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Title: Refreshingly impartial
Review: It has been nearly forty years since Bernard Fall wrote his epic history of this battle. Martin Windrow's work starts with respectful reference to the earlier volume and then adds a new dimension to the story. This is a dispassionate evaluation of the French experience in Indo-China, culminating in this incredible siege. As opposed to conventional wisdom, we learn that the Viet Minh did not do everything right and that the French did not do everything wrong. The book is well-paced, considering the length of the work and the amount of information presented. Even the notes are readable...and worth reading. If you want to understand something about SouthEast Asian, French, and American history, begin with Fall's Hell in A Very Small Place and then immediately proceed to this excellent volume. It will be time well-spent.
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