Chickenhawk

Written by Robert Mason

Narrated by L.J. Ganser

With more than half a million copies sold, Robert Mason's Chickenhawk is one of the best-selling books ever written about the Vietnam War. Critically acclaimed for its unflinching detail, the book is hailed by The New York Times as "a hypnotic narrative" and by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as "very simply the best book so far out of Vietnam." Fascinated with flying from a young age, Mason earned his private pilot's license even before graduating high school. He enlisted in the Army in 1964 and endured an extremely challenging "weeding out" process in an effort to fly helicopters. Sent to Vietnam, he survived more than 1,000 air combat missions despite the violence and brutality exploding all around him. This completely honest account of one soldier's traumatic experiences provides a perspective often neglected in print and film--that of the helicopter pilot. Through L.J. Ganser's powerful narration, the shattering story of men who lived and flew in constant peril is vividly re-told.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781501908569

Robert Mason

Janet McDonald is Associate Professor (Theatre Studies), and is currently the School Coordinator of Creative Arts at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia. Robert Mason is Lecturer (Migration and Security Studies) at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.

Reviews for Chickenhawk

[dsha67 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I reread Robert Mason's Chickenhawk. This memoir of Robert Mason's tone as a Huey pilot flying Slicks in Vietnam provides his personal perspective on what his service was. You See Mason a Warrant Officer grow as a pilot ABC also see him cling to his sanity by will and tranquilizers. Robert Mason tells you the good and the bad of his time in Vietnam and his growing disillusionment with the war as it was fought and portrayed. One of the best personal accounts I have read.

[masseylibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Chickenhawk is Robert Mason's narrative of his experiences as a "Huey" UH-1 Iroquois helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. The book chronicles his enlistment, flight training, deployment to and experiences in Vietnam, and his experiences after returning from the war. tells the electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. This is Robert Mason’s astounding personal story of men at war. A veteran of more than one thousand combat missions, Mason gives staggering descriptions that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden death—the extreme emotions of a "chickenhawk" in constant danger.

[breic-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book for the details of helicopter flying in Vietnam, especially tight landings and takeoffs. There are powerful moments of war, portrayed honestly and not as heroic fiction. The story is eminently readable, and decently written if not great. It is episodic and propelled forward, but is somewhat held back by the lack of character development; aside from the author, we don't get to know the other pilots well. I feel like I have read too many other books close to this one—perhaps inspired by it—for this to get a five-star rating.

[ikeman100 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing book.

[theonearmedcrab · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another Vietnam war memory is a book I read 25 years ago (whilst working with Huey helicopters) about a Huey helicopter pilot and his one year stint in Central Vietnam in 1966 or so. The book is called “Chickenhawk”, written by Robert Mason (the pilot himself). I found it back here, read it again, and am still impressed, even though there is a lot of technical jargon.

[schmerguls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an account of the author's training to be a helcopter pilot and of the year he spent as such in Vietnam. The author is very critical of the war, but he does not dwell on that attitude. As I read I wondered how he could relate all he related, since he did not keep a diary--but he wrote his wife and all those letters were saved by her and this enabled him to do a memoir fairly chronological in nature. One cannot be overly critical of one who goes tthrough such hellish times although I confess it disturbed me that though he dedicated the book to his wife and son he relates in the book of his encouters with whores.. Probably the most moving part of the book is the post=traumatic suffering he went through, including, after he had written the book, serving over a year in prison for seeking to import marijuana into the U.S. from Colombia. Ths book deservedly ranks as one of the better Vietnam memoirs.

[devilish2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just about every helicopter pilot says this is how it really is when you are learning to fly. Amazing story of a American helicopter pilot in the Vietnam war. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to fly or is learning to fly.

[loralu_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very interesting and (seemingly) honest description of the life of a soldier during the Vietnam War. The details of the helicopter life were intriguing and the description of the living quarters made the reader feel as if they were there with the soldier. Very interesting to hear about such an argumentative war from the perspective of a soldier who went for his country and how his own viewpoints change through the process of war.

[jphillips3334 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very excellent war memoir told from the view of a US Army helicopter pilot during the Vietnam war. Nothing is held back and Mason doesn't sugar-coat anything: not even to make himself look good. A very honest and straight-forward account of living day to day in a war. It's hard to put down once started.

[jastbrown · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Five stars isn't enough! A unique story. At the time, the St.Louis Post-Dispatch said: "Very simply the best book so far out of Vietnam" The NYTimes: "A hypnotic narrative" Martin Cruz Smith: Maybe Vietnam is best seen through a shattered helicopter windshield. 'Chickenhawk' is one bloody, painfully honest and courageous book" The Village Voice: "Arresting, lean, cool, grotesque, telling" "More than any other writer, Mason has been able to capture the feeling of what it was like to be there."-- John Del Vecchio, author of 'The 13th Valley'Read it.. you won't forget it.

[timbazzett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I finished reading Chickenhawk last night just a few minutes after midnight, July 4, 2008. I feel like I oughta apologize to its author, Bob Mason, for taking 25 years to "discover" his excellent account of one man's horrific wartime experiences in Vietnam over 40 years ago. Sam Hynes, author of the equally excellent WWII pilot's memoir, Flights of Passage, once told me that one of the most important ingredients in a memoir is that the narrator be likeable. Chickenhawk has that most vital element, for Bob Mason is as likeable a guy as you'll find in the literature of war, and his prose is absolutely real and riveting as he tells of his whirling descent into the madness that was Vietnam. His final chapter summarizes the kind of confusing nightmare his life became upon his return home, as he struggled to understand and survive this thing now commonly known as PTSD. I like this guy. In fact I like him well enough that I will try to find a copy of his out-of-print sequel to Chickenhawk. It may take a while, but I'll be back to comment on that one too. In the meantime, I urge anyone who enjoys good writing of any kind to read this book. It's the real deal.

[meegeekai · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a pretty famous book. I heard an interview with the author years ago (the book was first published in 1985). Finally got a chance to read it and feel that it is really a classic. As the cover I have says, it is a "stunning book on the right stuff in the wrong war". A must read on flying helicopters in Vietnam.