Dr. Dooley was a young US Navy Medical Officer, aboard a ship in Haiphong harbor when France was being turned out of Vietnam. Following a plea for medical help he went ashore, got to know the people, and grew to love them. He left the Navy and spent several years in the 1950s traveling among the peoples of Southeast Asia, bringing medical care to regions where whites had never before even been seen, until his return to the U.S. shortly before his death from cancer.

He saw and described many horrors committed by Communists on their own people trying to cross the new border from North to South Vietnam after the country was partitioned. Those descriptions of what was really happening stand in stark contrast to the stories popularly accepted in the U.S. a decade later.

These three books form a powerfully emotional yet factually substantiated account. They are worth searching to find and read. Would that they would be reprinted as many less worthy books are these days.

Dr. Thomas Dooley was a hero to me. Fire On the Mountain means to me the Fire yet another time after the French left for honourable reasons Indochine and still the people could not be set free. Agriculture burned and people died. Deliver Us From Evil was their petition, and the world did hear them, but too much, it would seem. Merton would have been his Confessor, but over what teletype would this have been then? I did read Merton as a girl, but it gave insufficient consolation to these wounds of the heart. On the Night They Burned the Mountain, the children of that Tigerland were again left behind. Tom Dooley didn't live to see it, and before he slept, he anguished sore. I neither need to buy these books nor see the film. I've lived in that hereafter and carry in on through the remainder of my life.

I first read these books when I was in H.S. They inspired me to want to be a better person and devote myself to good works. I know that sounds odd but these are no ordinary books. I recently reread them and found them to be even better than I remembered. These are noble books written by a noble man. Tragically the author died from cancer at a very young age. The background for these books may seem a little dated due to the fall of Communism in Russia but the subject is as pertinent now as it was then and will be hundreds of years from now. Inhumanity and humanity. The cruelty of ideolegies versus the compassion of the individual. These are an excellent choice for any reader from nine to ninety-nine.

This book is bascially a mid-upper division college text on the development of Modern Laos from the 1800's to the present. A fine book on the recent history of Laos, the author strives to be fair and evenhanded in placing responsibility for the various troubles plaguing the country. However, I would have liked more general background on the country, especially the history that predated European contact. Only the history necessary to explain some modern interactions is present from that period. More maps and figures would have been nice as well. Only four maps and no figures are present, and the author refers to many locations that aren't listed explictly on the maps. The type is set rather close as well, making for a bit of a strain in reading. That said, the information was well laid out and seemed very well researched. I learned a great deal about the development of modern Laos.

Martin Stuart-Fox has produced a concise, comprehensive account of Lao history, with emphasis on the revolutionary and post-revolutionary eras. Stuart-Fox is arguably the leading English-language expert on the history of Laos, and this work proves it; his book is meticulously researched and skillfully written.

I enjoyed Kaufman's interpretation of the Tao Te Ching. In spite of the inherent redundancy, the presentation is heartfelt. My primary comment is that I had a nagging question throughout the book as to whether Kaufman was staying close to the original text or whether he was applying wide discretion in discerning the meaning of the original. Since the author deliberately chose to not discuss its historical or literary context, this is not an insignificant point. In sum, is Kaufman simply giving a straightforward presentation, as he understands it, of one of the fundamental documents of Taoist philosophy? Or is he presenting an idiosyncratic personal interpretation of his world view, utilizing the format of this sacred text as his vehicle? Assuming that the author is not fluent in classical Chinese, I believe that it is probably the latter.

With so many books out there on this subject, Steve Kaufman's is by far the best. This author has obviously dedicated his life to understanding this material and is very sincere. I feel that this is the definitive book for the westener on this very difficult book to understand. Mr Kaufman has written seveeral books on oriential subjects and they are all fantastic. A must read

For people who have opinions concerning US involvement in the Viet Nam conflict Tom Dooley's books should be available and recommended.

Dr. Tom Dooley wrote 3 books and was working on a fourth when he died. His mother and friends finished the 4th. The books were about his work in Vietnam prior to 1962, he died in the early 60's from cancer. I first read the Dooley books in 1964-65 and credit them for my interest in Asian cultures. I still have the four paperbacks. Dr. Tom's clinics carried on after his death but ended with the fall of South Vietnam.

Dr. Tom Dooley was a young navy doctor involved with the fall of Viet Nam, and the massive effort to help the fleeing Vietnamese people as the Comm unists entered their country.(whew). This is the story of his return to Viet Nam and his efforts to improve health care in his own small way. A magnificent story of humanity at it's best.

Good read, I disagree with some of the characterizations,having been in Laos from 68 to 69,(Moung Soui, the PDJ etc) but then that's human nature. By the way David Pompelli's name is a misspelling. Should be Pompili, But then, what's in a name?

I read this book, after returning from Laos recently on a visit with a fellow veteran who almost died there in a terrible firefight in 1968. So I read with keen interest Kenneth Conboys book, and it is most informative. I read Shadow War recently after finishing several other somewhat related titles ie. "Tragedy in Paradise" by Charles Weldon MD "A Code to Keep" by Ernest Bruce and "The Sorrow of War" by Bao Ninh "Hell in a Very small place" Mr Kenneth Conboy series of books and these others should be required reading for all American policy makers before they deploy Americans, Hmongs, Filipinos, or Thais to project American policy abroad. Thx cousin

I was a CIA officer who fought in Laos from '70 to '72. This is, without a doubt, the best book on the war in Laos. It is not an "adventure" novel or a book of "I was there" like some other books on the war. It is a well researched and in depth account of the war and the CIA involvement. Ken Conboy went to great lengths to research and interview participants in the war, from all sides, and his book is a very detailed and accurate account of the US/CIA effort to prevent Laos from falling to the Communists. This is not, repeat not, a book for casual reading! Conboy has gone to into great detail about the war and the people who fought it; it is, without a doubt, the best account of a war that, to most, is still a "secret war." There are other books about the war that are easier reads but none that is are more accurate or have more depth. This is a great reference book. If you are a serious student of the CIA effort in Southeast Asia during the 60's to the late 70's then this is the book for you.

Shooting at the Moon details the "alliance" between the American government and the Hmong (Meo) minority people of Laos during the Lao civil wars. Roger Warner writes with a very readable, journalistic style that draws the reader in. The book tracks several main "characters" throughout the war's development and escalation, explores possible motivations for American involvement, and the aftermath of the American betrayal of the Hmong. If you have read "The Ugly American," then you will see many instances of those fictional events happening for real in Shooting at the Moon.

As a university student who read this book to complement a research paper, I was disapppointed. Although very reader-friendly, Warner's style also verges on fiction and it is difficult to separate true fact from his interpretations of events. In such a book, this may be unavoidable, given that he attempts to plop the reader down into Laos of the late 1960's and 1970's. Warner does his job in that sense, but in doing so he blurs the line between fact and fiction. Moreover, I find that he often glosses over events and writes in a very American style, sometimes very dismissive of the Lao and Meo peoples. However, if you are looking for a "real life" wartime Communism vs. Capitalism cliffhanger, then Shooting at the Moon should fulfill that role quite nicely. For more thoroughly researched and more comprehensive books on Lao history, including the Lao Revolution, I would recomend Arthur J. Dommen's Laos: Keystone of Indochina and anything by Martin Stuart-Fox.

Warner accurately captures the bizarre twists and turns of the U.S. surrogate warfare efforts in Laos. My experience as a direct participant during the 1972-75 time frame gives me the advantage of being able to attest to some of Warner's chronicle. The historical record also provides us information on the failed strategies used by the American State Department in their desire to control events in Laos. Although the North Vietnamese considered all of Southeast Asia as their theater of operations, the American effort, in contrast, became one of disjointed and , at times, bumbling entities running into each other without effective command and control. This does not in any way diminish the heroic efforts of honest men trying too carry out tactical operations while complying with unreasonable controls of the American government bureaucracy. The legacy of these failed strategies can be seen with the difficult acclimation of the Hmong into American society. Warner's spares us the micro detail and intense emotionalism of other books on the same surrogate warfare. This makes "Shooting at the Moon" a good compelling read. With the above bureaucratic absurdities in mind, Warner was right on when he said that "it was the Americans who were shooting at the moon"!

The author spent years gathering the material for this book and Warner has written the definitive book on the period. Rarely has a non-participant so closely captured the feel and intensity of the times. I worked as a fighter pilot with the Raven FACs and was totally astounded at how good this book reads. A triumph.

How many translations of Lauzi are there on the market? Twenty? A hundred? How many do we need? This one has been around for a long time, but it has stood the test of time better than most.

Believe me when I say that there is no such thing as an even marginally adequate translation of the Dao De Jing, and there never will be. All the translator can hope to do is keep it simple and have a nice presentation on the page. This translation does this, without overdoing it.

Although D. C. Lau's edition of the Tao Te Ching has been sitting on my shelves for years, I've never felt particularly drawn to it. In contrast to my well-thumbed copies of Lin Yutang, J. J. L. Duyvendak, Ellen M. Chen, Zen adept Stephen Mitchell, and others, the Lau is still in a relatively pristine condition.

I don't think this is because of the quality of the translation, a translation which, though occasionally a bit wordy, reads well enough in other places. I think it's more because Lau strikes me as a hard-boiled Confucian with a thesis.

Today we are all more than used to theses. The air is thick with them. Given a bit of time, any clever woman or man can easily construct one. But we should never forget what Lu Chi (+ 754-805) reminds us of in his brilliant 'Essay on Literature,' the 'Wen fu,' when he tells us that: 'Theses are convincing - but deceptive...'

Chapter 18 of the Tao Te Ching offers what seems to me to be a perfect comment on thesis books:

"When the body's intelligence declines, / cleverness and knowledge step forth" (tr. Stephen Mitchell).

In Ellen M. Chen the same passage reads: "When intelligence (hui) and knowledge (chih) appear, / There is great artificiality (wei)" (page 99).

And in Lau: "When cleverness emerges / There is great hypocrisy" (page 74).

Many readers will probably find that Lau's edition suits them well enough for their purposes, but those who might prefer an edition which is not merely scholarly but also sympathetic might take a look at Professor Ellen M. Chen's 'The Tao Te Ching - A New Translation with Commentary' (New York: Paragon House, 1989 ISBN 1-55778-238-5). I think that for your money you'll be getting a little more than "cleverness."

unlike many versions of "the way of life", this is a legitimate "translation"

I have only read one other version of the Tao Te Ching. The other was very pretty and well respected. It also made very little sense, was sexist, and had little if anything to do with my life. Stephen Mitchell, after 14 years of Zen training, has brought this amazing and beautiful work into our times. With non-sexist language and beautifully illustrating examples, he shows the modern westerner how to truly comprehend and embrace this wise and simple philosophy. Mitchell sometimes strays from the literal translation, but always for the better, and never without letting the reader know. His notes in the back are amazingly insightful and include the literal translations of the few parts he's changed. I read from this amazing and beautiful book every day.

If you choose only one Tao te Ching translation... this shouldn't be it.

BUT.... if you choose 2 or 3, this should definantly be among them :)
It is also the best for introducing a Westerner not familiar with Taoist thought to Taoism.

There have been complaints by many Taoists about this translation, and I understand their complaints, BUT some people are not interested in Taoism as a Dogma or "religion" or a history lesson.... but in the *WISDOM* of the Tao, which is what this book conveys perfectly.
Though it is not literal I do not find it to be in any way inconsistant with the spirit or wisdom of Lao Tzu's teaching.

The language, poetry, and insight in this book as well as the utter simplicity make it a WONDERFUL read... and the "liberties" help make Taoism more accessable to those not accustomed to interpreting the meaning of the literal translation and giving it modern application.
This is one of 2 Tao Te Ching translations I know by heart, I highly recomend it.

Next to the Bible, the most translated book in the world is the Tao Te Ching, the ancient Chinese Book of the Way. It lays the philosophical foundations for one of the world's great wisdom traditions, Taoism. Written approximately 2,500 years ago by the legendary sage Lao Tzu, this classic continues to inspire readers today. To translate a work that has been translated so many times before--and so well--may seem almost an act of hubris. But as the English language continues to evolve, it is the duty of the translator to attempt to restate a classic for his or her generation, in a language that they can best understand. Stephen Mitchell, in Tao Te Ching: A New English Version, has done that for our generation. And to him we owe a debt of gratitude. Huston Smith has called this translation "definitive," and he has spoken well. At first, a traditionalist may be startled by, for instance, Mitchell's referring to the master as alternately "he" and "she;" whereas, the original refers to the master as masculine, only, thereby reflecting the truth of things in sixth century B.C. China. But when one remembers that the translator is duty-bound to bring the ideas of the text to his or her contemporaries in a way that will have most meaning for them, then one can see the wisdom of taking such a liberty. And, after all, it is in the spirit of Taoism to adapt to the circumstance. As water sometimes comes to earth in the form of rain, sometimes snow, and sometimes sleet, but always in accord with the season, so this classic comes to us now in a form that is right for our own day. Thus, once again, this time with the help of Stephen Mitchell, the Tao Te Ching speaks to humanity, pointing the way.

This book is screaming to the author - do not publish me yet! Give me a little bit more of your time!
This is a word-for-word translation of the famous classic. Every character (unfortunately its a simplified version that is given) is translated and given a common prononciation.
Below is a translation of the whole phrase.
What is missing? Everything else. When I buy a "GUIDE to Reading Tao Te Ching" I buy something that will be "guiding" me - explaining, discussing hard-to-understand things, giving me a literary, phylosophical and historical notes, meanings, etc, etc, etc.
This one is a quickie job over something that deserves a lot of attention and devotion. Tao Te Ching and superficiality are not a good combination.
Is it useful? Yes, to some extent it is. Was my hopes satisfied? Not at all.

Alex Chaihorsky.

This book presents a modern (1990) text of this ancient classic, in simplified characters, with line division and punctuation done according to the translator's own (unexplained) preferences.

The body of the book consists of a line of Chinese text, a line of Pinyin romanization of the character text, a line of English word-for-character equivalents, and an easy-reading English text with words corresponding to the characters in upper case, and the additional words needed for easy reading in lower case.

The whole thing is preceded by a brief pronunciation guide, which in turn is preceded by a brief (5-page) introduction that says a little bit about the text and the translator's approach to it. At the end, there is a page with four references to web sites with more information.

There is no discussion of the grammar, no discussion of the nature or history of the text, no real discussion of the language or vocabulary -- and no pointers to books that would be useful for someone who wanted to learn about what is going on with this text. There is not even a hint that there is a difference between modern standard written Chinese and the language of the Dao De Jing. The translator mentions choosing from among various possibilities when selecting the English words to place under the Chinbese characters, but does not provide reasons other than personal taste for his choices.

This book would be useful for someone with little or no knowledge of Chinese who had a mild curiosity about this text that has been rendered in so many ways. It might also be a useful gift for a young teen or bright pre-teen with an interest in Taoism, or things Chinese, as a kind of enticement to future study. An undergraduate taking Chinese might find it useful as a crib. There might be some saving on dictionary work -- but the translator's decision to use a simplified character text would only lead to other difficulties down the road. A student might find it useful to speculate on the reasons for the translator's decisions, but without any assurance that they were based on considered principles rather than whim, would need a guide to help determine what was going on -- and, having such a guide, would not need this book.

The print is big and clear; at most there are seven lines of text per page, and it has the virtue of being quite legible even to a grouchy old geezer like this reviewer.

Readers who are unfamiliar with Classical Chinese are sometimes frankly puzzled as to why different translators, working on the same text, can come up with such widely differing translations. But to fully understand why this can happen, it would of course be necessary to learn Chinese.

Basically it has to do with the fact that the grammar of Ancient Chinese is as yet imperfectly understood. Another important reason is that the Chinese character or graph cannot really be equated with an English 'word' - they're very different animals. English words can change their form, as in 'run, runs, running, ran,' but graphs have a fixed form and can't do this.

Additionally, graphs will often have a far wider range of meanings than English words. This makes for a language with richer connotations. It's a beautiful language and I don't think that anyone who may be thinking of taking it up will be sorry if they do. Everyone should have at least a little Chinese. Even a little can provide a lot of fun.

One of the reasons I've always loved Classical Chinese is because it's an extremely concise and powerful language, a language of great masculine vigor, and one of the first things I look for in any translation from Classical Chinese is a comparable economy and energy. Some people don't seem to understand this, and I think it's because they fail to realize that words, besides expressing meaning, can also serve to limit meaning, especially in grammatically fussy Indo-European languages such as English where sentences are intended to convey as precise a meaning as possible and in doing so can become (as mine are here) rather wordy.

But ancient Chinese writing isn't like this. Rather than attempting to narrow and delimit meaning, and to pin us down to something particular and explicit, it aims instead to open and expand our understanding. In other words, although it can look deceptively simple, it is in fact richly suggestive, rich in implications. And this rich suggestiveness will generate many different meanings in the minds of different readers.

Proof of this can readily be found by anyone who takes the trouble to compare a few translations of the Tao Te Ching. Those who cannot consult the actual Chinese text will, as I've mentioned, often find themselves puzzled by these differences. What they fail to understand is that, whereas the English ideal is to express one and one thing only, the Chinese strategy is to express many meanings simultaneously. And this is where Professor Gregory C. Richter's text comes in.

Professor Richter has provided an invaluable service to all who are interested in Classical Chinese. Whether you only want to check up on an occasional passage of the Tao Te Ching, or whether you want to learn Chinese inductively by memorizing an actual text, or whether you are taking a formal course and simply want some supplementary study material, or whether you are just plain curious, Richter's text will prove invaluable. Not only has he given us the Chinese graphs in a well-printed large clear font which makes them easy to read (though I wish he had used the traditional full forms rather than the modern simplified forms), but he also provides the pinyin transliteration for each graph, a detailed interlinear graph-by-graph gloss, and a final English translation.

Considering what an important language Chinese is, there really ought to be far more texts like Professor Richter's, and he certainly deserves our gratitude for creating such an invaluable tool. My advice to the interested would be to snap it up before it goes out of print.

One thing he has not provided is instruction in the all-important art of writing graphs (characters, ideograms) correctly. This too is huge fun, and can be an enormous source of satisfaction. For an excellent manual that will teach you how to write Chinese characters beautifully with a pen, you might check out: 'Learn to Write Chinese Characters' (Yale Language Series) by Johan Bjorksten. His models are superb.

Another book I can strongly recommend is 'Sound and Symbol in Chinese' (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, Revised Edition 1971 [1962]), by the renowned Swedish Sinologist Bernhard Karlgren. This is a short and truly excellent introduction, in just 98 pages, which covers: The Ancient Language; Word Formation; The Script; Syntax; and Rhetoric. The book has a fine concluding section of Bibliographical Notes with sections on: Grammar; Phonetics and history of the language; Dictionaries; Script; History of Literature; Standard translations; General Works of Reference, Periodicals, etc. Unfortunately it appears at the moment to be out-of-print, but you may find a copy in the library.