Back Fire

Reveals guerrilla raids, warring princes, and a CIA operative who raised an army in a series of events that led to the Vietnam War

Between 1960 and 1973, the U.S. waged war in Laos under the auspices of the CIA. Undeclared and unreported, it cost thousands of lives and contributed to the climate of deception that poisoned U.S. policy in Southeast Asia. Journalist Warner (Haing Ngor: A Cambodian Odyssey) relies heavily on interviews with former CIA operatives and other American participants to reconstruct an operation characterized by idealism on the ground and by cynicism and misunderstanding at higher levels. Significant early successes against the Pathet Lao and their North Vietnamese allies were wasted, according to Warner, as the U.S. sacrificed its clients for the sake of the expanding war in Vietnam. Once that conflict ended, the Laotians were left to their fate?an abandonment in cold blood that Warner considers an indelible stain on this country's reputation.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Warner, coauthor with Haing Ngor of Haing Ngor: A Cambodian Odyssey (LJ 2/1/88) and a writer for Life, Smithsonian, and other magazines, has written an extraordinary account of the war in Laos from 1960 to 1973. He introduces a colorful cast of characters, including the CIA operative from Texas who married a Thai and became an officer in the Thai police and the Hmong officer who led his people in a long and costly struggle against the Communists only to find himself resettled in Montana after the war. Warner writes of a nation that became a pawn of the great powers, a piece that could be sacrificed to draw Communist pressure off South Vietnam and act as a shield for Thailand. Early American involvement in Laos, directed toward nation-building and military advice, was replaced by an effort to Americanize the war in a way unsuited to the circumstances and doomed to failure. Given that literature on Laos is so scant, and with Warner's excellent perspective, this work is highly recommended for academic and public libraries.
Robert Andrews, Duluth P.L., Minn.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.