Valley of the Shadow

The Siege of Dien Bien Phu

By: Kevin Boylan, Luc Olivier

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Struggling to reassert control over their Indochinese colonies after World War II, the French established a huge air-land base in the valley of Dien Bien Phu. But when the opposing Vietnamese People's Army (VPA) began massing its forces against the base in late 1953, French commanders seized the opportunity to draw their elusive enemy into a decisive set-piece battle.

Defending a series of fortified positions which were reliant upon a single airstrip - and later, risky and inaccurate airdrops - for reinforcement and resupply, the French troops quickly discovered that they had underestimated their enemy. In 56 days of costly close-quarters fighting, the VPA slowly dislodged the French from one strongpoint after another by developing novel tactics and accomplishing incredible feats of engineering.

Drawing upon Vietnamese-language sources never previously employed in Western accounts of the siege, Valley of the Shadow is a dramatic re-telling of the climactic battle of the First Indochina War, the conflict that saw the French expelled from their former colony and set the stage for the "American War" in Vietnam.

©2018 Kevin Boylan and Luc Olivier (P)2019 Tantor

Dense listening

Although a fascinating story from an undeservedly obscure episode with world changing ramifications, it is not exactly an easy listen. The author's well-motivated mission to clean up conflicting accounts and get the story straight leads to an abundance of specification. Thus, an large proportion of the audio is consumed with numeric specifications of regiment designations and artillery sizes, in the like of: "the fifty-first platoon of the three-hundred-and-third regiment combined with some elements from the second battalion of the two-hundred-and-eighty-third regiment" (not an actual quote, just representing from memory).

Forgive my presumption for suggesting that once in a while it might have been acceptable to write "some soldiers".

very detailed and informative about a lost battle

A key battle and war few remember or even know about, yet as relevant and significant today than ever before, a must read. The attention to detail is impressive.

Decent compliment to a classic

If you are only going to read one book on Dien Bien Phu, read Hell in a very Small Place by Bernard Fall. For me, this is the definitive account of the battle. As far as Valley of the Shadow goes, it provides a nice compliment to Fall's classic. It provides much more detail on the Vietnamese side but in a dry way. With that said, the authors seem to go out of their way to point out a few errors in Hell in a very Small Place, almost to the point of gloating. Maybe Fall would have updated his account if he hadn't been killed in the same conflict some years later. In the end, this book makes for a good compliment to Hell in a very Small Place but it lacks the passion that Fall conveys and comes across as a documentary text instead of the epic that Fall created.

Choppy Audio?

Quite a few words (especially French names) seem to have been added in post production. While this of course doesn't change the content it makes for a choppy audio experience.

Love the topic but can’t recommend the book

I have read several books on the topic, but can’t recommend this audio book. It was a struggle to finish. The narration and flow takes away from the new insights and info it brings to the table