Introduction : from midwest dustbowl to mystical Vietnam -- The people's war -- Rice-roots reporting -- "The world's first helicopter war" -- The rise and fall of frontier forts -- Two ill-fated presidents -- "The United States will lose Southeast Asia" -- Americanizing the war -- Her story as history too -- "Destroy the town to save it" -- From Khe Sanh to the "virtual equivalent of treason" -- Two "darling spies" and I -- Appendix 1 : author's Vietnam articles in U.S. publications -- Appendix 2 : author's 1966 New York herald tribune series (inserted into the Congressional record by Senator Mike Mansfield).