Looking for a Hero: Staff Sergeant Joe Ronnie Hooper and the Vietnam War

Book Description

Widely acclaimed as the Vietnam War's most highly decorated soldier, Joe Ronnie Hooper in many ways serves as a symbol for that conflict. His troubled, tempestuous life paralleled the upheavals in American society during the 1960s and 1970s, and his desperate quest to prove his manhood was uncomfortably akin to the macho image projected by three successive presidents in their "tough" policy in Southeast Asia. Looking for a Hero extracts the real Joe Hooper from the welter of lies and myths that swirl around his story; in doing so, the book uncovers not only the complicated truth about an American hero but also the story of how Hooper's war was lost in Vietnam, not at home.

Extensive interviews with friends, fellow soldiers, and family members reveal Hooper as a complex, gifted, and disturbed man. They also expose the flaws in his most famous and treasured accomplishment: earning the Medal of Honor. In the distortions, half-truths, and outright lies that mar Hooper's medal of honor file, authors Peter Maslowski and Don Winslow find a painful reflection of the army's inability to be honest with itself and the American public, with all the dire consequences that this dishonesty ultimately entailed. In the inextricably linked stories of Hooper and the Vietnam War, the nature of that deceit, and of America's defeat, becomes clear.

Customer Reviews:

Shewd smear of the Vietnam War soldier........2007-04-12

Looking for a Hero is a cleverly written book that takes well researched information and twists it in such a way as to distort the historical facts and reality of the Vietnam War. The authors would like you to believe that the VC/NVA were the heros and the American soldiers were either fools, suckers, cowards, drunks or anything else but not courageous. I believe the book is nothing more than a slanderous smear of America and its soldiers. If you like read the book and see if you agree with me.

Informative but obviously biased.......2006-04-14

While the book does contain a lot of valuable information, its clearly biased tone does not lend it to being the number one source for learning about Vietnam. I would only suggest this book to die-hard liberals, and perhaps conservatives looking for a good laugh.

Beautifully Written, Profound in its Conclusions.......2006-03-25

With LOOKING FOR A HERO, Peter Maslowski and Don Winslow have given us an inspiring and heart-breaking tribute to the heroism of Staff Sergeant Joe Hooper and his fellow Delta Raiders of the 101st Airborne Division. By extension, the book is actually a tribute to all who served in the combat infantry during the Vietnam War. The authors' respect for the courage and tenacity of those who shouldered a grunt's rucksack in the jungles and villages of Vietnam is obvious. Thanks to LOOKING FOR A HERO, the story of MOH-winner Joe Hooper, and it's a poignant and important story, will not disappear down the memory hole.

All of which makes baffling the criticisms that have been leveled here against LOOKING FOR A HERO, from the ludicrous attack that the book was not well-researched, to the one-star review which opined that the book failed to explain the heart and soul of Joe Hooper. Actually, Hooper could not have hoped for more fair, compassionate, and accurate biographers than Maslowski and Winslow. The man comes alive again thanks to their exhaustive research and gift for the written word. In no way, as has been alleged, does LOOKING FOR A HERO tear down Joe Hooper or any other combat soldier who fought in Vietnam. To shine a spotlight on the conflicting testimony that veterans provide about battles, or to expose the army hierarchy's crass abuse of the awards system, or to acknowledge that war heroes are human too with warts and imperfections, in no way diminishes the central theme of the book: namely, the heroism of Joe Hooper, Clifford Sims, Dale Urban, and their fellow Delta Raiders.

And to point out, as the authors do, that the sacrifices of the Vietnam combat soldier were ultimately rendered in a lost cause is self evident, and not a slam at those who answered the call and did their duty. Maslowski and Winslow's negative critique of U.S. policy and tactics in Vietnam is spot on, however painful it is to admit as much. The mistakes made during the Vietnam (indeed, the mistake that was the Vietnam War) are not supposed to be glossed over to make the pain of the war more palatable, but ruthlessly examined so that young Americans like those who served in the Delta Raiders will hopefully never again be thrown away in unwinnable foreign adventures.

It's a shame that LOOKING FOR A HERO did not garner the attention it deserved. Maslowski and Winslow have written a book as profound as A RUMOR OF WAR, THE 13th VALLEY, WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE AND YOUNG, and THE LONG GRAY LINE.

Keith Nolan (author of RIPCORD, OPERATION BUFFALO, etc.)

Master Thesis or historical fact?.......2006-03-09

I found this book short on Joe Hooper and long on an attempt at a historical critique of the politics of this country during the Vietnam war. The two authors obviously never served but more to the point, they continually drifted away from the man and bombarded the readers with their perception of the politics, personalities and philosophies of that time and place. I think the authors missed the barn by about 8 yards. Those of us who lived through the war, and most importantly, those days of the 60's, vividly remember the atmosphere that existed in this country. I wanted, no needed, to know better the man, Joe Hooper, not just that he had feet of clay but what he was about and why he like so many ohers of us, answered the call of the bugle. That would have been the real story. Instead, we were treated to the authors rather flawed analysis of the people and the reasons for that terrible and costly endeavor.

From an Original Delta Raider.......2006-02-27

If you only read the first three pages of the prologue,

you'll recognize my name.

It's hard to read the negative stuff about a brother in arms,

a friend and about a war you thought at the time,

was worth fighting and dying for.

I have so much respect for Capt. McMenamy, Capt. Hogan and

Platoon Sgt. Parker,

that to this day, at a reunion, it is hard not to refer to them by their rank rather than by

"Wayne, Cleo & George".

The inspiring story of " Joe Hooper & the Delta Raiders" is

well documented in the book, but then I'm prejudiced.

If you want a history lesson about the Vietnam war without any

sugar coating, I would recommend this book.

If you want a textbook case of how alcohol can affect a great

man, I would also recommend this book.

I will go to my grave with the belief that SSgt. Sims

threw himself on that grenade to save his men.

The Professor seems to write a bit skeptically about PTSD,

for those that feel likewise I have written a poem.

"If nightmares & dreams could be bottled like wine,

I'd send you a crate,

Vintage Tet 68,

so you could share some of mine"

God Bless Ya, Joe Hooper

Sgt. Al Mount
D Co. 2/501st. Inf.
101st Airborne Div.

Looking For a Hero: Staff Sergeant Joe Ronnie Hooper and the Vietnam War.

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Looking For a Hero: Staff Sergeant Joe Ronnie Hooper and the Vietnam War.
PETER and DON WINSLOW: MASLOWSKI
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UCZ9MC

Looking for a Hero: Staff Sergeant Joe Ronnie Hooper and the Vietnam War.: An article from: Engineer: The Professional Bulletin for Army Engineers

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Looking for a Hero: Staff Sergeant Joe Ronnie Hooper and the Vietnam War.: An article from: Engineer: The Professional Bulletin for Army Engineers
Jeffrey L. Rosemann
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000VI5IW6
Release Date: 2007-08-27

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Engineer: The Professional Bulletin for Army Engineers, published by Thomson Gale on April 1, 2007. The length of the article is 451 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Looking for a Hero: Staff Sergeant Joe Ronnie Hooper and the Vietnam War.
Author: Jeffrey L. Rosemann
Publication: Engineer: The Professional Bulletin for Army Engineers (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 37 Page: 53(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Drawing on letters, poems, notebooks, and secret diaries, Lisbet Koerner tells the moving story of one of the most famous naturalists who ever lived, the Swedish-born botanist and systematizer, Carl Linnaeus. The first scholarly biography of this great Enlightenment scientist in almost one hundred years, Linnaeus also recounts for the first time Linnaeus' grand and bizarre economic projects: to "teach" tea, saffron, and rice to grow on the Arctic tundra and to domesticate buffaloes, guinea pigs, and elks as Swedish farm animals.

Linnaeus hoped to reproduce the economy of empire and colony within the borders of his family home by growing cash crops in Northern Europe. Koerner shows us the often surprising ways he embarked on this project. Her narrative goes against the grain of Linnaean scholarship old and new by analyzing not how modern Linnaeus was, but how he understood science in his time. At the same time, his attempts to organize a state economy according to principles of science prefigured an idea that has become one of the defining features of modernity. Meticulously researched, and based on archival data, Linnaeus will be of compelling interest to historians of the Enlightenment, historians of economics, and historians of science. But this engaging, often funny, and sometimes tragic portrait of a great man will be valued by general readers as well.

Customer Reviews:

Nature and Nonsense.......2002-01-08

It has become axiomatic that historians of science know little about either. This revisionist treatment of the foibles of 18th century Swedish life paints poor Linnaeus as a whacko. However, he really wasn't too far removed from the contemporary members of the Royal Society of London in credulity, self promotion and ignorance and was certainly typical of Swedish Professors of that and more recent times.
This is really a silly book first produced under the tuterage of Simon Schama and reissued from HUP. The author does not acknowledge the intellectual ferment of the time when the Enlightenment was being crushed under the heels of van Herder and by the Romantic curse (that we still enjoy as political correctness). The greatest contribution of the Linne's systematics was the "taxonomic key" that allows some order out of biology, not his fatuous attempts to make booze out of lichens or grow pineapples in Bothnia.
I suppose other historians of "science" will someday mock Aristotle for his ignorance of DNA and not knowing how many teeth women have, but really, this is a silly book.

Interesting Reading........2001-11-27

Linnaeus : Nature and Nation
by Lisbet Koerner
Reviewed by Thomas Leo Ogren, author of Allergy-Free Gardening, Ten Speed Press.
Honestly I have mixed feelings about this book. One, I love it and really did enjoy reading it. I learned quite a bit from it too.
But I do wish it had been written in a more reader-friendly manner. It is a good bit too scholarly for my tastes, a trifle too text-bookishly written.
One of the important things about Linnaeus himself is that he always tried to reach the common man, tried to make his work popular and easily understood. I feel this book could have emulated some of that flavor.
But I don't mean to be too critical by any means because I did like this book very much. There is a real wealth of research here, many things about Linnaeus here that I'd never read before. Karl Linnaeus was THE botanist--of his time, and of our own time as well. His system of binomial nomenclature, Genus species, was pretty much right on the money. He was the first to realize that plants' sexual characteristics were what largely either grouped them together or set them apart. His system is often criticized today, but to me it still makes great sense.
Linnaeus : Nature and Nation, is not for everyone, but serious gardeners will enjoy it, as will historians, especially those with an interest in botany, horticulture, science. Well worth reading.

The Big Issue.......2001-07-25

‘Gazing at a flower by the grass-roofed cottage where he was born [...] Linnaeus was quintessentially a local man.’ (187). But as Lisbet Koerner explains, he also linked the ‘universal with the local [...] nature with nation.’ In this fascinating account, Koerner demonstrates that the father of modern taxonomy was also a political economist. Unlike Adam Smith, his interest was no so much in international trade or colonial conquest, but the substitution of imports (a cameralist program).

Although Linnaeus had travelled in Holland, France, and Engalnd (1735-48) there were nineteen ‘first-generation’ students who undertook ‘voyages of discover’ between 1745 and 1792. Koerner asserts that their travels ‘were part of their larger strategy to create a miniature mercantile empire within a European state’ (114). Linnaeus sensed that ‘explorers fostered strategies of national improvement based on ecological diversification rather than on territoral expansion.’ (114).

Linnaeus, it is argued was essentially a civil servant who turned his students into an efffective and efficient support staff. Chapter 3 deals with the Lapland journey. In line with economic and political priorities the area was to be colonized as a kind of Scandinavian “West Indies”. As a committed Lutheran, its is fascinating to deconstruct the theology at work in Linnaeus’s thought. Nature was a prelapsarian Paradise, but it must be exploited within each country. Accordingly, Linnaesus was concerned by the luxury and excess of products that trade supplied from the cornucopia of the New World. As this book notes, ‘He even urged Scandinavians to return to the old “Gothic foods,” such as acorns, pork, and mead.’ (95) At the same time he was keen to cultivate at home (to acclimatize) what was normally cultivated abroad. We even find him thinking, theorizing, and cultivating ‘an art to Make Mussles bring forth pearls.’ (141) He professed an an axiety that the pearl plantaions ‘could not long remain secret before our neighbours in Norway, Russia, and Siberia, who own more stores of Pearl mussels, could thus intirely triumph over us in quantity.’ (143)

Yet as Linnaeus’s stock rose in Europe among the Romantics, at home it fell as he failed to deliver economic adavantage and superiority through import substitution. Ernst Moritz Arndt attacked Linnaeus’s cameralist projects in 1783, wondering how ‘On e was supposed to believe that Sweden suddenly had become Asia Minor and Sicily.’ (168) His enterprising schemes turned out to be ‘fantastic and chimerical’; it was left to his taxonomic system to enrich the world. Nonetheless, in light of recent global protests and persistent underdevelopment, the larger issues which the book eloquently discusses, seem to me as relevant now as then. ‘Linnaeus: Nature and Nation’ concludes by stating that it ‘memorializes a local attempt at a local modernity, a now-forgotten future of the past’ (193), but the other issue it raises is timely:

‘Or can native subjects, using only local means of production, build a complex and complete local economy, incorporating contemporary technologies, and functioning as a microcosm of the global economy.’ (192)

Thank God the world isn't run by professors.......2000-05-26

A fascinating account of what a strange place the 18th century was. The age of confusion more than the age of reason. Who would have thought that Linnaeus had so much in common with today's new age cranks.

Well done!.......2000-02-08

A biography filled with wonderful detail, even though centering on Linnaeus' economic program. At times the author appears to be making fun of Linnaeus' odder ideas rather than attempting serious historical analysis, but in all a good job and an interesting argument.

Linnaeus. Nature and Nation [A book review from: History of European Ideas]

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Linnaeus. Nature and Nation [A book review from: History of European Ideas]
K. Tribe
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000RQYD00

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from History of European Ideas, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Linnaeus: Nature and Nation.(Book Review): An article from: Canadian Journal of History

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Linnaeus: Nature and Nation.(Book Review): An article from: Canadian Journal of History
Kathleen Wellman
Manufacturer: University of Saskatchewan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by University of Saskatchewan on August 1, 2002. The length of the article is 909 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Linnaeus: Nature and Nation.(Book Review)
Author: Kathleen Wellman
Publication: Canadian Journal of History (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 2002
Publisher: University of Saskatchewan
Volume: 37 Issue: 2 Page: 347(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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LINNAEUS: NATURE AND NATION
Lisbet Koerner
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WFR83A

Amazon.com

With the honesty of a skilled biographer and the sensitivity of a caring son, Roth chronicles the life of his father, Herman, in this gripping work which won a 1991 National Book Critics Circle Award. Roth holds little back in describing his father as a man of rare intensity and fierce independence who, for better or worse, stood by his principles and held others to his own rigorous standards. Writes Roth, "His obsessive stubbornness--his stubborn obsessiveness--had very nearly driven my mother to a breakdown in her final years." Frank throughout, Roth calls his father "a pitiless realist, but I wasn't his offspring for nothing, and I could be pretty realistic, too."

Book Description

Patrimony, a true story, touches the emotions as strongly as anything Philip Roth has ever written. Roth watches as his eighty-six-year-old father—famous for his vigor, charm, and his repertoire of Newark recollections—battles with the brain tumor that will kill him. The son, full of love, anxiety, and dread, accompanies his father through each fearful stage of his final ordeal, and, as he does so, discloses the survivalist tenacity that has distinguished his father's long, stubborn engagement with life.

Customer Reviews:

Patrimony but not Matrimony!.......2007-05-30

I like Philip Roth as an author. This book is really a tribute to his father not so much his mother. It seems that he was closer to his father, Herman Roth who he calls the true Bard of Newark, New Jersey. While his son, Philip Roth, has continued to become one of America's top authors and was almost short of winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005, Roth is hardly known or as popular as he should be. This book tells the story of how he copes and deals with his father's illness and death. I wished he would explain more about his relationship with his mother because I think it's key to explaining the troubles in his relationships with women. Twice divorced Roth lives alone in rural Connecticut. At the time of this book, he was with British actress Claire Bloom. Sadly, the relationship dissolved. Roth's own relationships with his brother and nephews are never really expanded or explained. Roth is quite a literary figure maybe a giant but he has problems which most literary geniuses have in their own personal life. Roth's loving book is a tribute to his father, Herman Roth, who was his greatest inspiration. The photo of him and his two sons on the cover was taken at Bradley Beach where Newark Jewish residents rented cottages or bungalows down by Bradley Beach in New Jersey during the hot summer months. I like Roth and have studied and read his books. He can make you feel pride about being from New Jersey in his works.

This is a difficult book with an extraordinary writing .......2006-05-24

There is something sad, something utterly painful about book tributes to fathers. When reading Wiesel's "Night", Franzen's "My Father's Brain" or Roth's "Patrimony", one comes to grips with a difficult reality, of the unnatural heart ache and grief that accompany aging and what they do in the mean time to the father-son relationship.

"Patrimony" offers a glimpse of this aging, of the deterioration of the body. As one reads, one physically partakes into the burden of loosing a loved one, of facing the difficult decisions of what comes next, of recalling memories, of learning to struggle, of the heartbreaking doctor appointments...Philip Roth never holds back. He doesn't protect from the sorrow, or grief. He tells his life's story with honesty and shameless openness that requires not only brilliant clarity, but also the strength of love, love of the kind passed down from a good father to a worthy son.

This is a difficult book with an extraordinary writing and should be considered by anyone who has, is or will ever care for an aging parent.

- by Simon Cleveland

Personal, But Too Personal?.......2006-04-30

It assumes a certain degree of risk for one of the most successful writers of the last half of the 20th Century to expose his personal life for the approval of the public. Perhaps crossing a barrier into intimacy in "Patrimony", Philip Roth tells of the story of the death of his father.

It is difficult to be judgmental about biographical account of of somebody's life or in this case death while not being overly critcal of the person. Yet while I found this book to be humorous at points, the story was just not what I had hoped to read. I am a fan of many of Philip Roth's other books. I knew this book would be unlike his other books and risked alienating Roth's fan base. This makes me wonder why Roth ever wrote or published this book.

While it is personal and exhibits good storytelling, it never engaged me as a reader. To be cliche, I never felt Roth's pain. In this regard, this book is somewhat of a lemon.

Touching story that will help you better understand the aging process.......2006-03-30

Heard the CD version of PATRIMONY: A TRUE STORY
by Philip Roth, the touching story of how his 86-year-old
father battles with the brain tumor that eventually kills him.

If you've ever been in the situation where you have had a parent
or grandparent get old right before your eyes, then this
is a book for you . . . it will help you deal with the situation
better and, also, to understand the aging process.

I really felt I got to know Herman Roth and enjoyed in
sharing his reminisces about growing up in Newark, as
well as about life.

In addition, I could relate to the difficulties that Philip Roth
was going through in attempting to care for his
father--especially when he, too, had to deal with a serious
illness during the process.

The narration by George Guidall was excellent . . . his interpretation
of the elder Roth's voice was truly amazing.

A must read for those who are taking care of an aging parent.......2005-07-05

With such clarity, love, and understanding of both sides, Philip Roth writes an autobiographical account of his relationship with his father, who is 86 years old at the time the book begins. Philip Roth is to be commended for showing not only the duality in taking on such a role, but also how roles reverse...This is a must read for those who are in the role reversal, and coming to terms with a parent!

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Patrimony A True Story
Philip Roth
Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J0L2L2

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Patrimony: A True Story.
Philip. Roth
Manufacturer: Jonathan Cape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OP44NU

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Patrimony - a True Story
Philip Roth
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O5Z1L4

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Patrimony: A true story.
Philip. Roth
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 6717037571

Book Description

Thousands of islands. Thousands of flavours. The boldness of buffalo curry. The beauty of Balinese food offerings. This is the cuisine of Indonesia: a realm of flavours that stretches from mountain gardens, through manic markets, across the Spice Islands and into the pages of this culinary guide. Prepare to explore what feeds this diverse nation, a country where fruit is as fresh as the land, and chillies are as hot as the hospitality.

photography, maps, recipes and local insight reveal lush islands with a vast culinary repertoire
profile of Indonesian family life and festivities
funerals that are party-central
food offerings that appease the spirits
bicycle tour of local small producers making rice wine, soy sauce, tempe and tofu
buying fish in the town of Pangandaran going from boat to wok in a matter of minutes

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