Endorsements

"There have been a number of excellent books about Vietnam. . .but none has managed to communicate in such detail the day-to-day pain, discomfort, frustration and exhilaration of the American military experience in Vietnam." --Joe Klein, The New York Times Book Review "Quite simply, the novel about the Vietnam War. . .Del Vecchio has constructed a classic war novel, a complex and frightening book, that gets it right." --Chicago Sun Times "An important and distinctly American book." --William Plummer, Newsweek "THE 13TH VALLEY is dynamite! This is the most sensuously honest interpretation of the Vietnam experience I've ever read. As a Vietnam Vet, I recommend this book." --Al Santoli, author of EVERYTHING WE HAD "John Del Vecchio's THE 13TH VALLEY, written with straight-forward, authorative, unadorned prose and merciless intelligence, is not just the best Vietnam war novel to date, but the smartest." --C.D.B. Bryan, author of FRIENDLY FIRE "POWERFUL... a diverse group of men, gathered together to make war, proceed to transcend racial and ethnic differences, become brothers in combat, suffer horribly, fight an apocalyptic battle and win... There have been a number of excellent books about Vietnam... but none has managed to communicate in such detail the day-to-day pain, discomfort, frustration and exhilaration of the American military experience in Vietnam as well... DEL VECCHIO has made the jungle real and terrifying."--The New York Times Book Review "AS COMPLEX AS A TROPICAL JUNGLE, AS FRIGHTENING AS AN AMBUSH AT NIGHT... DEL VECCHIO proves once again that truth comes to us best through great fiction... Set in Vietnam in 1970, there is a factual basis to this superb piece of fiction. The author is a Vietnam vet, having served with the 101st Airborne. The valley mentioned in the title is a real one, the Khe Ta Laou. Early on the morning of August 13, 1970, troops from the 101st were helilifted into the valley, which at the time was serving as a supply depot and sanctuary for numerous North Vietnamese battalions. From the bare bones of that reality, DEL VECCHIO has constructed the best novel to come out of that war."--Playboy "AN IMPORTANT AND DISTINCTLY AMERICAN BOOK... A big novel in the tradition of THE NAKED AND THE DEAD--the sort of book critics have said could not be written out of the shifting rice paddies of Southeast Asia... Nowhere in the swelling literature about Vietnam does one discover a richer feel for 'what it was really like'... In its meticulous realism and philosophic musings, THE 13TH VALLEY reminds me of MOBY DICK."--Newsweek