Synopses & Reviews
Here is the epic story of Vietnam and the sixties told through the events of a few tumultuous days in October 1967. With meticulous and captivating detail,
They Marched Into Sunlight brings that catastrophic time back to life while examining questions about the meaning of dissent and the official manipulation of truth, issues that are as relevant today as they were decades ago.
In the Long Nguyen Secret Zone of Vietnam, a renowned battalion of the First Infantry Division is marching into a devastating ambush that will leave sixty-one soldiers dead and an equal number wounded. On the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, students are staging an obstructive protest at the Commerce Building against recruiters for Dow Chemical Company, makers of napalm and Agent Orange, that ends in a bloody confrontation with club-wielding Madison police. And in Washington, President Lyndon Johnson is dealing with pressures closing in on him from all sides and lamenting to his war council, "How are we ever going to win this war?"
Based on thousands of primary documents and 180 on-the-record interviews, the story unfolds day by day, hour by hour, and at times minute by minute, with a rich cast of characters as they move toward battles that forever shaped their lives and evoked cultural and political conflicts that reverberate still.
About the Author
David Maraniss is an associate editor at
The Washington Post and the author of two critically acclaimed and bestselling books,
When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi and
First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton. He is also the author of
The Clinton Enigma and co-author of
The Prince of Tennessee: Al Gore Meets His Fate and
"Tell Newt to Shut Up!" He lives in Washington, D.C. and Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife Linda. They have two grown children.
Table of Contents
Contents
Cast of Characters A Brief Preface
BOOK ONE
1 Sailing to Vung Tau
2 Triet's March South
3 Lai Khe, South Vietnam
4 El Paso, Texas
BOOK TWO
5 Song of Napalm
6 Madison, Wisconsin
7 Soglin's Thrill
8 Sewell's Predicament
BOOK THREE
9 "What a Funny War!"
10 Guerrilla Theater
11 Johnson's Dilemma
12 No Mission Too Difficult
13 Michigan Men
14 For Want of Rice
15 "The Trees Are Moving"
16 Ambush
17 Holleder's Run
18 "The News Is All Bad"
19 The Spectacle
20 "That's All There Is?"
21 Down with Dow
22 Moments of Decision
23 Stars and Stripes
24 "Bombing Washington"
25 Body Count
26 "Tragedy Beyond Our Words"
27 A Life's Worth
28 Until the Angels Came
Epilogue Notes
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index