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Chickenhawk

Author: Robert Mason
Publisher: Corgi Books
Category: Book

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Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

56 reviews
Sales Rank: 8923

Media: Paperback
Pages: 398
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.9

ISBN: 0552124192
Dewey Decimal Number: 959
EAN: 9780552124195
ASIN: 0552124192

Publication Date: August 24, 1984
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: **UK SHIPPED**FIRST CLASS** With friendly customer service! "Buy with confidence, Buy Book EcoLOGICal" Cover creased; small bend in top corner of book. Used - Acceptable

Also Available In:

•	Paperback - Chickenhawk
•	Paperback - Chickenhawk
•	Hardcover - Chickenhawk

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Customer Reviews: Read 51 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Must read for everyone December 27, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

Chickenhawk has to be not only the best Vietnam War book, but also the best helicopter book.

I read this book in a matter of hours, I just couldn't put it down. Mason describes the situations with such clarity that you can almost shut your eyes and feel the thumps of the rotor blades as you follow his encounters into hastily-prepared landing zones and you feel his horror at having to switch from transports to gunships. It certainly makes you respect the intricacies of piloting rotorcraft.

If you're an aviation nut, or just enjoy reading you simply must read this book before you die.

5 out of 5 stars

A great book September 15, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Unlike other reviews, I do not feel I need to qualify my comments with precision- this isn't a great book about Vietnam, or war, or flying- this is a great book, plain and simple. It's a rollercoaster ride, with highs of excitement, lows of despair- all told with a breath-taking honesty- you WILL care about the author. Two female friends of mine with no interest in the military read it and were thouroughly moved. I read quite a bit, and I rate this as highly as anything I've ever picked up. If you read this, you won't be disappointed.

5 out of 5 stars

A powerful honest account:- well written August 11, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Mason has written a extremly detailed and moving book which seems to capture the despair felt by so many vets,the pointless waste the gross loss of life on both sides.... but none the less a great read.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent ! July 11, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

As the cover says, "The best book to come out of Vietnam". This is a hard hitting book which is very well described. Approx. 50 pages in, you are already riding in the chopper with 'Bob' Mason. A sorry tale but a very true one.

5 out of 5 stars

Destined to become a legend May 27, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

First person narrative of combat seems to fall into two courts, the first being self indulgent and blinkered, the other insightful and wide ranging. Mason's book is a vivid, moving and harrowing account of his life as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, a strange world many miles from home. From his initial delight at being selected to become an Army pilot, through the frustrations of learning to fly, the joy of passing his pilot's course through to his arrival in Vietnam, Mason writes with pathos and honesty.

His rapid disillusionment with the War, the homesickness for his love Patience back in America, the near misses with death, and his descent into a mist of drink and drugs to keep him sane enough to be able to continue working in such a harsh environment and moving and well written. There is a definate edge of sadness about Mason's story, and it is possible to see from his first hand accounts of fighting and military decision making, why Vietnam ended in disaster for the Americans.

If you are looking for an academic study of the War, then this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a blunt, honest and harrowing account of one mans personal experience then you MUST read this book.

There is no attempt to glorify war, indeed Mason makes much of his own ignorance of the realities of combat. This is not meant to a political text either, and there is nothing about the reasons for the war.

In the genre of first person reflective narrative of war, this should become one of the classics, and is up there with the Great War's Old Soldiers Never Die. A truly fascinating read, and one that should be on the book shelf of anyone with an interest in military history.