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

By Richard L. Stevens and Stevens

Book Overview

In this narrative of jungle combat, Richard L. Stevens, a U.S. Foreign Service civilian is guided on the Trail by the ex-Viet Cong guerilla Viet, master of deep-forest war. Stevens, an ex-Marine but a neophyte here, is drawn ever deeper into the jungle--and into combat--by his obsession with the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Viet, a captured VC forced to lead Americans and South Vietnamese on missions back to his home base on the Trail, becomes Stevens's teacher and friend, but possibly he is a VC still, a double double agent.

Stevens's powerful and poetic prose and his complex examination of the Viet Nam War elevate his Trail journey into the realm of myth. A universal theme unwinds here: the mythic hero-journey between life and death is a trail traveled by all.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806167262
• ISBN13: 9780806167268
• Release Date: July 2020
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Length: 282 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"