The Vietnamese version of the book “My Lai: Vietnam, 1968, and the Descent into Darkness” (Source: baotintuc.vn)Titled "My Lai: Viet Nam, 1968 -Nhin lai cuoc tham sat" in Vietnamese, the over-700-page book, translatedby Manh Chuong, provides a full, comprehensive, and truthful description of oneof the “darkest” events in the US’s military intervention in Vietnam.
It came as a result of an almostdecade of research by Howard Jones, University Research Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Alabama.
Of the three parts, the first touches upon the causes ofthe pain by My Lai residents, the second analyses the massacre’s aftermathand the US administration’s cover-up, and the last is about what the USadministration had to pay for the crime.
"The best book by far on the My Lai massacre and itsaftermath—exhaustively researched, persuasively argued, and a page-turner toboot. A must-read for anyone interested not only in the Vietnam era, but alsoin how things can go terribly wrong in the midst of armed conflict, the laws ofwar notwithstanding. Truly exceptional!", according Ralph B. Levering,author of “TheCold War: A Post-Cold War History”.
In the morning of March 16, 1968, UStroops entered four hamlets, namely My Lai 4, My Khe 4, Binh Tay, and Binh Dongof Son Tinh district, the central province of Quang Ngai, located near the demilitarisedzone called "Pinkville" by the US. After three hours, morethan 500 unarmed villagers, mostly women and children, were killed by UStroops.
The atrocity, the My Lai massacre,took its name from one of the hamlets./.
VNA
