Chickenhawk [Paperback]

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

[Chickenhawk]'s vertical plunge into the thickets of madness will stune readers. -Time

Mason's gripping memoir . . . proves again that reality is more interesting, and often more terrifying, than fiction. -Los Angeles Times

More than any other writer, Mason has been able to capture the feeling of what it was like to be there. -The Philadelphia Inquirer 

A hypnotic narrative. -The New York Times

Better than any movie about the war. -Boston Herald Robert Masonwas born in 1942 and grew up on farms in New Jersey and Florida. His boyhood dream of becoming a pilot was finally realized when he earned his private pilot's license prior to his graduation from high school. After studying at the University of Florida from 1960 to 1962 and then working at a variety of jobs for the next two years, he enlisted in the army in 1963. He flew more than 1,000 l3U