{"product_id":"a-war-of-their-own-fulro-the-other-national-liberation-front-vietnam-1955-76","title":"A War of Their Own: FULRO: The Other National Liberation Front, Vietnam 1955–75","description":"“This is a lost and extraordinary story. William Chickering has excavated it with heroic persistence, and now tells it with authority, empathy, and grace. Damn, what a fine and valuable book.” ― David Quammen, author of bestselling Spillover and three-time National Magazine Award winner\n\nIn Vietnam, in 1967, William Chickering commanded a Mike Force battalion of Montagnards, highland tribesmen who were also members of a secret army, FULRO, whose aim was to rid the highlands of all Vietnamese, both communist and non-communist. Fighting for land and dignity, they saw the Vietnamese as colonialists and themselves as revolutionaries. For a while, FULRO appeared capable of changing the course of the war. Then, inexplicably, it faded away.\n\nChickering’s quest to understand FULRO took him to Phnom Penh in 1973, where he found five of the six leaders, the sixth having been mysteriously murdered. He was unable to discern the truth behind their political smoke. Two years later, 150 of them—men, women, and children—took refuge in the French Embassy as the city fell but were expelled into the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Among them was the family of Bhan, one of the leaders. In the United States at the time of the fall, he tried to learn their fate with Chickering's help, but Cambodia had become a tomb.\n\nIn 1986, Bhan headed out into the world to learn for himself. He resurfaced in Cambodia 22 years later, after an extraordinary odyssey, never having found them. Had they and the rest of the FULRO Montagnards been executed, or could they still be alive somewhere in the hinterlands? Determined to learn the truth, Chickering moved to Phnom Penh. His research led him to the widow of a Cambodian Cham widely assumed to have been FULRO’s puppeteer and eventually to FULRO’s secret papers. From these he was able to piece together why FULRO faded away and how that was connected to its one last heroic shot in 1965 to win a country of the Montagnards’ own.\n\nThis extraordinary account corrects history’s assumption that Vietnam’s Montagnards were only pawns, revealing how an ideology of their own—ethnonationalism—gave them the agency to create an army and clandestine movement that kept Hanoi, Saigon, and Washington guessing.\n\nTable of Contents\n\nEpigraph\nAcknowledgements\nIntroduction\n\nPart One\nChapter One: Beginnings\nChapter Two: Y-Bham Enuol\nChapter Three: Dhon\nChapter Four: Bhan\nChapter Five: Witness\nChapter Six: Ishmael\nChapter Seven: Searching for Bhan’s Family\nChapter Eight: Paul\n\nPart Two\nChapter Nine: FULRO\nChapter Ten: Kpa Doh\nChapter Eleven: Outsiders\nChapter Twelve: Leaving Asia\nChapter Thirteen: The Trove\n\nEpilogue\nBibliography\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 1636245609\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: BVV.1636245609.A\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Acceptable\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Chickering, William H.\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: The item is very worn but is perfectly usable. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Page edges may have foxing  age related spots and browning . May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Blue Vase Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43254632677437,"sku":"BVV.1636245609.A","price":8.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4225\/9261\/files\/1636245609-0_7e4e7fe0-fbf5-48be-bb7e-a8dfcd1089d6.jpg?v=1780694706","url":"https:\/\/www.bluevasebooks.com\/products\/a-war-of-their-own-fulro-the-other-national-liberation-front-vietnam-1955-76","provider":"Blue Vase Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}