New from Zenith Press! - Road of 10,000 Pains

To look at the lush expanse of Vietnam's Que Son Valley today, it is hard to imagine a time when peaceful prosperity didn't envelop the region. Covering 273 square miles, the populous, rice-rich valley serves as an agricultural center for a now thriving nation. Over four decades prior, however, the area known as "The Valley," would serve as host to one of the bloodiest series of battles in modern military history.

Overshadowed at the time, and in the decades to follow, by the iconic battles that took place at Khe Sanh, Hue City, and Saigon in the early months of the Tet Offensive, the bloody back-and-forth engagements taking place in the Que Son Valley from April-November 1967 would prove to be some of the heaviest and costliest of the entire ware. On one side was the 2nd NVA Division, a group of largely veteran soldiers hardened by years of ferocious combat. On the other, the 1st Marine Division, the Old Breed, heir to the most glorious history in the entire U.S. Marine Corps.

Now, for the first time, the Que Son Valley campaign is covered in comprehensive and uncompromising fashion. Road of 10,000 Pains, which takes its title from a translation of The Illiad, is itself an epic oral history of war. The battles fought within four miles of Route 534 in Vietnam over seven months in 1967 are described in dramatic interviews with more than ninety Marines who were there. The action in the Que Son Valley was so intense that many of the men on the ground were unaware of the nearby route that connected these events until now.

Working from official histories, American and Vietnamese, and from interviews with over 150 Marines, corpsmen and North Vietnamese Army soldiers, author Otto Lehrack has compiled a riveting account of men at war.

The heroic struggles of those who risked so much in "The Valley" were destined to be lost on the scrap heap of history, but thankfully Road of 10,000 Pains makes up for lost time by finally honoring these men. Here, finally, is the authoritative account of the sacrifices, hardships, triumphs, and pains of their epic mission.

For more information, or to purchase Road of 10,000 Pains, click on the title or book cover.