Buddha's Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam - Hardcover

Cao Ky, Nguyen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312281153 ISBN 13: 9780312281151

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2002

Synopsis

The history of the Vietnam War has rarely been told from the Vietnamese perspective-and never by a leader of that country. In Buddha's Child, Nguyen Cao Ky reveals the remarkable story of his tumultuous tenure as Premier of South Vietnam, and offers unprecedented insight into the war's beginning, escalation, and heartbreaking end.

A thirty-four year old pilot and Air Force commander, known for his fighter-pilot's moustache, flowing lavender scarf and his reputation as a ladies' man, Ky in 1965 agreed to lead South Vietnam after a series of coups had dangerously destabilized the nation. Ky's task was to unite a country riven by political, ethnic, and religious factions and undermined by corruption. With little experience in governing and none in international affairs, and while continuing to fly combat missions over Vietnam, Ky plunged into a war to save his homeland. He served as premier until 1967, continued to be active in the war after his resignation, and finally left Vietnam in 1975 during the fall of Saigon.

Buddha's Child offers Ky's perspective on the crucial events and memorable images of the Vietnam War: the coup against and execution of President Diem; the self-immolation by the Buddhist monk, and the radical Buddhists' attempt to topple Ky's government; the bloody and pivotal Tet Offensive; the shooting of a Vietcong prisoner, captured in one of the war's most notorious photographs; the Paris Peace talks that sold out South Vietnam; and the last, desperate days of Saigon. In frank language, Ky discusses his own successes and failures as a leader and dramatically relates the progress of the war as it unfolded on the ground and behind the scenes-including anecdotes about Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, William Westmoreland, Henry Cabot Lodge, William Colby, Henry Kissinger, and many others.

Buddha's Child is a revelatory, fascinating account of a nation at war by a most unusual man.

About this title

Review:

Though famed in his time for his playboy image, all purple scarves and modish hairdo, former South Vietnamese prime minister Ky proved over time to have been a man of substance. In this revealing autobiography Ky recounts his rise to and fall from power and the errors great and small that led to his nation's defeat. "Corruption," Ky writes, "permeated every corner of the Vietnamese social order." Ky used his office to root out corruption and carve an independent path, often clashing with the likes of William Westmoreland and Nguyen Van Thieu in the bargain. Proudly relating those struggles, Ky also defends figures whom history has treated harshly, including Lyndon Johnson and General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, "the rarest of Vietnamese birds, the honest cop," who will forever be remembered for executing a Vietcong suspect before Eddie Adams's camera. "My biggest mistake was allowing the wrong man the opportunity to lead a guaranty of defeat. For this I beg forgiveness of those who fled into exile, of those who remained, and from those then unborn." So Ky closes this memoir, a work of considerable interest to students of and participants in Vietnam's long war. --Gregory McNamee

About the Author:

Nguyen Cao Ky lives in southern California.

Marvin J. Wolf is the author or coauthor of nine nonfiction books, including Where White Men Fear to Tread, the national bestselling memoir in collaboration with Native American activist Russell Means. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0312281153
• ISBN 13: 9780312281151
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 372