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Bezig met laden... Hanoidoor Mary Therese McCarthy
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This book is Mary McCarthy's account of the American and Vietnamese forces in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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![]() GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)915.97History and Geography Geography and Travel Geography of and travel in Asia Southeast Asia VietnamLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:![]()
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Then something interesting happens in this book. She averred that she had no intention of analyzing the policies or intentions of the North, but to simply report what she saw. Nevertheless, there seems to have been a process whereby she begins to 'get inside the head' of her subject. She begins to map the 'uncomfortable' questions, and bring her own views on the relation of Government and people into the discussion. She approves of the distribution of decision making and control; understanding that it was a by-product of the dispersal of the population and industry triggered by the US bombing. She notes the dim view the North Vietnamese leadership take towards this. She suggests that they do not trust the people not to adopt a free market economy the moment the war is concluded, given that making money and 'getting ahead' is strongly built into the Vietnamese character. A prescient observation indeed.
McCarthy's most telling failure of analysis, like the rest of her views, is put forward in this book without any attempt at dissimulation. She interviewed two POW's, airmen who had been shot down during the bombing campaign. She seems to have approached this with some fore-thought and wariness regarding her own prejudices. She had already been shown many bombed out sites, including a hospital. Regardless of whether she saw real or crafted sites, it is accepted by the US that the bombing caused approximately 70,000 civilian casualties. In the end her observation was only that the men she interviewed seemed to be a little uncouth, perhaps even dull, and she blames this as much on her own insular background as them – so it all seems fairly harmless and inconsequential. What she missed, and one of the POW's (James Risner) put it in a matter of fact sort of way when he was released, was his attempt to show her marks of torture on his body. If he and his colleague seemed dull and unresponsive to McCarthy; it makes sense now that their agenda was not to try and have a relaxed and interesting conversation, but to get across what they knew their guards would prefer remain hidden. In fact, having been kept in isolation and tortured, they were not likely capable of carrying on any sort of conversation. It's not clear whether McCarthy ever 'got this', she defended her opinion of the POW's several years later. Her failure at this juncture was grievious. It can only be said in her defence that her liberal background in a pre-9/11 world did not prepare her to come face to face with a torture victim and recognize what was going on. But the reader should be aware of this, in fairness to the airmen.
This book has wider significance, then, than simply as a message to President Johnson. It is an illuminating portrait of North Vietnam in 1968, and a lesson as to the risks of reporting behind 'enemy' lines during a conflict. Best read alongside Harrison Salisbury's 'Behind the Lines – Hanoi', an account of his 1966 visit to North Vietnam. (