Hue:1968 - A Grunt's Level View of Combat (#166, Nov. 17, 2023)

Whoa, just finished the awesome book, "Hue:1968" by Mark Bowden in 2017. The Battle of Hue occurred during the Tet Offensive in 1968 and was a pivotal battle in the Vietnam war, leading to the famous stalemate broadcast by Walter Cronkite. I think this book bombed when it came out because of Vietnam fatigue. I grabbed it off the discount table at Prairie Lights in Iowa City. I knew I'd like it because of the author, Mark Bowden who is most famous for "Black Hawk Down" and "Killing Pablo." He's a bad ass writer and about as good as it gets in terms of bringing the sights, smells, and emotions of combat. Until Zuckerberg comes up with combat VR, the book was just about as close as you can get to feel what's it's like to be in urban combat.