is a great addition to any library. It is very readable and has many maps, illustrations, and photographs of the important 'players.'

I live in Lawrence, and have been wanting to learn more about Lawrence history. I had a hard time putting this book down. It is graphic and to the point, so not for the weak of heart. It was a true horror story, yet I enjoyed learning about early Lawrence. The maps were interesting as well.

This is the best coverage of the 1863 Lawrence Massacre that I have ever found to date. Goodrich does an excellent job in thoroughly covering the atrocity perpetrated by Quantrill and his raiders under the Black Flag. Imagine 200 men and boys slaughtered. Even in today's world, those would be headlines in every paper.

Quantrill is a fascinating subject on many levels. He was clearly a leader, a good military strategist, courageous and crafty. He was also a liar, who was ruthless, brutal and deadly. In conducting this raid on Lawrence he was daring beyond any Union expectations.

Goodrich covers the event from beginning to end in such a dramatic and interesting style that you will not be able to put the book down. I got to know many of the victims. The book is so informative that genealogists, historians and the curious will find many veins for further exploration and inquiry. Goodrich will make you believe that you were an eyewitness that day in Lawrence.

The best account of the infamous Lawrence, Kansas massacre during the Civil War. Goodrich uses meticulous detail and vivid writing to deliver a fascinating, often gruesome depiction of Quantrill's raid. The casual reader will find "Bloody Dawn" riveting; the historian will discover a treasure trove in the copious footnotes and bibliography. A must for anyone interested in the seamy underbelly of the "bleeding Kansas" era.

The authors received 138 responses to a survey about favorite photography books. The verbatim replies and brief commentaries are arranged by respondent; a bibliography lists the respondents who cited each book. A special page is devoted to "The Americans" by Robert Frank, and another special page to the 10 other top vote getters. Some of the choices were idiosyncratic (e.g., some authors touted their own work which no one else mentioned), but overall this book is indispensable. I especially liked the selection of books ABOUT photography (as opposed to BY photographers), such as "Camera Lucida" by Barthes. Although I would agree with the other reviewer below that books on non-artistic genres (e.g., news, sports, nature) are underrepresented, that's not an important issue for me.

The Texas Photographic Society cornered 100 people who have a connection to the photography world and said "hey, what are your 6 favorite photo books and why?" The result is this nice little book, a compilation of all those lists with a handy bibliography of all the books mentioned at the end. It's a great little reference. It would have been nice to have a few more selections from the world of documentary photography (important photographers such as James Nachtwey and Eugene Richards are barely mentioned, or even not at all), but I guess that's a reflection of the tastes of those who were surveyed for this book.

This book is a great compulation of over 100 recognized photographers and the books that they go to for inspiration. It's also a great buying guide for any photographers on your list that might be hard to buy for.
A great book, great ideas and a very interesting and unique concept in photographic book publishing.

This book is a great gift for anyone interested in any aspect of photography--and as a general reference book for a seasoned photographer or the apprentice photography student. The editors surveyed famous curators, gallery owners, photo journalists, photo teachers, art photographers from all over the country and compiled an exhaustive list of must-have books along with clever and informative annotations.

A very inexpensive and invaluable resource with a handy index. Buy it. You'll be glad you did.

In the vein of THE SANDLOT and STAND BY ME, John Hoffman tells a hilarious, touching, and adventurous story of his days growing up in the Catskills. BUZZY AND THE RIVER RATS is a compelling story for all ages, and would no doubt be a hit on the big screen...

This is an absolutely sparkling account of life in the Catskills when kids played outdoors and had real adventures. Boys and girls of all ages will adore it, as they leave their suburban worlds to enter small town life a few decades ago, before the entry of television and video games. Who needs Harry Potter? This book shows the magic in everyday life. And it's OK to admit that you loved their adventures, even if your an adult. John Hoffman is a master storyteller. Booth Tarkington, move over!

From Buzzy Moves In to Exploring the Town to Romance and Adventure, this series by Hoffman portrays the best about what life used to be in small town America. Buzzy lived the kind of childhood we all wish for our children, full of adventure, mischief and ingenuity, as well as profound friendship. The reader is taken back to a simpler time when the greatest threat was a raid by the local town bullies. Engrossing reading!

This book is a wonderful collection of stories (based on true fact) which illuminate the young life of the author and his companions in a small town in the Catskills. Great for children of all ages (and adults!), the adventures of Buzzy and the River Rats intrigue and delight. Buy it for your kid's collection!

This is my 3rd favorite Catechism ever written..

The Catechism of the Council of Trent #1
The Baltimore Catechism #2

A previous poster called some things "old" however, this Catechism contains the 100% un-tampered with, uncompromising, TRUTH! Every Catholic should own and READ this....

We live in a day and age when 80% of American Catholics have no idea what Holy Mother Church teaches well; if they all read this Catechism they would, and I daresay it would shock them into realizing that the namby-pamby modernistic "faith" they have does not resemble the beauty and splendor that IS Catholicism!!!

I think the last edition of this book was from 1931. I like reading through the text, but obviously some things in the Church have changed since 1931, and the book doesn't cover some contemporary issues. It is still thorough and enjoyable reading, although I'm not sure if everything is completely accurate.

Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is the best catechism ever written, it is certainly one of the best. Hundreds of pages covering nearly every topic of interest to lay Catholics. A good reference for clergy too.

This excellent text was written by a proffessor of theology. It is not academic but clearly and easily understood. The author demonstrates why we are here on earth and quotes the bible along with numerous examples from the lives of saints, to prove his points. It explains in exhaustive detail the catechism point by point. This book can't be beat as an introduction to catholic teaching and practice.

Mat really did a great job with this book. I fell back into modeling after about a 25 year layoff. This book goes though all of the various space models there that are out there. You may find out about them by searching eBay all the time, but it will take a very long time...

Through this book you go on a wonderful illustrated journey through the space age (and beyond),
the twist being, it's within the model world of spacecraft, not the life sized versions.
The author Matt Irvine, well known among Doctor Who and Blake 7 fans as one of the long serving FX guys (20 years), really shows off his love and knowledge of the subject.
Here's a brief synopsis of contents, 352 pages with 500 photographs, 170 in full colour.
And listings for 250 modeling subjects and 300 model manufactures.
Some Examples, Revell, Monogram, Strombecker, Airfix and many more.
The era's covered in detail are World War 2 and the Nazi built V2's all the way through to the International Space Station, with everything in-between.
Chapter twelve called; "Beyond the Infinite" goes from Roswell to 2001, not surprising since the foreward is written by the late great Sir Arthur C. Clarke, CBE.

This book was a much anticipated addition to my library. As a webmaster of a Apollo website, I'm often asked questions about space models. This book has it all with great descriptions and color images of space model kits. The table of scales of each type available is very useful for collectors.

If you were a male child growing up in the 1950s or `60s, the chances are very good that you will remember many of the models that author Mat Irvine describes in this fine volume covering an obscure aspect of spaceflight history.

"Creating Space" consists of two parts of approximately equal length. The first half is full of nostalgia, at least for me. Logically organized into 12 chapters covering, for example, "Early Dreams," "Rocket Planes and the V-Weapons" and "The Visions of Wernher and Willy," the first 200 pages include superb glossy color photos of assembled models and, stirring even more pleasant memories, their boxtop art. All of the models I built as a kid growing up just down the Florida coast from Cape Canaveral are covered in detail here: Strombecker's RM-1 Lunar Rocket Ship, Revell's XSL-01 Manned Space Ship, Lindberg's Lunar Lander, Monogram's Space Taxi and Passenger Rocket (designed by Willy Ley) and Hawk's Convair Atlas Space Station. The early rockets and guided missile kits are well represented also. Remember Revell's X-17 Research Rocket and Aerobee-Hi (with its exquisite set of decals), Adams' Honest John "Atomic Rocket" and Renwal's Terracruzer with Mace Missile? They're all here, along with hundreds of others. Closer to today, there are chapters devoted to current Space Shuttle, Mir and International Space Station kits, and a whimsical chapter covering U.F.O.s (such as the classic "Adamski Flying Saucer") and cinematic spacecraft such as those from "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Destination Moon." The quality of the photos is superb, and the extensive text describes the kits in great detail.

The second half of "Creating Space" is a tabular listing of virtually every spacecraft, rocket, missile and science fiction model kit ever made. Each entry includes a description of the kit, its scale, the manufacturer's reference number and the year it was first released. This is an excellent reference guide which appears to be both exhaustive and definitive. It is sure to be an invaluable resource for the collector or serious retro-hobbyist. There's also a useful dealer's reference, a list of other reference sources and some Internet links.

"Creating Space" is a unique and valuable book. I no longer have any of the space model kits that I built as a child. But I still got immense pleasure from reading Mr. Irvine's clear, thorough and detailed text, marveling at the crisp photos and re-living, for a moment at least, the joys of putting these kits together with tube cement that somehow always seemed to get smeared all over everything. If you're at all interested in the subject, buy this book. You won't be disappointed.

Elizabeth Honey is the author of Don't Pat the Wombat has a great idea for a book. She writes about a kid named Mark and his friends are going to camp with their teachers! One of their teachers nicknamed the Boom, because he hates all kids and tries to drown a kid named Journa! Mark and his friends have to save Jouna from the Boom. This book is funny and exciting. That's why you should read this book.

I am sixteen years old and Australian. Don't Pat The Wombat was my favourite book when I was ten, and I recently reread it. I'd forgotton how funny and accurate it was.

First, some background information about the setting. Despite what it may appear, the kids are not going to summer camp. They are going to school camp. The difference is, it happens during school time, and not during summer. The summer holidays happen over Christmas, and they only last for six weeks, so no summer camp. Edwina and Helmut are not counsellors. They are backpackers how happened to be in the area. Also, the slang is fairly accurate, if I recall primary school correctly.

Don't Pat The Wombat is about a group of boys in year six, who have called themselves the Coconuts. They're the troublemakers of their class. A few weeks before camp, they become friends with a new kid named Jonah, who is from a rural area. Jonah makes enemies with Brian Cromwell, a cruel teacher that the Coconuts have nicknamed the Bomb, because he explodes. They go to camp in the bush, and have fun. Most of the book is taken up with the description of the fun, but towards the end it develops a more serious theme. Jonah starts opening up slightly, and has an encounter with the Bomb.

The book has a very light hearted tone, which is why I think I loved it so much. You could count the serious bits on the fingers of one hand. The characters are believable twelve-year-olds, and act in a believable way. I was never one of the troublemakers myself, but I remember school camp, before popularity became everything and kids still listened to the teachers. And the lollies, who could forget the lollies?

Elizebeth Honey has written a few other novels, of which the Stella Streets are the closest in tone to this one. I'd recomend those as well.

It's no secret that there are thousands of fantastic unknown children's books out there. I would even go so far as to estimate that over 60% of the best kid books disappear without so much as a ripple under the waves of subsequently published literature. So this is all the more reason to appreciate a well-written unknown book when you find it. That book, such as it is, is Elizabeth Honey's "Don't Pat the Wombat". A fine frolicsome Aussie import, this tale of kids, camp, and canoes is one of the best kept secrets in fiction today. And it's freakin' hilarious.

The plot follows a group of roughly ten year-old boys called The Coconuts. They named themselves that after the narrator(nickname: Exclamation Mark)'s mom drove them around singing, "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts..." The other boys include Wormz, Nicko, Azza, Mitch, and Jonah. Jonah, to be honest, is the real hero of this tale. A calm silent boy, Jonah earns the wrath of the school's most dreaded teacher, The Bomb. When the boys head out for summer camp (an event that included not only the boys but their teachers from school and two parents) it's just their bad luck that The Bomb comes along for the ride.

First of all, this book is undoubtedly one of the funniest I've read in a very long time. Funny books never get any respect, you know. Not adult funny books, nor children's funny books. This is a story where the narrator's mom plays on a basketball team called The Cellulites. The pictures, supposedly drawn by the author, are a hoot and a holler (and frighteningly similar to pictures an actual ten year-old would draw). And the storyline has the boys pulling the kind of innocent pranks you'd expect of them. I was particularly taken with a moment where the boys (after a rousing mud fight) decided to play dead to see what their German counselor Helmut would do:

"Oh, they're dead!" goes Helmut. "What a pity, I'd better bury them," and he started shoveling mud on us.

It's that kind of story. On top of that, there's some interesting Australian language to grapple with. America is the kind of country that takes great pains in changing words in the Harry Potter books that appear "too British" for delicate American children's ears. Apparently, Australian slang is a completely different matter. Initially I was quite taken aback by the amount of words I either couldn't understand or couldn't pronounce. Here's a great example. It describes the teacher nicknamed Chook:

"If something goes right, she says, `Jolly beaut!' and if something goes wrong, she goes, `Blinking heck!' For something amazing, she says, `By jingo!' She wears Daisy Duck shoes".

The book's full of this kind of thing. When a boy calls his teacher a nerd his mother patiently corrects him and says the terms he's looking for is "duffer". Slang includes words like "derr" as well. I mean, I think it's great! More books should be coming into our country with these kinds of words. But if you're not prepared for them, it's a bit of a shock.

If I have any objections with this book it's that it's too darn short. Too short by far. You finally are beginning to get a little more insight into the characters and before you know it, time's up! Story's done. All in all, however, I consider this book one of the lost greats. It'd make a fantastic read-aloud to those students that are reluctant to read. The characters are likable, the plot is quick, and the photos and pictures very funny. For a sure fire crowd pleaser (if they can get past the slang) give this book a try. The funniest Australian children's book I have ever, or may ever, read.

Remember summer camp in all it's wonderful, horrible glory? Elizabeth Honey does and she brings the memories back to life with this outrageous and funny tale about a group of Aussie sixth grade boys (known as the Coconuts and later, the Convicts) off to camp.

Narrated by Mark (or "Exclamation Mark"), he gives us the tell-all tales about his friends and their antics. They befriend newcomer Jonah, who takes on the Convict's ultimate nemesis, teacher Mr. Cromwell, a.k.a. the Bomb. ("Cromwell at camp is like Darth Vader at your birthday party.")

This a frenetic and fun book, documenting the misadventures of outback camplife (complete with mud fights, exploring, an end-of-camp pageant and of course, wombats!

Definately worth a read!

I can't say enough about Chapter 4 in this book, entitled, "The Best Sewing Techniques." I have already used this chapter to make a blouse. The author's instructions are SUPERIOR to those of pattern manufacturers. I've never taken a class on shirts/blouses and have always relied on the instructions included in a pattern. Not this time around! I used the author's detailed and very easy to understand instructions along with the beautifully detailed colored photos to construct a blouse just this week. The biggest difference in this shirt and others I've made is definitely the collar and facing. Makes you wonder why pattern companys don't let you in on these VERY EASY changes we can all make to make our blouses look tailored instead of homemade.

Currently my favorite sewing book. Make that my favorite book. It's very useful for sewing shirts as well as blouses. The most useful chapter is no.4, The Best Sewing Techniques. As opposed to Mr. Coffin's illustrations, (another excellent book) this one has very clear color photographs of each technique and it's various steps. Her techniques appear to come from the within the industry and should be part of any serious sewer's arsenal. The instructions are some of the clearest I've come across. Don't sew another yoked shirt/blouse until you've looked at the technique shown here. Ms. Long's work, shown as examples, is absolutely flawless. The beauty is in the crisp execution of details such as welt pockets and plackets. This book inspires me to improve and perfect my sewing skills towards that of Connie Long's.

This book is very good but in my opinion it is not a reference book on blouses. I would recommend that someone read first a good book on shirts such as "Shirtmaking" by D.P. Coffin and then use this book to add details found usually in women's shirts and blouses.

The first three chapters are about choosing the right pattern and style, selecting fabrics and notions and fitting the pattern. Chapter 4 is focusing, among others, on: * Neckline Finishes (shaped facings, faced facings, bias facings and knit ribbing) * Sewing Collars (collars without a back facing, knitted collar, collars with a stand) * Sewing a Yoked Blouse (standard shirt yoke, blouse-type yoke which is worn mostly by women) * Sewing the Sleeves (flat-sleeve construction, round-sleeve construction) * Plackets (Continuous-lap sleeve placket, simplified sleeve opening) * Cuffs (standard cuff, no-cuff cuff) * Machine-Stitched Hems (turned and stitched hems, rolled hems) * Closures (hidden closure, buttonhole placement and size, sewing the buttons, gooks and eyes)

The instructions are clear and detailed, accompanied by many photographs and really helpful tips that I believe make this a very good book on blouses even for a beginner sewer. I sewed myself a blouse with a blouse-type yoke and used the technique for faced facings (the latter technique eliminates the need to finish the facings edge with a serger) and the bias-tricot bound seam to bind and finish the armhole. The results were very professional and my blouse looks as beautiful on the outside as on the inside! I highly recommend this book to any sewer!

In 15 years of amateur home sewing, I've always avoided blouses because I could never make them look good. I'm looking forward to trying the techniques in this book. They seem to address exactly the problems I've always had.

I think this book was written badly and is not very user friendly. My professor has agreed that this text is not the best out there. I have to make my own outlines to understand what is being said in this very dense and hard to read/comprehend text. The only reason I got it was because it was required for the class. Had I known how this text would read, I would have opted for another text.

We have used a version of MYSTAT with software for our Biostats class (approx 100 students per year) but are not able to locate the last Windows version. Do you stock it?

Brad Buxton College of Pharmacy University of Minnesota tel 612-624-6637

I thought this was an outstanding intro to basic stats - it does a great job presenting the intuition behind most of the important basic concepts in stats, and I also loved the articulate and flowing style of the text. Very light on math, too, so a great text for those less quantitatively inclined souls out there who would still like to get a solid grasp of basic stats.
One great addition to the book would be a list of websites that have interactive stats demos, which I think are a great tool to help better understanding and to develop intuition. (One such site is explorelearning.com, which has pretty decent demos on several of the main concepts, but in general you can google [the concept you're looking for]+demo to get more demos (some better than others) on specific concepts). On second thought, this may be not a very realistic suggestion considering how often new websites pop up and old ones go dead, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway.

This is by far the best introductory text to statistics for students in the behavioral sciences I have come across.

The conceptual layout makes this textbook especially engaging. Unlike most statistics textbooks this one presents more difficult concepts in a step-by-step manner, which allows for better understanding.

The authors have done a superb job of explaining the logic behind the statistical procedures. This is important, for without this understanding one will likely misapply statistics and/or misread statistics.

In short, here one finds not only an introduction to descriptive and inferential statistics for behavioral scientists, but also a text that will give the reader a firm grounding in the logic behind statistics.

As I read this book three things became apparent: one, the authors know their subject inside and out; second, they understand their beginning audience; last and most importantly they know how to teach. I strongly recommend this well written book to anyone needing to learn stats.

Jaimie shows us a culture so different from ours and yet like all human nature so familiar. The emphasis and devotion that the Bedu show to religion and family values is unbelievably humbling. As Americans we want the best of everything and we want it now. A few weeks with the bedu and surviving in the desert seem to make those narrow minded views questionable at best. Jaimie can write as well as he can plan adventures. A great adventure and escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

In this book Jamie takes you out of the comfort of your own home and into a world of adventure!
Jamie talks about all aspects of the adventure including sponsorship & team work.
Everest to Arabia tells a story about how even the most thought out plans don't go to plan and being able to adapt is a key element in success wether it be in business, adventuring or any other aspect of life.
The book also has a good deal of humour in it, I found myself laughing out loud at times and especially liked the bit where Jamie wanted the scorpian to strike his team mate first so he could sound the alarm. :-)
A great book, 5 STARS!

An evocative and mesmerizing page-turner, Everest To Arabia is Jamie Clarkes thrilling story of his expedition across the Empty Quarter on camal. Even after summiting Everest on his third attempt, Jamie's irresistible urge to explore drove him onward to yet anither incredible challenge, the inhospitable Empty Quarter.Fueled by the legendaty explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger's stories of the Quarter and the Bedu inhabitants, Jamie, along with his brother and Bruce Kirby, embark on one of this centuries greatest and most difficult journeys across the most desolate desert in the world. Everest to Arabia is a truly fascinating read, not just about Bedu culture, hardships of travel by camal, but about the human spirit and potential to overcome our fears and doubts, our ability to ' step out of the frame,' and do something truly spectacular. Jamie's words and example tells us, the reader, to dream, and dream big. Everest To Arabia is a vivid and scorched to the bone account... Convincing... Whether Jamie is tackling the Mashadid well searching for water, brewing the perfect cup of coffee in a sand storm, wrestling with his camal, or having flashbacks of crossing the Khumba icefield on Everest, Clarke knows how to use precise detail or poetic imagery to make this epic story come to life. The pages of this book crunch with desert sand and smell of exotic lands. Jamie Clarke is one of the worlds greatest living explorers, in another era he might have been compared to Shipton or Mallory. Harrowing, relentless, honest...and thoroughly enjoyable Jamie Clarke's Everest To Arabia shouldn't be missing in anyones adventure library.

Positive reviews from two of the world's most intrepid explorers, Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Wilfred Thesiger, mark the beginning pages of "Everest to Arabia," a sure sign that readers won't be disappointed in Jamie Clarke's own tale of high adventure. After surmounting Everest on his third attempt, Jamie turns his attention to crossing the world's longest and most forbidding sand desert, the Rub al Khali or "Empty Quarter" of the Arabian peninsula. In tribute to Sir Wilfred Thesiger, whose own sensitive accounts of the Arabian desert and its peoples have enthralled generations, Jamie and his crew decide to retrace the route of this great explorer, a feat never before duplicated by a westerner. Jamie's narrative skillfully guides us through the intracacies of the entire experience -- from "camel wrangling" training in the Texas desert, the team's initial meeting with Thesiger himself in England, the infinite trials of sponsorship and bureaucratic necessities, to the desert journey itself. Once the adventure is underway, Jamie's day-to-day account is enthralling, achieving a pleasant balance in its combination of dialogue, description, and emotion. Flashbacks to his Everest experiences are thoughtfully placed, and his comparisons of the two native peoples, the Sherpas and the Bedouins, show Jamie to be as attuned to the cultures he encounters as he is to the physical challenges of the landscape. The reader grows to know and appreciate the entire team, from Jamie's Canadian accomplices, Leigh Clarke and Bruce Kirby, to the generous and hospitable Bedouins who accompany them, and finally the colorful cast of camels whose antics never cease to amaze and amuse. Victor Hugo once said, "The desert is where God is and man is not" and after reading "Everest to Arabia" his sentiments are more clearly understood. Across long miles in Oman and Saudi Arabia, to victory on the shores of the Arabian Gulf in the United Arab Emirates, Jamie Clarke takes us to one of the most forbidding and inaccessible places on earth. It is a rewarding journey, indeed.

The author recounts his command at the initial battle of Khe Sanh village, a shockingly one-sided precursor to the better known siege of the Marine fire base, which was again the prelude to Tet, the culminating point of the Indochina war.
By way of full disclosure: I know the author and think highly of him, but had no idea of his involvement in this battle, so long ago now.
This is a small book mostly intended for military professionals, but full of interesting detail for the outsider. It appears neither as literature nor as a scholarly work, but more as a collection of eyewitness accounts, anchored by the author's recollections, to cast new light on the whole Khe Sanh debacle. Together, they fill a void in history, and the book will surely be welcome among both veterans and professionals.
Colonel - then Captain - Clarke states that his goal is to offer lessons that should be heeded today. I found that his and his compadres' plain narratives are the strongest part of the book, and the lessons more subject to controversy. A body of opinion holds that you can't learn from history; it is countered by the observation that there is nothing else to learn from. My view is that we must learn from history, but if we try too hard we sometimes learn the wrong things.
Those of us who haven't been shot at have to be cautious in commenting on such matters, so I will stick with general observations. Clarke felt that missing Unity of Command was a millstone for the Allied combatants; specifically that the USMC, the US Army, and the ARVN were fighting different wars and did not aid and inform each other as needed. Clearly, as an advisor working with ARVN and Montagnard forces, he did not see eye-to-eye with the USMC at the fire base, nor apparently with General Westmoreland's general strategy of attrition and the obsession with body count.
For my part I never understood why the USMC is fighting land battles. I thought the Marines were supposed to board enemy ships. Perhaps they are not the first choice for COIN (counterinsurgency) duty.
Clarke and his hard-pressed, multinational team did not have this problem with the Air Force. If I saw a lesson here it was surely to not even think about "trying stuff like this at home" unless you have a superb FAC (I suppose UAVs today) and air power on demand, night and day. And clearly, that was Westmoreland's idea: let Giap try his Dien Bien Phu Nr. 2 and he'll see what difference B-52s make. Indeed, the report included calls Khe Sanh a "Dien Bien Phu in reverse." Air Power is usually oversold, but not when used in tactical support of troops. Just look at the "wrong lesson learned" by Israel in Lebanon, thinking to duplicate NATO's air-only campaign in Kosovo, a big enough disaster in itself.
Cpt. Clarke was most upset that his village was evacuated after having withstood a ferocious onslaught of three NVA battalions over 36 hours. It seems logical though - the place would either have to be majorly reinforced, or it was a goner eventually. And it bears mentioning that the NVA thought it was their victory, not Clarke's, as they forced the Allies to withdraw. (A 50-1 kill ratio means nothing to the Politburo.)
The lessons I was most interested in were classical COIN methods like the CAP (Civil Action Program) and the strategic villages concept. Clarke implies that these were the true path to victory, not "body count." Because of all the propaganda out there, it is worth noting that the ARVN fought bravely, the Americans had especially trusting relations with the Montagnards, and few in this area at least seem to have wanted to be under Communist rule. As in 1975, almost all headed for the helicopters, or the road to the coast.
When the first reports came back from Iraq of US soldiers kicking in doors and confiscating weapons, I thought of the praised CAP effort in rural Vietnam and went uh-oh, not good. Surely in COIN you work with the people, as Clarke did, not against them; you don't take their weapons, you give them weapons. If they turn them against you, you shouldn't be there to start with.
As everyone knows, William Colby got his idea for the strategic villages from the Rif-Kabyl situation; but in a general sense it is really the cornerstone of colonial or civilizational development. It was the idea behind the Roman colonias. It may be the only thing that works for Western governments, genocide being off-limits. Thus the ink-blot theories from Iraq - secure the people first, then agonizingly slowly, institutions can take hold. And no one can occupy the whole place. So when Westmoreland asked for 206,000 more troops, he might as well have said: My strategy (attrition) sucks.
Has there ever been a general who thought he had enough troops? When Clark Clifford became SecDef, he asked "what's the strategy for victory?" - There was none, except more of the same. Colonel Clarke reinforces my suspicion that it needn't have been that way. The VC was crushed during Tet, and there was no uprising. The rest was basically NVA against ARVN with diminishing US support. Before the 1972 offensive, it appears the Republic of Vietnam had the wind with it, except that American determination had collapsed at home.
Clarke sheds new light on an old plan. It always seemed that certain moves were critical to win: cut across to the Mekong and stop the NVA directly in Laos; close Sihanoukville, which turned out to be more important for resupply than first thought; and interdict the two railways to China and the harbors (which did happen in 1972). I remember Westmoreland writing (A Soldier Reports) in an offhand way that he thought the Laotian panhandle was the key to victory, but it was never tried. Or at least not until 1971 (Lam Son 719), which was a bloody nose for the ARVN, who could not do this by themselves. Clarke recounts how the plan for such an operation was floated in continuation of Khe Sanh, only to be shot down when LBJ went on TV and declared that he'd had enough, both in office and in Indochina. Thus Vietnam became a disaster squared - dumb to go in, wrong to leave. McArthur is always quoted as warning against getting sucked into a war of attrition on the Asian continent (and he should know) - but his point was that if you're not going for victory, you shouldn't be there in the first place.
I found lots new and interesting in this book: The Royal Laotian Army joining in with the Allies; Cambodian mercenaries being used by the USMC; close combat with rats and rabies, and so on. When all this was going on I was just a boy listening to the news, but I recall that this was expected to be culmination point of the war, which it sort of was; and I recall the posturing about "escalation" by going into Cambodia (and secretly, into Laos). Clarke makes clear what nonsense that was. The first rule in guerilla warfare is you cannot defeat an enemy who has sanctuary. Do the niceties of diplomacy apply to us but not to the enemy?
Finally, some words about presentation. This is a poorly edited book. Dropped punctuation,"it's" as a possessive, "Calusewitz", open-ended quotations, repetitions - you don't expect this from a major publisher. It makes for choppy reading in places. The author's practice of referring to himself in the third person can be disorienting, especially as he slips into the first towards the end. Some trivial errors: The O-1 is not a Piper Cub, and the speed of sound certainly not a kilometer per second. Reviews would have caught things like that.
One non-trivial slip stands out: Not once, but twice - as bookends, so to speak - the Colonel refers to Coventry as an example of how Churchill sacrificed a city to protect the Ultra secret, just, as he asserts, Westmoreland left the young captain exposed so as not to alert the NVA that he knew what was coming. Army folks might not have heard this, but this is one of the hoariest old saws in air power history; it is such a good story, like that of the Danes with their yellow stars, that no matter how many historians you throw at it, it will not go away. There's not a shred of truth to it, and if you thought about it, it couldn't have. The PM could not have saved Coventry if he had tried, and he couldn't have tipped off the Germans; for, unlike the RAF fighters, radar does work at night, and the enemy would have been none the wiser.
Just had to get that out! But it is irrelevant to the book's purpose. It is very good and interesting, and recommendable to all with both a general and specific interest in the subject.

Being born only months before CPT Bruce Clarke was to become a district advisor in Khe Sanh, it would be understandable for this ultranationalist and patriot not to understand the meaning of the book Expendable Warriors: The Battle of Khe Sanh and the Vietnam War. But, the way the story was told allowed this reader to become part of that time in history. Having served with Colonel Bruce Clarke later in his career, I witnessed his leadership skills first hand. Yet, as depicted in the book, even in 1968 he already possessed these skills, no doubt refined even further by the time I met him. This book is part memoir, part tactical assessment and part history clarifier. You need not be a career army or marine officer to appreciate and understand this book. I highly recommend it.

Richard Charles Dewees
Douglassville, Pennsylvania
President, The Dewees Group, Inc.
Former member of the "Fighting First"
Dagger Brigade, 1st ID - Big Red One

I was stationed not far from Col. Clarke, although in a usually more tranquil area. I met him on a few occasions, including on a trip to his Khe Sanh village. I also knew several of the headquarters leaders he wrote about. Let me say, that, although I have not finished Clarke's book, almost every page gives me the chills, and - no - I don't suffer from flashbacks. I keep saying to my wife - "Are you asleep?; I've got to read this to you!" Hard to believe almost 40 years have gone by. The story is incredible.

Bud Stevenson Fairfield, CA

First the disclaimer. I am mentioned very briefly, actually 2-3 times, in the book. I was one of the three American officers in the compound during the NVA attack. You'll have to decide whether this review is completely objective in light of my direct involvement.

I was there. That's the way it happened.

It is a very little known part of the Vietnam War. Everyone's eyes have been focused on the Marine Corps Combat Base at Khe Sanh and the months that it was under constant artillery and mortar bombardment. Without taking away from the bravery of those who had to withstand it, there is only brief mention at most in the history of Khe Sanh that the District headquarters compound, consisting of a mix of 175, mostly Vietnamese paramilitary and Montagnard tribemen troops under the direction of US Army and Marine Corps Advisors, and the Vietnamese military District Chief, repulsed an attack by a North Vietnamese regiment-sized force of about 2,000 fresh troops with brand new equipment that had just crossed from North Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The attack lasted for a period of about 36 hours before the defenders were ordered to abandon the District Headquarters. We were able to survive because the author of this book, a West Point graduate, called artillery "air-burst" rounds directly over our position at the height of the attack. The book describes the bravery of the Army medic, the Air Force spotter who directed jets to bomb the enemy positions, the failed attempt to bring in reinforcements who were ambushed by NVA lying in wait, and the "Puff the Magic Dragon" plane circling during the night firing its Gattling guns to protect the defenders. The defenders were eventually evacuated by helicopter on the second day or had to traverse enemy territory by foot to make it to the Marine Corps Base.

Having been ordered to abandon the District HQ, the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) took control of the area between the Marine Corps Combat Base and the Lang Vei Special Forces Camp, which the NVA later attacked and overran with amphibious tanks, thereby totally isolating the Marine Corps Base Camp.

If you want to know the full picture of the Battle of Vietnam, especially the complete story of the Battle at Khe Sanh, you need to know how the NVA planned and executed an objective that was intended to be the American version of the defeat of the French at Diem Bien Phu. The NVA, ultimately, lost the Battle of Khe Sanh militarily but "won the war" through its continued insurgency and the resultant media attention and reporting back home.

Are there lessons to be learned for our present military operations? I'll leave that for the reader to decide.