From Library Journal
In his third work on the Vietnam War (after The War Everyone Lost?And Won, LJ 1/84, and Reading the Wind, Duke Univ., 1986), Lomperis, a former army intelligence officer in Vietnam and currently an instructor in political science at West Point, places the war within the broader context of Communist insurgency against Western-supported regimes throughout the Cold War. Lomperis examines and compares the Chinese liberation struggle; civil wars in Greece, Cambodia, and Laos; rebellion in the Philippines; and the carnage in Peru so that the sophisticated reader can see the similarities and differences among these conflicts and the pivotal roles played by insurgents, local governments, and foreign powers. Each insurrection is well documented with conclusions buttressed by Lomperis's obvious expertise in his field. Marred only by a tendency to lapse into technical jargon, his work belongs in academic libraries, but only public libraries with strong Vietnam collections should consider adding a scholarly work such as this.?John R. Vallely, Siena Coll. Lib., Loudonville, N.Y.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Timothy Lomperis persuasively argues the ironic point that the lessons of American involvement in Vietnam are not to be found in any analysis of the war by itself. Rather, he proposes a comparison of the Vietnam experience with seven other cases of Western intervention in communist insurgencies during the Cold War era: China, Indochina, Greece, the Philippines, Malaya, Cambodia, and Laos.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal