Kiss the Boys Goodbye
How the United States Betrayed Its Own POWs in Vietnam
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Narrated by:
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Bernadette Dunne
About this listen
As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan seem to be winding down, for many it brings back memories of the Vietnam war, particularly on one issue: American policy on the rescue and negotiation for American prisoners.
Kiss the Boys Goodbye convincingly shows that a legacy of shame remains from America’s ill-fated involvement in Vietnam even though that conflict ended over 35 years ago. Until US government policy on POW/MIAs changes, it remains one of the most crucial issues for any American soldier who fights for home and country, particularly when we are engaged with an enemy who doesn't adhere to the international standards for the treatment of prisoners - or any American hostage - as the graphic video of Daniel Pearl’s decapitation on various Jihad websites bears out. As the authors of Kiss The Boys Goodbye point out, videos of Sergeant Bergdahl's captors graphically illustrate the distinct possibility that Bergdahl could suffer the same fate as Daniel Pearl.
In this explosive book, Monika Jensen-Stevenson and William Stevenson provide startling evidence that American troops were left in captivity in Indochina, victims of their government's abuse of secrecy and power. The book not only delves into the world of official obstruction, missing files, censored testimony and the pressures brought to bear on witnesses ready to tell the truth, it reveals the trauma on patriotic families torn apart by a policy that, at first, seemed unbelievable to them.
First published in 1990, Kiss the Boys Goodbye has become a classic on the subject. This new edition features an afterword, which fills in the news on the latest verifiable scandal produced by the Senate Select Committee on POWs. The reason it has taken so long to bring out this second edition, which was produced and briefly available in 1999, the publishers leave to the listener’s imagination.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2014 Monika Jensen-Stevenson and William Stevenson (P)2014 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Destiny Betrayed, Second Edition
- JFK, Cuba, and the Garrison Case
- By: James DiEugenio
- Narrated by: Paul Neal Rohrer
- Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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If you enjoyed the chilling experience of In Cold Blood and were at the edge of your seat while watching Oliver Stone’s JFK, you’ll love this investigative look into all the facets of one of the top conspiracies of the 20th century and beyond. DiEugenio, who has spent decades researching the Kennedy assassination, takes both an analytical and conversational approach to his fascinating exploration of the pivotal historical events and scandals surrounding that day.
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Essential Book but Narration Almost Ruins it
- By Nathan D. Backlund on 09-20-16
By: James DiEugenio
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Debriefing the President
- The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein
- By: John Nixon
- Narrated by: John Nixon
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In December 2003, after one of the largest, most aggressive manhunts in history, US military forces captured Iraqi president Saddam Hussein near his hometown of Tikrit. Beset by body-double rumors and false alarms during a nine-month search, the Bush administration needed positive identification of the prisoner before it could make the announcement that would rocket around the world. At the time John Nixon was a senior CIA leadership analyst who had spent years studying the Iraqi dictator.
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Not What You Think It Is
- By Doug on 01-10-17
By: John Nixon
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The Terror Years
- From al-Qaeda to the Islamic State
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer, Lawrence Wright
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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With the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright became generally acknowledged as one of our major journalists writing on terrorism in the Middle East. This collection draws on several articles he wrote while researching that book as well as many that he's written since, following where and how al-Qaeda and its core cultlike beliefs have morphed and spread.
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Contains much old material from "Looming Tower"
- By peter on 09-21-16
By: Lawrence Wright
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A Farewell to Justice
- Jim Garrison, JFK's Assassination, and the Case That Should Have Changed History
- By: Joan Mellen
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Working with thousands of previously unreleased documents and drawing on more than one thousand interviews, with many witnesses speaking out for the first time, Joan Mellen revisits the investigation of New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison, the only public official to have indicted, in 1969, a suspect in President John F. Kennedy's murder. Garrison began by exposing the contradictions in the Warren Report, which concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was an unstable pro-Castro Marxist who acted alone in killing Kennedy.
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Powerful
- By Tulsa on 12-12-17
By: Joan Mellen
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Chain of Command
- The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib
- By: Seymour M. Hersh
- Narrated by: Peter Friedman
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Abridged
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Since September 11, 2001, Seymour M. Hersh has riveted readers, and outraged the Bush Administration, with his stories in The New Yorker magazine, including his breakthrough pieces on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Now, in Chain of Command, he brings together this reporting, along with new revelations, to answer the critical question of the last three years: how did America get from that clear morning in September to a divisive and dirty war in Iraq?
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Absolutely Fantastic
- By Nicholas on 10-12-04
By: Seymour M. Hersh
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JFK and the Unspeakable
- Why He Died and Why It Matters
- By: James W. Douglass
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 22 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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At the height of the Cold War, JFK risked committing the greatest crime in human history: starting a nuclear war. Horrified by the specter of nuclear annihilation, Kennedy gradually turned away from his long-held Cold Warrior beliefs and toward a policy of lasting peace. But to the military and intelligence agencies in the United States, who were committed to winning the Cold War at any cost, Kennedy's change of heart was a direct threat to their power and influence.
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One Book EVERY AMERICAN Needs to Read
- By Peter on 06-09-12
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Missing Man
- The American Spy Who Vanished in Iran
- By: Barry Meier
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In late 2013, Americans were shocked to learn that a former FBI agent turned private investigator who disappeared in Iran in 2007 was there on a mission for the CIA. The missing man, Robert Levinson, appeared in pictures dressed like a Guantánamo prisoner and pleaded in a video for help from the United States.
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Important story
- By Richard F. Callahan on 08-03-16
By: Barry Meier
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Legacy of Ashes
- The History of the CIA
- By: Tim Weiner
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last 60 years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America's confidence.
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Flawed but Important
- By Michael on 07-18-08
By: Tim Weiner
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Target: Patton
- The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton
- By: Robert K. Wilcox
- Narrated by: Lynn Benson
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The death of General George S. Patton is shrouded in mystery. While officially the result of an unfortunate car accident, the evidence points to a far more malevolent plot: murder. So says investigative and military journalist Robert K. Wilcox in his book Target: Patton: The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton. Written like a WWII spy thriller and meticulously researched, Target: Patton leads you through that fateful December day in 1945, revealing a chilling plan to assassinate General Patton.
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Fascinating History - also well read.
- By M. on 05-02-12
By: Robert K. Wilcox
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At the Center of the Storm
- My Years at the CIA
- By: George Tenet
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In the whirlwind of accusations and recriminations that has attended the post 9/11 world, one man's vital testimony has been conspicuously absent. Candid and compelling, At the Center of the Storm is George Tenet's memoir of his life at the CIA - a revelatory look at the inner workings of America's top intelligence agency and its dealings with national leaders at home and abroad.
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Brilliant!
- By Karen on 05-05-07
By: George Tenet
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Mafia Spies
- The Inside Story of the CIA, Gangsters, JFK, and Castro
- By: Thomas Maier
- Narrated by: Fred Stella
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Mafia Spies is the definitive account of America’s most remarkable espionage plots ever - with CIA agents, mob hitmen, “kompromat” sex, presidential indiscretion, and James Bond-like killing devices together in a top-secret mystery full of surprise twists and deadly intrigue. In the early 1960s, two top gangsters, Johnny Roselli and Sam Giancana, were hired by the CIA to kill Cuba’s Communist leader, Fidel Castro, only to wind up murdered themselves amidst Congressional hearings and a national debate about the JFK assassination.
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Stick to history
- By Amazon Customer on 05-04-19
By: Thomas Maier
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Enemies
- A History of the FBI
- By: Tim Weiner
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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We think of the FBI as America’s police force. But secret intelligence is the Bureau’s first and foremost mission. Enemies is the story of how presidents have used the FBI as the most formidable intelligence force in American history. This is the first definitive history of the FBI’s secret intelligence operations, from an author whose work on the Pentagon and the CIA won him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
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Good book, just not for me
- By a on 11-12-12
By: Tim Weiner
What listeners say about Kiss the Boys Goodbye
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- Corruptgarage
- 09-06-21
A must read for Vietnam war history
One of my most read subjects are the CIA's actions both home and abroad, as well as the Vietnam war in general. Even reading this book in 2021 and knowing quite a bit about both subjects, I've learned quite a few new things I did not before, such as details about CIA black sites in Vietnam like Lima site 85 and "Spook Heaven", as well as a few more interesting details about the controversial shamed POW Robert Garwood. At the time this book was published in 1991 this must have been absolutely incredible, as this info wasn't nearly as common as it is today with the internet and a little bit of curiosity about the war. I'll probably take a second listen to this in the near future just to be able to digest a few of the details later for my own research. It's worth noting that the narrator Bernadette Dunne did a great job, and I was able to make it through this book very quickly, her voice was excellent. Highly recommended for anyone interested in POWs, Vietnam, or the CIA/ Deep State.
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-11-17
Too Painful! Too Sad!!! To Frightening!!!!!
This book reveals a painful, sad, and frightening chapter in America's history. Words fail me.
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- az-joe
- 05-06-17
how time takes care of everything
having spent 30 years of active military service, I was deeply moved by this book. I was in the theater of operation on and off from 68- to- 75. this book brought back memories of people in the power positions of our government whom quite simply failed us. this is a great work I just wish I would have read it earlier in my life. Now at the age of 70 I reflect back on many things and still to this day the Vietnam era is most thought about.
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- Lee
- 06-27-17
I AM MAD AS HELL ! ! ! !
What was one of the most memorable moments of Kiss the Boys Goodbye?
THE DUPLICITY AND APATHY OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT PURELY FOR POLITICAL REASONS ! !
Which scene was your favorite?
THERE WAS NO "GOOD SCENE," EXCEPT FOR THE EFFORTS OF A FEW PATRIOTS WHOSE DILIGENCE EXPOSED MALFEASANCE, NONFEASANCE AND MISFEASANCE OF OUR GOVERNMENT ! !
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
GOVERNMENT BETRAYAL OF OUR MILITARY !
Any additional comments?
Having served 62--68 with 4 years combat and having lost many good friends in that senseless politically motivated conflict, I am totally appalled to discover the depths of duplicity, out-right lying and obfuscation. The utter disregard and condemnation of brave Americans in uniform held by our enemies is reprehensible and inexcusable to the Nth degree.This book is NOT for the faint of heart, however, it should be mandatory reading for ALL Americans who blindly trust our representative government to be honest, fair and forthright when questioned.
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- Gillian
- 05-19-15
God Grant Them Peace
I'm really torn not giving this a 5-star review because I listened to this start to finish. When I was a kid, POWs were my heroes: My first grade teacher would show us pics of them in the newspaper coming home from Vietnam (so I thought they all came home, right?), and I just thought they were the greatest. So this book has special meaning to me, special horror.
First, I thought it was as well-researched as it could be, given the paranoia, and the cutthroat, you-do-that-we'll-do-this atmosphere. Some scary things happened to all individuals who investigated these situations. Scary? Hell, devastating! It was also interesting who stepped up to the plate, who got "bored" (Ed Bradley), who knuckled under, who got annihilated.
Second, I learned A LOT about the war! Yeesh, more than I can hold my head up about. Knew about Cambodia, didn't know Laos was as bad as Cambodia, but Thailand could've been? I'm glad to know. It's horrifying, but it helps to broaden my knowledge of what went on with the hunt for POWs.
Third, and I have to smile when I say this, I had no idea Ross Perot, yes Ross Perot, did so much, cared so much for the POWs and really, really tried to bring them home. More than our government did, with far less red tape and BS. No matter what your thinking of him might be, there are over 6,000 men who could've been brought home because of him.
This is a brilliant, brilliant, engaging book written by two obviously dedicated as hell people (who were juggling new parenthood) who have a variety of sources and, most notably, Bobby Garwood, possibly the only POW ever to escape Vietnam after so many years (and whose story will make you cry).
What makes it 4-stars rather than 5 isn't that there's no "sense of closure." That rather goes without saying. Of course we left POWs there, and left them there to die. Just as POWs were left in Korea, World War II, and no doubt World War I. War is an unbearable horror show that I can't even begin to wrap my mind around. No, what flummoxes me about the book, is that, after all of it, Monica Jensen-Stevenson is in Vietnam, sees a Caucasian man with pale blue eyes, making gun noises with a farm implement, obviously out of his mind. Village woman fling scraps of food at him and scream.
I understand the difficulty, but after a whole book, all her research, all the people she's spoken to, her very thought: I'm sure he'd rather be home...
She does nothing.
4 stars
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- Wyowoman
- 06-17-17
Excellent Book!! Should be required reading.
I had no idea what was going on until I read this book. Heartrending, factual.
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