Chickenhawk

Robert Mason

Mar 2005 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

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

Ratings and reviews

There are two aspects to Chickenhawk that warrant a recommendation - one, the author's experiences and two, the author's ability to write. Combat is by definition, fascinating, horrible, magnificent and riveting. But to have it retold as Robert Mason does is a pleasure. In a nutshell, Robert Mason comes to Vietnam and through his experiences, discovers he is stretched beyond his limitations. If you're into this sort of story, you will like it for its own sake. Adding Mason's ability to WRITE is why this book garners so many accolades and common thread of, "I couldn't put it down..."

I read this book in highschool. I remembered this book because the auther puts you there next to him. From flight school to Vietnam your along for the ride. Glad to see this book is still out there for people to read.

It's been almost 30 years since I first read Chicken hawk ... Even better now after I flew army aviation for ten years ... Thank you Mr Mason for a wonderful book

About the author

Robert Mason was 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 helicopter combat missions in Vietnam before being discharged in 1968. He is now best-known as the author of Chickenhawk, universally regarded as one of the best books on the Vietnam war and a classic memoir of soldiering.