"The first definitive eyewitness account of the combat in Vietnam, this unforgettable, vividly illustrated report records the story of the 14,000 Americans fighting in a new kind of war. Written by one of the most knowledgeable and experienced of America's war correspondents, Vietnam Diary shows how we developed new techniques for resisting wily guerrilla forces. Roaming the whole of war-torn Vietnam, Tregaskis takes his readers on the tense U.S. missions—with the Marine helicopters and the Army HU1B's (Hueys); with the ground pounders on the embattled Delta area, the fiercest battlefield of Vietnam; then to the Special Forces, men chosen for the job of training Montagnard troops to resist Communists in the high jungles. Mr. Tregaskis tells the stirring human story of American fighting men deeply committed to their jobs—the Captain who says: "You have to feel that it's a personal problem—that if they go under, we go under;" the wounded American advisor who deserted the hospital to rejoin his unit; the father of five killed on his first mission the day before Christmas; the advisor who wouldn't take leave because he loved his wife and feared he would go astray in Saigon. And the dramatic battle reports cover the massive efforts of the Vietnamese troops to whom the Americans are leaders and advisors. An authority on the wars against communism is Asia, Tregaskis has reported extensively on the Chinese Civil War, Korea, the Guerrilla wars in Indochina, Malaya, and Indonesia. He was the winner of the George Polk Award in 1964 for reporting under hazardous conditions.-Print ed.

リチャード・トレガスキスによる本作は、未知の戦場へ足を踏み入れた人間の鼓動を伝える稀有な記録文学です。熟練の記者が捉えるのは、ゲリラ戦という新時代の恐怖に直面しながらも、己の職務に魂を捧げる兵士たちの峻烈な生き様。乾いた筆致の中に戦地の湿り気や張り詰めた緊張感が刻まれており、読者はヘリの轟音と共に最前線へと没入する感覚を味わうはずです。 作品の核にあるのは、極限状態で露呈する「個」の物語です。家族を愛し任務に殉じる男たちの献身と葛藤は、巨大な戦争の陰に隠れがちな個人の尊厳を鮮烈に浮き彫りにします。彼らは何のために戦い、何のために命を懸けるのか。その普遍的な問いが、時を超えて現代を生きる私たちの胸を激しく揺さぶる、魂の記録と言えるでしょう。