Decent Interval: An Insider's Account of Saigon's Indecent End - Hardcover

Snepp, Frank

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394407431 ISBN 13: 9780394407432

Publisher: Random House Inc, 1977

Synopsis

The onetime CIA information analyst in Saigon provides a closely recorded account of the American withdrawal from Saigon, criticizing in detail the self-serving activities and unnecessary miseries involved

About this title

Review

"The value of Snepp's book is that it teaches us, in an absorbing and brilliant manner, where the mistakes were made in the CIA and in the highest ranks of officials. . . . Even the most ardent critics of the war could not have ever guessed what Snepp the [CIA] insider has revealed."--Gloria Emerson, winner of the National Book Award for Winners and Losers: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses, and Ruins from a Long War

"A great service to everyone's understanding of what happened in Vietnam in the spring of 1975. . . . Other accounts of that time will have to be measured against what Snepp, from his unique and highly informed vantage point, has produced."--Kevin Buckley, New York Times Book Review

"By far the richest document yet produced on the American and South Vietnamese end game."--Laurence Stern, Washington Post Book World

"An astonishing book. . . . Brilliantly argued and elegantly written."--Seymour Hersh, Los Angeles Times

"Replete with important disclosures. Provides the most detailed account to date of the operations of the CIA inside South Vietnam, as well as giving a first-hand account of high-level disagreements between Washington and Saigon over the use and integrity of intelligence."--New York Times

"Vigorous, gripping, novelistic in its evocation of mood, setting, and character."--Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times

"Important revelations. The incredible history of the American role in Vietnam would have been forever poorer without Snepp's perspective."--Boston Globe

"Those who read the book will shudder anew at the tragedy, confusion, and gross incompetence Snepp lays bare."--John Barkham Reviews

About the Author

Frank Snepp spent eight years in the CIA, five of them as interrogator, agent debriefer, and chief CIA strategy analyst in the Saigon embassy. His second book, Irreparable Harm (see page 26), recounts the Supreme Court case that emerged from the CIA's efforts to punish Snepp for publishing Decent Interval. A freelance writer and cable television producer, he currently works as an investigative reporter for ABC's "20/20" television news magazine.

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House Inc
• Publication date: 1977
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0394407431
• ISBN 13: 9780394407432
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 590