Clare Mulley

Delusions of the deserters

Matthew Sweet feels lost in a surreal dream as he attempts to unravel the complex espionage project inaugurated by President Johnson

issue 10 March 2018

  • Operation Chaos: The Vietnam Deserters who Fought the CIA, the Brainwashers and Each Other

    Matthew Sweet

    Picador, pp. 352

‘Keep my name out of it’, was the fairly standard reply when Matthew Sweet started researching the story of the GIs who deserted from Vietnam. People’s concern, it turned out, however, was not about being associated just with desertion, but with a more complex story of duplicity, abuse and insanity.

GIF Image

Disagree with half of it, enjoy reading all of it

TRY 3 MONTHS FOR $5
Our magazine articles are for subscribers only. Start your 3-month trial today for just $5 and subscribe to more than one view

Read next

Trending

John Foreman

Don’t forget Bomber Command

There were many tributes when John ‘Paddy’ Hemingway, the last surviving fighter pilot of the Battle of Britain, died in March. Prince William said he was saddened about the death of the ‘last of The Few’ while the prime minister saluted Hemingway’s ‘extraordinary life’. There were no such statements in February on the death of

More on book review

Also by Clare Mulley

Latest

Comments

Join the debate for just £1 a month

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.

Already a subscriber? Log in