Robert Mason (1)Anmeldelser

The first book I trusted that started changing my thinking about the American engagement in Viet Nam.

Most first hand accounts of wars I have read are written by a somewhat amateur author. Not this one. Robert Mason infuses his terrifying tale with plenty of drama and humanity, and managed to write one of the best personal military history I have ever read.

Part of it is surely the subject matter, as I am a huge fan of aviation and its lore. And part of it is that I haven't yet read a lot about the Vietnam War.

But either way, I could not put this book down. Every mission seems to be even more dramatic than the last, and you can see Mason's flying and survival skills just barely keeping up with the challenge. You can also viscerally feel the surviver bias at work, with plenty of close calls and dead friends. It's terrifying and thrilling at the same time.

And towards the end, the book truly surprised me with a very frank account of PTSD and the life of a veteran, which I truly hadn't read anywhere else in this level of clarity.

I cannot recommend this book enough. Perhaps a bit depressing at times, but an utterly compelling story, and without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read.

I finished Robert Mason’s Chickenhawk Back in the Real World: Life After Vietnam. I can’t say it was an good ad Chickenhawk p, but it clearly illustrates the struggles some vets have in reintegrating back into society after war service, a lesson no less valuable today.

Robert Mason honestly appraises his post war service and reintegration process. He discusses his personal and professionally successes and struggles, as well as the mistakes he made and the cost he paid in going to jail. Not a boo hoo story of how life was unfair but rather an honest assessment of his post Vietnam life.

Robert Mason should be applauded for first writing about his war service and later about his post war life. A shirt, quick and readable worthy read.

Spot on description of the war.

I reread Robert Mason's Chickenhawk. This memoir of Robert Mason's tone as a Huey pilot flying Slicks in Vietnam provides his personal perspective on what his service was.

You See Mason a Warrant Officer grow as a pilot ABC also see him cling to his sanity by will and tranquilizers.

Robert Mason tells you the good and the bad of his time in Vietnam and his growing disillusionment with the war as it was fought and portrayed.

One of the best personal accounts I have read.

Chickenhawk is Robert Mason's narrative of his experiences as a "Huey" UH-1 Iroquois helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. The book chronicles his enlistment, flight training, deployment to and experiences in Vietnam, and his experiences after returning from the war.
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.

Continues to serve as a testament for an entire generation. But not even Mason's splendid debut will prepare you for the authority of Chickenhawk: Back in the World, his harrowing quest to find "the most significant thing I lost in that war - peace." Although Mason's return was at first promising - after leaving active combat duty he began instructing future helicopter pilots - it quickly spiraled downward: into bouts of panic and increasingly heavy drinking, adulterous.
This sequel to Chickenhawk is a sad but gripping book. The account of the trip to Columbia to pick up three and a half tons of marijuana, and of the arrest on a South Carolina river, is well told and full of interest. He finally got Chickenhawk published before he had to report to the prison at Eglin Air Base--a prison for non-violent criminals--and his account of his time there is a vivid insight into prison life. Some might resent the amenities the prisoners have but it simply makes sense that less dangerouc criminals not be treated as harshly as the more evil ones. I found this book consistently interesting and the account of the success of his first book (Chickenhawk) I found overpoweringly poignant..Some of what the author says about bad effects of our drug laws makes much sense, and certainly the simplest way to end drug trafficking is to permit at least light drugs such as marijuana to be legal--the reduction in prison costs would be staggering and many a drug dealer would have to earn an honest living

I loved this book for the details of helicopter flying in Vietnam, especially tight landings and takeoffs. There are powerful moments of war, portrayed honestly and not as heroic fiction. The story is eminently readable, and decently written if not great. It is episodic and propelled forward, but is somewhat held back by the lack of character development; aside from the author, we don't get to know the other pilots well.

I feel like I have read too many other books close to this one—perhaps inspired by it—for this to get a five-star rating.

Amazing book.

Another Vietnam war memory is a book I read 25 years ago (whilst working with Huey helicopters) about a Huey helicopter pilot and his one year stint in Central Vietnam in 1966 or so. The book is called “Chickenhawk”, written by Robert Mason (the pilot himself). I found it back here, read it again, and am still impressed, even though there is a lot of technical jargon.

My reactions to reading this novel in 1997. Spoilers follow.

An enjoyable sequel to Mason’s Weapon.

As with that book, Mason does a nice job of characterizing Solo. This book has more humor than Weapon as Solo does not always succeed in passing himself off as human amongst the eccentrics of New York City. The high point off humor comes as Solo ponders a copy of The Joy of Sex and wonders why humans haven't settled on one way to have sex given how long they’ve been around.

The character of Laura Johnson-Reynolds, widow, traumatized rape victim, and part-time bag lady was a bit unbelievable, but I liked her rapport with Solo and how he becomes her friend and protector as he does with the Nicaraguan villagers in the earlier novel. I also liked Bill Stewart, Solo’s creator, friend, and one of the few believers in his sentience returning for a major plot point. The plot was even more exciting than Weapon. I thought the character of Nimrod, Solo’s replacement, was well done too. Kept ignorant and coerced with pain, Nimrod is sentient but insane, and he unleashes his fury on his creators when he learns they are different and weaker than him. Solo risks his life to save Nimrod, his “family”, though the effort costs both their bodies and, at novel’s end, their intelligences inhabit the cybersphere.

Solo’s control and adventures in the cybersphere were realistic and interesting. Though there is a sf tradition of artificial intelligences inhabiting the cybersphere going back to at least Frederik Pohl’s Man Plus (and continuing through Vernor Vinge’s True Names, John Varley’s “Press Enter ”, and William Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy), this is the earliest novel I can recall where the intelligence primarily inhabits in a mobile, humanoid robot.

My reaction to reading this novel in 1997. Spoilers may follow.

This book probably wasn’t appreciated as much as it could be in the wake of James Cameron’s Terminator films which also deal with sentient, humanoid weapon systems. (Cybernetic weapons are nothing new in sf. They go back to at least Murray Leinster’s “The Warbler”. But they are often not humanoid nor is there interior life explored much.)

Mason does a very credible job of describing the technology and software that goes into Solo and his tale of Solo going rogue – as predicted by his creator who ultimately chooses to conceal Solo’s survival at novel’s end – is credible. I found Mason’s ability to draw Solo’s character from just a few spoken lines remarkable.

4877. Chickenhawk Back in the World Life After Vietnam, by Robert Mason (read 13 Nov 2011) This is the sequel to Chickenhawk, which I read 8 Nov 2011, and is a sad but gripping book. The account of the trip to Columbia to pick up three and a half tons of marijuana, and of the arrest on a South Carolina river, is well told and full of interest. He finally got Chickenhawk published before he had to report to the prison at Eglin Air Base--a prison for non-violent criminals--and his account of his time there is a vivid insight into prison life. Some might resent the amenities the prisoners have but it simply makes sense that less dangerouc criminals not be treated as harshly as the more evil ones. I found this book consistently interesting and the account of the success of his first book (Chickenhawk) I found overpoweringly poignant..Some of what the author says about bad effects of our drug laws makes much sense, and certainly the simplest way to end drug trafficking is to permit at least light drugs such as marijuana to be legal--the reduction in prison costs would be staggering and many a drug dealer would have to earn an honest living

4875. Chickenhawk, by Robert Mason (read 3 Nov 2011) This is an account of the author's training to be a helicopter pilot and of the year he spent as such in Vietnam. The author is very critical of the war, but he does not dwell on that attitude. As I read I wondered how he could relate all he related, since he did not keep a diary--but he wrote his wife and all those letters were saved by her and this enabled him to do a memoir fairly chronological in nature. One cannot be overly critical of one who goes through such hellish times although I confess it disturbed me that though he dedicated the book to his wife and son he relates in the book of his encounters with whores.. Probably the most moving part of the book is the post-traumatic suffering he went through, including, after he had written the book, serving over a year in prison for seeking to import marijuana into the U.S. from Colombia. The book deservedly ranks as one of the better Vietnam memoirs.

Just about every helicopter pilot says this is how it really is when you are learning to fly. Amazing story of a American helicopter pilot in the Vietnam war. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to fly or is learning to fly.

A very interesting and (seemingly) honest description of the life of a soldier during the Vietnam War. The details of the helicopter life were intriguing and the description of the living quarters made the reader feel as if they were there with the soldier. Very interesting to hear about such an argumentative war from the perspective of a soldier who went for his country and how his own viewpoints change through the process of war.

A very excellent war memoir told from the view of a US Army helicopter pilot during the Vietnam war. Nothing is held back and Mason doesn't sugar-coat anything: not even to make himself look good. A very honest and straight-forward account of living day to day in a war. It's hard to put down once started.

Best book I have read on Vietnam

This is what the times were like, although Mason was, even for those times, living an unusual and exceptional life. Frank, humorous account of a lot of talent mostly wasted as a lot of us were prone to doing in that era.

Five stars isn't enough! A unique story. At the time, the St.Louis Post-Dispatch said: "Very simply the best book so far out of Vietnam" The NYTimes: "A hypnotic narrative" Martin Cruz Smith: Maybe Vietnam is best seen through a shattered helicopter windshield. 'Chickenhawk' is one bloody, painfully honest and courageous book" The Village Voice: "Arresting, lean, cool, grotesque, telling" "More than any other writer, Mason has been able to capture the feeling of what it was like to be there."-- John Del Vecchio, author of 'The 13th Valley'

Read it.. you won't forget it.

I finished reading Chickenhawk last night just a few minutes after midnight, July 4, 2008. I feel like I oughta apologize to its author, Bob Mason, for taking 25 years to "discover" his excellent account of one man's horrific wartime experiences in Vietnam over 40 years ago. Sam Hynes, author of the equally excellent WWII pilot's memoir, Flights of Passage, once told me that one of the most important ingredients in a memoir is that the narrator be likeable. Chickenhawk has that most vital element, for Bob Mason is as likeable a guy as you'll find in the literature of war, and his prose is absolutely real and riveting as he tells of his whirling descent into the madness that was Vietnam. His final chapter summarizes the kind of confusing nightmare his life became upon his return home, as he struggled to understand and survive this thing now commonly known as PTSD. I like this guy. In fact I like him well enough that I will try to find a copy of his out-of-print sequel to Chickenhawk. It may take a while, but I'll be back to comment on that one too. In the meantime, I urge anyone who enjoys good writing of any kind to read this book. It's the real deal.

Pretty good. Creating a war machine that thinks can backfire. course that might be a good thing.

This is a pretty famous book. I heard an interview with the author years ago (the book was first published in 1985). Finally got a chance to read it and feel that it is really a classic. As the cover I have says, it is a "stunning book on the right stuff in the wrong war". A must read on flying helicopters in Vietnam.

DEN