The Ravens; The Men Who Flew in America's Secret War in Laos

New York: Crown Publishers, Inc, 1987. First Edition. First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/Good. xi, [1], 420 pages. Illustrations. Endpaper maps. Chronology. Notes. Glossary. Bibliography. Index. Some wear to DJ edges. Christopher Robbins (19 November 1946 - 24 December 2012) was a British writer and journalist. He is best known for his 1978 bestseller Air America, a non-fiction book which was made into a film in 1990. It is about the secret airline run by the CIA for covert operations during the Vietnam War. He later specialized in investigative work—especially about the CIA—writing pieces for the Observer Magazine. During the 1970s, prior to the publication of his bestseller, Robbins was just a freelance journalist. In 2008, In Search of Kazakhstan: The Land that Disappeared won the Dolman Best Travel Book Award. Another book of his, The Empress of Ireland won the Saga Award for wit. Robbins has compiled a remarkably detailed and gripping log on the US Air Force pilots who flew in defense of the small landlocked nation that borders on China as well as Vietnam. Known as Ravens, these officially nonexistent volunteers served six-month tours of duty in the so-called Steve Canyon Program. From remote outposts in Indochina's ""other theater,"" they flew hair. raising, low-level missions in prop-driven spotter planes to direct air strikes on North Vietnamese troops and supply columns on the Ho Chi Minh trail or into Laos. The scruffy Ravens had few allies, confining rules of engagement, and long odds against escaping antiaircraft fire or random rifle fire. Robbins offers an unsparing account of a dirty, clandestine conflict with little glory, albeit valor to spare. The heart and soul of his narrative are the Ravens--as brave and engaging a band of brothers as ever flew hostile skies. A fine tribute to unsung heroes.