PICKERELL : Vietnam in the mud (fülszöveg)
"In recent years the free American press has emerged as a kind of third force in international affairs. The ability to wield a spotlight is power in itself, and I for one feel this power is a proper function of the free press.
"An outstanding example of this force at its best is Jim Pickerell, who has here given us a book certain to raise hackles in official quarters. Jim tells in effect that the Viet Cong has outsmarted the greatest industrial power on earth, which, having been bested by brains, must resort to brawn. It is an ugly picture. No American likes to imagine himself as the ugly Goliath being slain by a sickly, undernourished, Asian David. Americans, whose sense of fair play is second to none, dislike even more the image of their bad-guy Goliath finally winning, but doing so through the use of the ultimate in dirty pool.
"Sadly, there are those in our profession of journalism who extract the bulk of their news from the briefing rooms of officials in Washington and Saigon. These are the tame newsmen who deserve to be spat on by the likes of Jim Pickerell.
"No man who has not seen and suffered and felt a war deserves to write about it. Jim has richly seen and suffered and felt. He came here to Vietnam with no preconceived notions, but rather with a sense of humility that distinguishes the really worthy newsman or scientist from the rest of the pack.
"He has been tempered in the fires of one of the ugliest wars the United States has ever fought, and his views deserve to be heard, despite the unpleasantness of their tone. You, American reader, have been warned.
"I have worked repeatedly in the field with Jim and can vouch for his complete honesty, his great technical and artistic skill and his courage in face of death. In the main, I entirely support his conclusions about the war.
"I hope only that contributions of this kind are not too late. I hope that the work of Jim and others here who have sought to sound the alarm will not in the end have been in vain."
–from the introduction by
Malcolm W. Browne
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