Robert Thompson’s meticulously researched book is a detailed narrative of pacification work in Phu Yen Province from 1966 to 1973. Although focusing on a single province, it is a significant contribution to the overall history of the U.S. pacification program. Phu Yen, a coastal province in central Vietnam, was important to South Vietnam’s economy because it was a large rice-producing region, second only to the Mekong Delta.
Throughout the text, the author emphasizes that
