The classic account of the abandonment of American POWs in Vietnam by the US government.For many Americans, the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan bring back painful memories of one issue in particular: American policy on the rescue of and negotiation for American prisoners. One current American POW of the Taliban, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, stands as their symbol. Thousands of Vietnam veteran … of Vietnam veteran POW activists worry that Bergdahl will suffer the fate of so many of their POW/MIA comradesabandonment once the US leaves that theater of war.
Kiss the Boys Goodbye convincingly shows that a legacy of shame remains from America’s ill-fated involvement in Vietnam. Until US government policy on POW/MIAs changes, it remains one of the most crucial issues for any American soldier who fights for home and country, particularly when we are engaged with an enemy that doesn’t adhere to the international standards for the treatment of prisonersor any American hostageas the graphic video of Daniel Pearl’s decapitation on various Jihad websites bears out.
In this explosive book, Monika Jensen-Stevenson and William Stevenson provide startling evidence that American troops were left in captivity in Indochina, victims of their government’s abuse of secrecy and power. The book not only delves into the world of official obstruction, missing files, censored testimony, and the pressures brought to bear on witnesses ready to tell the truth, but also reveals the trauma on patriotic families torn apart by a policy that, at first, seemed unbelievable to them.
First published in 1990, Kiss the Boys Goodbye has become a classic on the subject. This new edition features an afterword, which fills in the news on the latest verifiable scandal produced by the Senate Select Committee on POWs.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history–books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
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The more we learn about the Vietnam War’s prosecution the more embarrassing it is for our country. The lies simply keep multiplying to justify the previous ones and the lives snuffed out, or otherwise ruined, seem ever more egregious and dastardly. The fact that we could ever elect, to any office, a man as destitute morals as Lyndon Johnson speaks poorly of our capability to ever have anything resembling a democracy. Kudos for these authors for further elucidating our shame.
I’ve never read a book where I found myself repeatedly screaming because I was so p..d. off; but such was the case reading this book. Every American needs to read this book to understand the what the elements of our government are capable of doing. The fact that bureaucrats and high ranking government officials conspired to deny the existence of POW’s left behind in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos following the end of the Vietnam War is tragic, disgraceful, and anti-American. Thousand were left behind after the end of the war and left to die. Six administrations did nothing to get those men (and women) out of captivity. Read the book to understand the reasoning.
A very depressing and frightening account of the nearly 2000 missing captives following the Vietnam war who were left in the hands of cruel slavelords in Southeast Asia, and our government knew it and did nothing to bring them home. Even worse, they intervened to prevent them from being returned to their families and their country. A well documented exposure of our CIA and even our Congress who abandoned them to starvation and torture until all are likely now dead
This is a tough book to read and it is angering how we left people as prisoners.
Our country is better than this.
This is another example of great wickedness and greed in some of the leaders of our country and great institutions and how some have paid an ultimate price.
A very troubling story. I can only say I am thankful for those with the courage to make this travesty known and the courage to speak up.
We must never forget.
Every American should read this book…especially everyone old enough to remember the Vietnam War.
I wondered whether we left anyone behind or not. The research that went into this book, and the evidence provided by it leaves no doubt in my mind that we did!
I read this book over 20 years ago. I still remember the book, the pictures, and the gut wrenching story.
Having served in the Army (62–68) and being 100% disabled due to combat injuries this book confirms what I had long ago deduced from disparate sources. Serving as an interrogator with the Special Forces my access to information didn’t square with ‘official pronouncements.’ It is deeply disturbing that congress permitted such an atrocity to occur much less continue. Realism — your want REALISM — read this book and discover why so many veterans and those ‘in-the-know’ distrust our government.
This book is about the POWs our government knowingly left behind in Vietnam and Laos. The evidence is believable and terrifying as the writer presents testimony from all levels of military personnnel who knew these men were alive and where they were. They presented hard evidence, and tried to convince our leaders they had an obligation and a constitutional duty to bring them home. That anyone’s son husband or father would have knowingly been left to live out their lives in enemy hands is heartbreaking. The story is well-presented spanning years of investigation.