The Cat From Hue: A Vietnam War Story

by John Laurence

Overview

John Laurence covered the Vietnam war for CBS News from its early days, through the bloody battle of Hue in 1968, to the Cambodian invasion. He was judged by his colleagues to be the best television reporter of the war, however, the traumatic stories Laurence covered became a personal burden that he carried long after the war was over.

In this evocative, unflinching memoir, laced with humor, anger, love, and the unforgettable story of Méo, a cat rescued from the battle of Hue, Laurence recalls coming of age during the war years as a journalist and as a man. Along the way, he clarifies the murky history of the war and the role that journalists played in altering its course.

The Cat from Hué has earned passionate acclaim from many of the most renowned journalists and writers about the war, as well as from military officers and war veterans, book reviewers, and readers. This book will stand with Michael Herr's Dispatches, Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War, and Neil Sheehan's A Bright, Shining Lie as one of the best books ever written about Vietnam-and about war generally.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781586481605
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	12/18/2002
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	864
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Laurence's coverage of the Vietnam War for CBS News received the George Polk memorial award for "best reporting in any medium requiring exceptional courage and enterprise abroad." His other experiences as a journalist include covering the Chicago 7 trial in 1969 and the Reagan presidential campaign in 1979-80. Laurence was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and has lived in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. He now lives in England.

What People are Saying About This

Robert Shoemaker

A fascinating story that captures the tragedy of Vietnam superblyÖincisive observation and masterful storytelling.
— General Robert Shoemaker, U.S. Army (Retired)

Michael Buerk

Honest in its purpose, meticulous in its detail, as devastating in its impact as a burst from an M-16.

Frances FitzGerald

Laurence has written a book that is at once intelligent, perceptive and gripping. I, for one, couldn’t put it down.

David Halberstam

Jack Laurence went and taught others, including this older reporter, about the changing nature of the war, and, very quietly, was the most distinguished television correspondent of the war.

Walter Cronkite

Those who...followed Jack Laurence's seemingly fearless reporting from Vietnam have waited thirty years for this...classic of war reporting.

Phillip Knightley

In a lifetime of reading there are few books one will remember always. This is one of them.

John Balaban

Wonderfully vivid, wonderfuly written...I don't think I've read anything that captures so immediately the peculiar taste of the war.

Bob Thompson

If you want to know how it was in Vietnam, read this book-it is superb.
— Col. Bob Thompson, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)

Editorial Reviews

John Laurence was a young CBS News reporter -- considered one of the best in the business by his peers -- sent to Vietnam to cover the war. He arrived with no preconceptions about the fighting, ready to do his best. What he saw over there would deeply affect the rest of his life. What did Laurence experience, and how has it changed him? And what role would a Vietnamese cat named Meo play in his life? An esteemed journalist has written a surefire classic.

bn.com

Filled with fascinating anecdotes...emits a sense of having been written during the war instead of 30 years later.

Connor Ennis

A devastatingly effective first-hand account of what went wrong and why...

Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer

a dramatic personal chronicle that will stand as a unique contribution to the colossal array of Vietnam literature.

Los Angeles Times Book Review

The Cat From Hue is engaging and informative—better still, it is a good read...Even Meo...would be purring.

Washington Post Book World

One of the finest books in its genre, comparable to Michael Herr's "Dispatches"...deserves to be read thoughtfully and carefully.

NY Times Book Review

What stands out in this book is his plain, fair, and sympathetic observation of recognizably real Americans of every rank...

Foreign Affairs

Filled with graphic detail about combat, as well as intimate descriptions of its effects on participants and Vietnam in general.

Newsday

The cat is the least of it in this terrific, if overlong, opus that evokes the Vietnam War from an on-the-ground TV correspondent's point of view. During the war, Laurence put in three tours of television duty in the war for CBS News. He provides riveting, searingly evocative depictions of the U.S. Army, Marines and South Vietnamese Army in action in the American war's early days (1965-1966), at its height (in 1968) and during the 1970 Cambodian incursion. Laurence and his crew specialized in covering the war up close, and he saw more than his share of action. His depiction of the bloody 1968 battle of Hue which Laurence accurately calls an "urban brawl between two armed and largely adolescent tribes, a street fight of fast action and merciless bloodletting" is frighteningly realistic. Laurence spices his extremely readable narrative with many direct quotes taken from his audio and videotapes of the fighting men in action and, later, as they reflect on the war and their parts in it. He also gives a clear picture of his day-to-day life in the war zone, along with revealing wartime portraits of many other Vietnam War correspondents and photographers, including Peter Arnett, Morley Safer, R.W. Apple Jr., Gloria Emerson and others. Aside from the unrevealing title, the only problem with this book is Laurence's penchant for cramming in vignettes, as if he couldn't bear to leave anything out, perhaps telling us too much about himself in the process. High on the superfluous list is virtually the entire cat story, which involved Laurence's adopting and shipping home a bedraggled feline he rescued from the battle of Hue. Buffs will be riveted, though as will anyone who survived the era. (Sept.)Forecast: Look for steady sales among regular readers of Vietnamiana and excellent coverage via Laurence's media cronies. Despite its size, this book is a possible breakout among boomers, if not among those on either end of the age spectrum. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

A CBS News correspondent in Vietnam between 1965 and 1971, Laurence has written one of the longest, most thorough memoirs of the Vietnam War. His title refers to a small kitten he found in the rubble of Hue during the Tet Offensive and whose courage and feistiness symbolized the determination of enemy troops. Although Laurence came to believe that American military involvement in the war was a grave mistake, he nonetheless developed a profound admiration for American soldiers and marines. Countering conventional wisdom, he also notes that most American troops seemed to appreciate the work of television reporters, especially those in the field. Powerfully written, if somewhat too detailed, this memoir is a major accomplishment by the journalist who brought us The World of Charlie Company, an award-winning documentary about his time with the American soldiers in the jungles of War Zone C. Highly recommended for all libraries.-Anthony Edmonds, Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

An extraordinary grunt's-eye view of the Vietnam War, by a former CBS News correspondent. Line troops and combat reporters, writes Laurence, are a superstitious lot. As an "edge against the fear," he himself wore the same set of threadbare fatigues each time out, didn't polish his boots, and carried "coins, charms, four-leaf clovers, religious medals and all kinds of talismans"-everything, in short, but a weapon, the lack of which, he hoped, would keep him from being killed. He may have been on to something, for, while covering the 1968 siege of Hue (where he encountered the shell-shocked kitten, the cat of the title, that figures in so much of the narrative), Laurence wandered into the sights of a North Vietnamese army soldier who could easily have shot him dead but, inexplicably, did not. He had many other brushes with death covering military operations up and down Vietnam from 1965 to 1970, but he's careful to keep his focus on the soldiers, civilians, and other participants less willing than he to be caught up in the fire. That focus is close, and it yields affecting views; of a group of young field marines, for instance, he writes, "War seemed to make them more humane, more gentle, at least with each other, as if everybody involved in this violent undertaking was trying to behave his best, not knowing what might be coming next." Among the many high points here is a long section describing the author's time with a star-crossed infantry unit during the invasion of Cambodia, a tour that yielded the documentary The World of Charlie Company. Though many of its threads eventually come together, Laurence's narrative reads less as a coherent story than as a loose, slightly hallucinatorystring of anecdotes, which, considering the circumstances, seems altogether appropriate. The result is on a par with Michael Herr's Dispatches as literature-but, unlike Herr's book, scrupulously true, making it a standout in a crowded field.

Kirkus Reviews