Tag: Vietnam War
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Video Excerpt: My Life as a Spy
From episode four of the Crossing Ideas Podcast, I recall the day I was told that local officials in Thai Nguyen were watching me. Do we really want government or commercial entities watching us today? Well, we more or less invite them in. At the link below, you can listen to the entire episode and…
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Video Excerpt: My Arrival in Vietnam in 1994
From episode three of the Crossing Ideas Podcast, I discuss the ride to our new home in Haiphong from Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport. It was only 70 miles away, but the ride made me realize the different world I had stepped into. At the link below, you can listen to the entire episode and all…
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Video Excerpt: “I used to shoot at Americans.”
From episode two of the Crossing Ideas Podcast, I recall an encounter with a Vietnamese university president and what he used to do during the war years. At the link below, you can listen to the entire episode and all future releases using your favorite podcast service including Spotify, Apple, and Amazon.
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Limited Time Only! “The Reach of the Banyan Tree” – 99 cents!
As I await the release of my new novel, I’m happy to offer my three generational Vietnam novel – The Reach of the Banyan Tree – for only 99 cents on Kindle. Get yours HERE! You can browse through the 49 reviews and check out what others have had to say about it. Here are…
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Did Truman Start the Vietnam War?
The headline is purposefully provocative. How could Truman, who came on the scene after Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, have started the Vietnam War of two decades later? He didn’t, of course, but the case could be made, and was made in my thesis, that Truman instituted a policy shift towards Indochina which set the…
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An April Shower of Dominoes: 40 Year Anniversary of the End of the Vietnam War
April 30, 2015 marks the official end to the Vietnam War. April 1975 was as sobering month for the Washington crowd who foolishly hung on to the ideals of the Truman Doctrine. When the South Vietnamese government surrendered Saigon, it completed a remarkable run of luck for the communist rebel groups of Southeast Asia. Within…
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Human Experience of the Vietnam War: Full Essay
I had previously posted a portion of this essay about eight months ago. Here it is in its entirety. The only additional thing that I will mention is that the part about the B52 bombers creating craters that swallowed soldiers was exactly what inspired the poignant scene that Martin’s father tells him about ‘Nam in…
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The Amazing Race and that B52 in Hanoi
Much has been said recently about The Amazing Race using the downed wreckage of a B52 in a Hanoi lake as a prop for their TV scavenger hunt. CBS just came out with an apology for the producers lack of taste in choosing a scenario which was offensive to veterans and others alike. They were…
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Essay: A Historical Overview of Vietnam from WWII through the Vietnam War
From time to time, I like to post complete essays of mine which touch upon topics near and dear to my heart. If you know me, you won’t be surprised that this one is about Vietnam. I try to give a broad overview of the historical context which led to the Vietnam War of the…
Author Mark W Sasse 