Mission on the Ho Chi Minh Trail: Nature, Myth, and War in Viet Nam

A narrative of jungle combat that examines the role of nature in the war between technology-dependent American forces and the deep-forest-adapted Viet Cong. Ten years after the war, Stevens writes, "I realized I had lived in Viet Nam the mythic hero-journey: separation from `the World,' which is what we called the United States in those days; travel to a strange and dangerous land; combat with often invisible enemies, some of them within; initiation into mysteries; and return with a message of importance. Later, I realized ... the whole country had walked the mythic hero-path of separation-initiation-return in Viet Nam and was walking it still." Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.