cover image Mission on the Ho Chi Minh Trail: Nature, Myth, and War in Viet Nam

Mission on the Ho Chi Minh Trail: Nature, Myth, and War in Viet Nam

Richard L. Stevens. University of Oklahoma Press, $29.95 (271pp) ISBN 978-0-8061-2768-2

Combat can continue to possess a powerful grip on the psyche long after the return to civilian life. As proof, Stevens (history, Univ. of Hawaii), a Marine and Foreign Service Vietnam veteran, offers a passionate and offbeat narrative about several interdiction missions against the Ho Chi Minh Trail. His is hardly the traditional combat narrative; most of his references are literary or psychological, and he places his experiences more within Joseph Campbell's heroic writings than in military history. His story will appeal to readers of this genre as well as to those who are tracking Vietnam War battles. Libraries that include Tobias Wolff's In Pharoah's Army (LJ 10/15/94) should purchase this work.--John R. Vallely, Siena Coll. Lib., Loudonville, N.Y.