Interesting book, POOR narration

Any additional comments?

This is a reasonable study of Lam Son 719, but is badly let down by the narrator. Initially I genuinely thought the narration had been provided by one of those computer voices reading from typed content.

I did get used to the dry, monotone delivery after about 4 hours, but it really does detract from the book. There is no reason why an 'academic' or 'study' book should be read by a dry and monotone narrator (if that was the publishers intent).

The book itself is an interesting study of Lam Son 719 and provides a good overview especially for someone with little knowledge of the operation (like me). My only observation is that the author spends too much time on the air component (often down to individual flights and crews) and not enough time on the ground operations at a similar level of detail. This leaves the reader to view the operation from the air (often rotary wing) perspective rather than from the land or joint operations perspective (although this may have been the authors intent). The author does do a good job of blending the operational situation with the political situation and the conclusion is very good.

I would love to listen to this book again, but with a different narrator.

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3 people found this helpful

Not what the title suggests

Horrendous narration - impossible to follow the content without getting a headache after 5 minutes. It is 95% Vietnam War content with scarce reference to Laos. What reference there is ( after chapter 8 ) suggests the USAF only bombed the Ho Chi Min trail with no mention of the "Secret War" and its indiscriminate bombings of civilians throughout Laos. Its only saving grace is the admission of the tendencies of Johnson, Nixon & Kissinger. This book is of no use to any student of the war in Laos, other than the political dimension in the USA at the time, and I found it to be extremely disappointing. 9 hours and 16 minutes of audio torture sadly.
The above is absolutely no reflection on Audible - I have listened to dozens of military productions on Audible which I have been delighted with - the issue is with the content / title being perhaps misleading and the narration, although I appreciate that American listeners might find the narration quite acceptable.

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