Hue 1968

A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

By: Mark Bowden

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

Not since his New York Times best seller Black Hawk Down has Mark Bowden written a book about a battle. His most ambitious work yet, Huế 1968, is the story of the centerpiece of the Tet Offensive and a turning point in the American War in Vietnam.

By January 1968, despite an influx of half a million American troops, the fighting in Vietnam seemed to be at a stalemate. Yet General William Westmoreland, commander of American forces, announced a new phase of the war in which "the end begins to come into view". The North Vietnamese had different ideas. In mid-1967, the leadership in Hanoi had started planning an offensive intended to win the war in a single stroke. Part military action and part popular uprising, the Tet Offensive included attacks across South Vietnam, but the most dramatic and successful would be the capture of Huế, the country's cultural capital. At 2:30 a.m. on January 31, 10,000 National Liberation Front troops descended from hidden camps and surged across the city of 140,000. By morning, all of Huế was in Front hands save for two small military outposts.

The commanders in country and politicians in Washington refused to believe the size and scope of the Front's presence. Captain Chuck Meadows was ordered to lead his 160-marine Golf Company against thousands of enemy troops in the first attempt to reenter Huế later that day. After several futile and deadly days, Lieutenant Colonel Ernie Cheatham would finally come up with a strategy to retake the city, block by block and building by building, in some of the most intense urban combat since World War II.

With unprecedented access to war archives in the US and Vietnam and interviews with participants from both sides, Bowden narrates each stage of this crucial battle through multiple points of view. Played out over 24 days of terrible fighting and ultimately costing 10,000 combatant and civilian lives, the Battle of Huế was by far the bloodiest of the entire war. When it ended, the American debate was never again about winning, only about how to leave. In Huế 1968, Bowden masterfully reconstructs this pivotal moment in the American War in Vietnam.

©2017 Mark Bowden (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Narrator Joe Barrett's voice, always scratchy, careworn, and haggard, has just the sound this book needs to carry it forward. He sounds like an old boot and offers no quarter when detailing the battle's ravages, both in terms of men and American strategy." (AudioFile)

Amazing.

You know the second part of Full Metal Jacket? That was the battle of Hue. Dark humor, an NFL turned USMC infantry commander (and was interviewed for a tv report), personal accounts from both sides, DARK HUMOR that made me laugh out loud, and some true accounts of the demons that still haunt the veterans. Ever present is the famous USMC ability to be resourceful with what they have.

Legit book.

Stunning

I found this work illuminating and moving. It is also a terribly frustrating work because it's clear we do not learn from our mistakes.

The narration is also well done.

Among the best Vietnam histories

Mark Bowden does not disappoint. Unvarnished, perfectly paced, upsetting, and sometimes darkly funny. I have read quite a bit about Vietnam and I learned a lot more from this book. It was also hard to put down.

Vibrant, personal, enthralling ...

This is a vibrant, personal and enthralling narrative of the bloodiest battle of the Vietnam War.

Amazing writer! Great book!

This book gives a remarkable look at the Vietnam War. My husband is a Vietnam Veteran and says that it is very accurate. All Americans should listen to it!