Chickenhawk - Robert Mason

Chickenhawk

By Robert Mason

  • Release Date: 1984-09-04
  • Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 307 Ratings

Description

A true, bestselling story from the battlefield that faithfully portrays the horror, the madness, and the trauma of the Vietnam War
 
More than half a million copies of Chickenhawk have been sold since it was first published in 1983. Now with a new afterword by the author and photographs taken by him during the conflict, this straight-from-the-shoulder account tells the electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. This is Robert Mason’s astounding personal story of men at war. A veteran of more than one thousand combat missions, Mason gives staggering descriptions that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden death—the extreme emotions of a "chickenhawk" in constant danger.

"Very simply the best book so far about Vietnam." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Reviews

  • Great read

    5
    By Jason Lee Bentley
    This was a great book for a new helicopter enthusiast like myself. I'm a flight sim guy, but this book made me a better virtual pilot. More importantly, the inside perspective of jungle combat missions was necessary to round out my knowledge of the Vietnam war. The description of the PTSD symptoms was also illuminating. I've never had it explained in a way I could comprehend or empathize with.
  • Good read

    5
    By Richie-acer
    I read this book thirty years ago. It's harrowing in places. Possibly worth reading for the author's description of learning to fly a helicopter.
  • Boring...

    2
    By KarlBurns
    I was ready to have a great read. Understand that a book like this it's good to have some background and "ramp up" but jeeze...I read the first 200 or so pages and it was just a bunch of ramblings...
  • Excellent

    4
    By baclay9
    I have read many books about Vietnam but never written from the perspective of a helicopter pilot. Very well written and excellent stories.
  • Awesome

    4
    By Icdgf
    I took a Vietnam literature course and got into reading more about the Vietnam war. My dad served in Vietnam and I dated a girl who's dad was a cobra pilot in Vietnam. At any rate there are some great accounts of helicopter missions and what actually went on over there. It's a great book and worth the read.