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FREE IN PHARAOHS ARMY PDF Tobias Wolff | 221 pages | 01 Oct 1995 | Random House USA Inc | 9780679760238 | English | New York, United States In Pharaoh’s Army Summary | GradeSaver In Pharaohs Army helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Luann Walther Editor. Whether he is evoking the blind carnage of the Tet offensive, the theatrics of his fellow Americans, or the unraveling of his own illusions, Wolff brings to this work the same uncanny eye for detail, pitiless candor and mordant wit that made This Boy's Life a modern classic. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published September 26th by Vintage first published October More Details Original Title. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign In Pharaohs Army. To ask other readers questions about In Pharaoh's Armyplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Nov 30, BlackOxford rated it it was amazing Shelves: americanvietnamesewar. The Soul of America Many reasons have been given for the failure of the US in its In Pharaohs Army Vietnam and the significance of that event: misunderstood interests, cultural arrogance, silly military In Pharaohs Army, ill-informed tactics, and adverse domestic politics, among others. But Wolff provides a far more compelling reason and more profound meaning: the spiritual corruption of the US Army, a condition which likely reflected that of the country as a whole. By any standard the country of South Vietnam was a The Soul of America Many reasons have been given for the failure of the US in its war Vietnam and the significance of that event: misunderstood interests, cultural arrogance, silly military strategies, ill- informed tactics, and adverse domestic politics, among others. By any standard the country of South Vietnam was a materially corrupt place. All the governments since the time of separation of the country after the defeat of the French were venal and nepotistic in the extreme. The situation of the average South Vietnamese citizen after the French departure, if anything deteriorated substantially. In Pharaohs Army was apparent even to ambassadorial staff and reported to US authorities very early in the conflict. This condition of material corruption was probably sufficient on its own to provoke the eventual victory of the North with or without the assistance of the US military. But that assistance added a dimension to the conflict which was a gift to the North, a gift not only in terms of morale, but also in substantive military advantage. All first person accounts by Americans In Pharaohs Army in the war in Vietnam share stories, anecdotes, and complaints about the existential distance between men on the ground and their commanders, about the failure of commanders to comprehend the basic facts of life of the South Vietnamese Army, about the racism of American soldiers toward each other as well In Pharaohs Army toward the Vietnamese, and about the pervasive deceit practiced by commanders among their own troops. But in almost all these accounts, these conditions are treated as anomalous, not because they were uncommon but because they were considered as errors created by inexperience, miscommunication, or the occasional naked ambition of individuals. What Wolff suggests is that not only were these conditions the rule rather than the exception, but that they were as intentional as the material bribery, trading with the enemy, and avoidance of responsibility of the South Vietnamese. His own spiritual corruption is simply an instance of the whole. And it takes on the shape of the whole as a matter of survival - in terms of personal identity as well as bodily existence In Pharaohs Army within the military culture. Wolff realizes that In Pharaohs Army cash-based corruption of the South Vietnamese at least In Pharaohs Army them to maintain a sense of purpose, even if that purpose is entirely selfish. The American corruption is more fundamental and involves the abandonment of intention, even thought about intention, entirely. People here seemed in the grip of unshakable petulance. It was in the slump of their shoulders and In Pharaohs Army plodding way they moved. A sourness had settled over the base, spoiling and coarsening the men. This is well documented in many written and filmed histories and personal memoirs. You consort with mysteries. You encourage yourself with charms, omens, rites of propitiation. Without your knowledge or permission the bottom- line caveman belief in blood sacrifice, one life In Pharaohs Army another, begins to steal into your bones. But as Wolff points out, that relationship was fundamentally flawed. Officers and men did not fight for each other; they did not even pretend to protect each other; and they, too, continuously lied to each other right along with In Pharaohs Army government masters. But at times I was seized and shaken by the certainty that nothing I did meant anything, and all around me I sensed currents of hatred and malign intent. To consider the reality of my situation only made it worse. The process is both gradual and sudden, the malady both chronic and acute. The VC came into My Tho and all the other towns knowing In Pharaohs Army would happen. They knew that once they were among the people we would abandon our pretense of distinguishing between them. We would kill them all to get at one. In this way they taught the people that we did not love them and would not protect them; that for all our talk of partnership and brotherhood we disliked In Pharaohs Army mistrusted them, and that we would kill every last one of them to save our own skins. To believe otherwise was In Pharaohs Army. They taught that lesson to the people, and also to us. What is done is intentional, strictly purposeful, even when those taking action are unconscious of the purpose involved. Nor its strategic rationale about Asian dominoes and American honour. But the actual unstated purpose of everything that was done, In Pharaohs Army net collective intent as it were of In Pharaohs Army involved. As I read Wolff, the purpose of the Vietnam war was to show America to itself, a purpose which it accomplished exceptionally well. America was a moral desert. Only its exposure to itself had any chance of establishing In Pharaohs Army consciousness of this condition. The fact that all sorts of explanations and theories have been put In Pharaohs Army to obscure In Pharaohs Army qualify this revelation is to be expected given the desolate barrenness that the country had shown itself to be in a In Pharaohs Army of great stress. The country has yet to come to terms with the real horror of its own intentions in Vietnam. It has always been an oppressive, self-rationalizing and violent place in which the natives distrust and con each other as a matter of principle. Am I too hopeful to suggest that with Donald Trump America is giving itself a second In Pharaohs Army to see itself for what it actually is? View all 28 comments. The book was originally published on October 4, Before beginning his year tour of duty proper in Vietnam, Wolff spent a year in Washington, D. The memoir includes a recollection of that battle as well as vignettes of various personal experiences, both in and out of Vietnam. Wolff was a first lieutenant he was a special forces member assigned as an adviser to a South Vietnamese unit. He had spent a year at language school in the United States and was fluent in Vietnamese. Wolff watches, annoyed, as one of the soldiers swings the puppy by a leg around his head and then ties it to a tree. Wolff wanders over and asks what they intend to name the dog. Wolff tries to In Pharaohs Army them to stop, knowing they are playing with his mind, but the cultural reality and his whiteness prevent his interference. Racial issues pervade the story. Wolff was attacked by a group of Vietnamese outside a bar. Wolff In Pharaohs Army that to them all white people look the same. Wolff's analysis of the Tet offensive is striking. At least to me. View all 5 comments. Oct 12, Kusaimamekirai rated it it In Pharaohs Army amazing. As I exited my morning train with In Pharaohs Army I was reading still reverberating in my head, I realized that despite the obvious and foreboding downpour happening around me, I had forgotten my umbrella on the train. I reproached myself briefly for my carelessness and lack of awareness until I had an epiphany of sorts. There are some books, the very best books, that take you out of the moment. More than simply war stories, they are stories about human connection and loneliness, love and the futility of war. There is nothing I can write here that will do these stories the justice they deserve. Rather In Pharaohs Army try, I urge you to discover them yourself. View 2 comments. Jan 24, Ayelet Waldman rated it it was amazing. Only one of the best short stories writers alive today. In Pharaoh's Army Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. Wolff recollects the time he spent in the army during In Pharaohs Army Vietnam War. He was stationed in My Tho for the majority of the war.