Street Without Joy [Hardcover]

 

 

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I can't shower this book with effusive praise as reviewers below have done because I don't believe that this is a particularly captivating read. Yes, Mr. Fall was prescient in the sense that he saw the ultimate futility of a colonial-style war waged against an indigenous population and yes Mr. Fall correctly predicted that USA would be as unsuccessful cowing the Vietminh as the French had been BUT....and this is a huge butt: He did so only by taking a huge stab in the dark; multiple stabs actually as he had a number of different and differing reasons for the inevitability of a French/USA defeat in that theatre. Among them were: inadequate resources thrown into the fight, non-traditional war theatre, a unifying ideology, a near-by haven state(s), a lack of will by the West to pursue a larger war (i.e. to fight Red China and the USSR if necessary). In other words, all of the stuff that all of the rest of us trot out as plausible reasons for the implausible defeat of the world's most powerful nation by a bunch of pajama-wearing, rice farmers. No searing insight here, then. In fact, Mr. Fall tellingly fails to even address the most obvious linked questions, or even to pose them: What is it about the Vietminh political ideology causes it to prevail? What is it about opposing Vietnamese government politics' causes them to fail? Also, Mr. Fall predicates his argument about the safe-haven as victory facilitater upon a model in Algeria-Tunisia that fails the smell test. Are we really to believe that France lost Algeria because Tunisia allowed some revolutionaries to shelter there? Is this good history? I can't speak to the veracity of this line of argument but I must say that reading it in Mr. Fall's book was the first that I'd heard of such a thing. To bolster his 'gotta get tough' argument he cites Israel's response to the Fedeyeen (yup, the Fedeyeen) in 1956 as a successful use of realpolitik muscle to permanently kill a problem. Meanwhile, forty years later Israel is still fighting the same battle only with different players who, ironically, share the same ideology, and as in Vietnam, Israel wouldn't even be able to do so if the USA weren't annually pumping billions and billions of dollars into the economy to ensure that state's viability. All of this aside, I could live with Mr. Fall's premises if only he were a gifted story teller. While the chap does an adequate job of turning French military battle reports into understandable accounts for the lay reader, he does it without the spark of life that causes historical events to come alive for the reader. Furthermore, it is difficult to parse just what it is that Mr. Fall is attempting in this book. For, this is not a comprehensive history of the conflict; neither is it a warfare manual such as might be studied in a War College; it is not a reminiscence, nor is it a journal; 'tis not a polemic nor a paean. Actually, I can't characterize it as anything but moderately interesting footnote commentary about the nastiness that occurred in Vietnam in the late 1950's and which promised to become nastier for the Americans in the 1960's. I really can't recommend this to anyone but the most dyed in the wool Vietnam War voyeurs, such as myself. To others, suffice it to say that this book is about the stuff that happened to the Americans in the Vietnam war only it happened earlier to the French instead.

A heartrending tale of the French experience in IndoChina during the 20 years prior to US arrival there. Poignantly written, the Author- a university professor - spent his summers in VietNam in combat with the French troops. Incidentally: He also died there - KIA with the men of whom he so eloquently wrote. As a Marine myself, with some field experience, I was deeply touched by the story he tells. It's a story of unfliching valiance on the part of the enlisted men of the French forces - and unbending stupidity on the part of their senior leaders. Absolutely heartbreaking and maddening at the same time. Fall takes you there. Highly recommended. Oorah. And Semper Fi to those valiant hearts who epitomize selflessness in an otherwise selfish age - our servicemen and women - then and now.

Bernard Fall's classic on the First Indochina War is useful not only for the excellent historical account it provides of the French experience in the war, but also in its later importance to American commanders in Vietnam. Some reviewers, and even prominent Vietnam vets like Colin Powell have pointed to the failure of American commanders to learn the lessons of the French debacle in Vietnam as being instrumental in the United States's withdrawl from the country in 1973. It is important to understand however, that for the most part this failure was not due to an ignorance of Fall's work. Indeed, the reason Fall's book is still in print today is because Street Without Joy was widely reaad by American military leaders in Vietnam, including LTC Hal Moore, COL Joseph Bellino and many others down to the company level (epsecially infantry and transportation officers). Despite what some reviewers have said, the Americans learned the lessons of Fall's work fairly well: one need only look at the creation and use of hardended convoys(guntrucks, air cav escorts), the wide use of air support, and the employment of helicopter-borne troops to see that American officers benefited greatly from Bernard Fall's work. The US forces in Vietnam did not have any Dien Bien Phu's, Street Without Joys or Groupement Mobile 100's/42's. Indeed as one American general pointed out to a North Vietnamese counterpart during the Paris Peace Negotiations in 1973, the Americans never lost a major battle to the NVA or VC during nearly ten years of war. But, of course, as the Vietnamese general rightly pointed out, that fact it made little difference since the United States lost the war politically both at home and in South Vietnam. This where Fall's work fails to effecively grasp the root problem of the French experience: even if the the French had dominated the battlefield as the Americans were able to after them, they could not overcome the image of being seen as colonial oppressors, and therefore could not succesfully wipe out the widspread and fanatical political and nationalist insurgency they faced. The US would similarly fail in this manner as well, making their battlefield success moot.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A warning unheeded
It's heartbreaking to think how differently the twentieth century might have ended had the powers that be in the U.S. Read more

Published on Nov 5 2003 by T. J. Mathews

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Background to Our War in Vietnam
"Street Without Joy" is a must for the library of anyone interested in the 20th Century's Indo-China wars. Read more

Published on Dec 23 2002 by C. C. Justice

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic history of an unknown war
The Vietnam War encompassed thirty years; 1945-1975. The first nine years were fought between the French and the Viet Minh and, after the defeat at Dienbenphu, the French exited,... Read more

Published on Oct 30 2002 by Jerald R Lovell

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable
Nobody should begin to try to understand the catastrophe that U.S. involvement in Vietnam (& indeed in Laos & Cambodia) became without first reading Bernard B. Read more

Published on July 21 2002 by Jordynne Olivia Lobo

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on the French IndoChina War!
The late Bernard Fall provided us with the two best books on the First IndoChina War, or the French IndoChina War. Read more

Published on May 12 2002 by Trent

5.0 out of 5 stars Washington Should have Heeded This Book's Message
This is the masterpiece that introduced Bernard B. Fall to the elite of the US political, diplomatic and military decision makers who made the fatal and tragic error to involve... Read more

Published on July 4 2001 by P. Connors

5.0 out of 5 stars "Those Who Do Not Remember The Past. . ."
In this first hand account of the French war in Vietnam, Dr. Bernard Fall provides a critical analysis of French combat operations in a war that lasted from 1946 to 1954. Read more

Published on April 30 2001 by Harold Y. Grooms

5.0 out of 5 stars If Only Our Leader's Had Read It!
In the last few years there's been many books about the ground war in Vietnam. The grandfather of such authors has to be Bernard Fall with this book and also "Hell In a Very... Read more

Published on Jan 23 2001 by Howard L. Dixon

4.0 out of 5 stars A hard read, but well worth it
I found "Street Without Joy" hard to read only because, lacking in military experience, it was hard for me to visualize many of the things Fall talks about, in terms of... Read more

Published on Jun 13 2000 by Amy Newman Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars If only we had listened
Thirty six years ago I read Street Without Joy and after two tours in Vietnam and alot reflection and anguish since then, I still am at a loss for words. Read more

Published on May 4 2000 by peter j drobeck

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