The cat from Hu - John Laurence

John Laurence covered the Vietnam War for CBS News from 1965 to 1970 and was judged by his colleagues to be the best television reporter of the war. His documentary film, "The World of Charlie Company", won every major award for broadcast journalism and also the George Polk memorial award for "best reporting in any medium requiring exceptional courage and entrprise abroad".;Despite the professional acclaim, the traumatic stories Laurence covered became a personal burden that he carried long after the war was over. The result is this passionate memoir about what he witnessed there, laced with humour, anger, love and the unforgettable story of a very idiosyncratic cat who was determined to play his part in the Vietnam revolution. In reconstructing his experiences, Laurence relied noy only on his notes and memory and formidable literary skill, but on dozens of hours of film footage shot at the time, giving the book an uncanny power and fidelity to facts. "The Cat From Hue" is full of bizarre stories of unknown solders and famous journalists and generals, incredible humanity and tenderness and also corruption and cowardice. Along the way, it clarifies the history of that murky war and illuminates the role that journalists played in it. This book should stand with Michael Herr's "Dispatches" and Neil Sheehan's "A Bright Shining Lie" as one of the best ever written about Vietnam.