This book is built around Fred Edward's journals, sent home during his first tour in Vietnam in 1966-67. His own meticulous research fits his individual experiences into a larger context, through Postscripts, extensive notes, and a thorough historical Chronology. The book is formatted so that the reader can move easily between the events in Vietnam in 1967-68 and the broader context as revealed through later research. The reader can thus move between Edward's personal experiences in Vietnam and the larger historical forces that sent him there.