--- product_id: 124042191 title: "Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina (Stackpole Military History Series)" price: "$51.40" currency: USD in_stock: true reviews_count: 11 url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/124042191-street-without-joy-the-french-debacle-in-indochina-stackpole-military store_origin: US region: United States of America --- # Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina (Stackpole Military History Series) **Price:** $51.40 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina (Stackpole Military History Series) - **How much does it cost?** $51.40 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.us](https://www.desertcart.us/products/124042191-street-without-joy-the-french-debacle-in-indochina-stackpole-military) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina (Stackpole Military History Series) [Fall, Bernard B., Logevall, Fredrik] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina (Stackpole Military History Series) Review: the history never discussed and yet so essential to understanding a big mess - A worthwhile book that provides essential background to better understand the progression of nearly 3 decades of warfare in Vietnam that was a succession of disasters for not only the French but Americans, Vietnamese, and the Indochina environment. It is not an anti-war diatribe per se as the facts themselves make the point. He brings forward the relevant interesting military maneuver and logistical issues in a very competent and reasonably comprehensive manner and his concluding military comments are cogent and difficult to disagree with. This book obviously focuses on the post-WW2 French effort to re-establish their prior colonial domination of Indochina in the face of adversaries led by Ho Chi Min and General Giap who already had control of significant areas and had a deep and competent understanding of the terrain, the people of their own country, and jungle warfare. The French were constrained by their established military prejudices and preferences that dovetailed with the Vietminh insights into using the cover of dense jungle forests, maneuver under the forest canopies to avoid detection and interdiction and allow devastating mass attacks and skillfully crafted multicomponent intense roadway/trail ambushes. While the French constrained themselves to roads and established camps and bivouacs the VietCong surged undetected through the forests to set up violent ambushes with highly favorable attacker/defender ratios. The French fought from observable stationary encampments and strong points which allowed the unobservable VietCong to bring maneuver, concentration, surprise, and the unexpected from the deep shadows of the surrounding jungles. The French tried various modifications of their standard fare to include specialized mobile jungle warfare units but even those were systematically destroyed by the VietCong meat grinder. This all resulted in confusion, doubt, and loss of confidence and will among the French as it later did with the Americans. The book portrays all this violence especially the skillful VietCong ambushes and repetitive very damaging attacks in a vivid, dramatic and dispiriting manner. While of course the French had the occasional tactical successes those could not supercede the greater dire, confused, conflicted, ineffective, operational mess. It is clear that few of those involved with the American Vietnamese War policies, fighting, or media were aware of the full scope of what happened to the French (other than Dien Bien Phu). The VietCong employed the same methods against the US and ARVN with similar grinding results. Not covered in this book are the biographies of Ho Chi Min or General Giap, nor the pre WW2 antecedents that would be necessary to understand where the Street Without Joy actually began. As for Ho Chi Minh, it is surprising that as a younger man he had a short sojourn in the US, spent at least 4 years in France where many of his concepts of nationalism and socialism took root, and further developed as an academic for a time in Russia. For the French in particular he opines what is obvious as one reads this book that it was a stupid nihilistic war in pursuit of an antiquated foreign policy of colonialism but does not embellish the equally obvious proposal that the French could have eventually have established as much or more influence by vacating and gradually establishing cordial practical working relationships with Ho Chi Min and the Vietnamese people in general. Certainly some would have seen that possibility but one is not able to say without more depth why such thinking was not allowed to intrude into the grossly dysfunctional and anachronistic governmental/military fixations that established that unfortunate stairwell to a veritable blood soaked hell of devastating injuries and broken lives. Well the current reality is a cordial, positive, and productive relationship, one might even say alliance, that over time was gradually and naturally established between Vietnam and France and the US - obviously that end point could have been established without the massive destruction and human suffering of these wars. Reprise: one slightly amusing tangent to this historical account of a war far away was the author's description of women at the front especially intriguing though was the French habit of bringing along a mobile unit of prostitutes (many of whom apparently were fine looking girls from North Africa) for the bivouacked troops. Review: Required reading even for casual interest - Excellent book! Well written, insightful and well researched. He was lucky enough to be able to do some research in Hanoi, as well as in both French and American archives which rounds things out a bit. He was also able add some more detail about the American experience up to about 1964 comparing and contrasting with the French experience in a limited way. His description of tactics and adaptations of both the French and Viet Minh are clear and detailed, and not too overwhelming for non-military experts to understand. Some of the maps are a little iffy, too much information or not enough labeling, but others are great. He is unsparing in his criticism on all sides, but praises where praise is due even-handedly. He is writing from a Western point of view, and having been published in 1961 it is a product of it's time. Some terms like "reds" are now out-dated, but in no way interfere with the narrative. As far as the Kindle edition is concerned there are a few typesetting issues such as "die" instead of "the" and "tom" instead of "torn" but not enough to make it unreadable. The footnotes are not back-hyperlinked, meaning within the text you can hit the linked footnote and it will take you there, but it will not take you back. Other than those issues, which are manageable, the kindle edition is fine. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #112,654 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #36 in Southeast Asia History #126 in Vietnam War History (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (414) | | Dimensions | 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches | | Edition | 2nd | | ISBN-10 | 0811736547 | | ISBN-13 | 978-0811736541 | | Item Weight | 2.31 pounds | | Language | English | | Print length | 424 pages | | Publication date | February 16, 2018 | | Publisher | Stackpole Books | ## Images ![Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina (Stackpole Military History Series) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81vK9eo8XYL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ the history never discussed and yet so essential to understanding a big mess *by M***R on August 22, 2022* A worthwhile book that provides essential background to better understand the progression of nearly 3 decades of warfare in Vietnam that was a succession of disasters for not only the French but Americans, Vietnamese, and the Indochina environment. It is not an anti-war diatribe per se as the facts themselves make the point. He brings forward the relevant interesting military maneuver and logistical issues in a very competent and reasonably comprehensive manner and his concluding military comments are cogent and difficult to disagree with. This book obviously focuses on the post-WW2 French effort to re-establish their prior colonial domination of Indochina in the face of adversaries led by Ho Chi Min and General Giap who already had control of significant areas and had a deep and competent understanding of the terrain, the people of their own country, and jungle warfare. The French were constrained by their established military prejudices and preferences that dovetailed with the Vietminh insights into using the cover of dense jungle forests, maneuver under the forest canopies to avoid detection and interdiction and allow devastating mass attacks and skillfully crafted multicomponent intense roadway/trail ambushes. While the French constrained themselves to roads and established camps and bivouacs the VietCong surged undetected through the forests to set up violent ambushes with highly favorable attacker/defender ratios. The French fought from observable stationary encampments and strong points which allowed the unobservable VietCong to bring maneuver, concentration, surprise, and the unexpected from the deep shadows of the surrounding jungles. The French tried various modifications of their standard fare to include specialized mobile jungle warfare units but even those were systematically destroyed by the VietCong meat grinder. This all resulted in confusion, doubt, and loss of confidence and will among the French as it later did with the Americans. The book portrays all this violence especially the skillful VietCong ambushes and repetitive very damaging attacks in a vivid, dramatic and dispiriting manner. While of course the French had the occasional tactical successes those could not supercede the greater dire, confused, conflicted, ineffective, operational mess. It is clear that few of those involved with the American Vietnamese War policies, fighting, or media were aware of the full scope of what happened to the French (other than Dien Bien Phu). The VietCong employed the same methods against the US and ARVN with similar grinding results. Not covered in this book are the biographies of Ho Chi Min or General Giap, nor the pre WW2 antecedents that would be necessary to understand where the Street Without Joy actually began. As for Ho Chi Minh, it is surprising that as a younger man he had a short sojourn in the US, spent at least 4 years in France where many of his concepts of nationalism and socialism took root, and further developed as an academic for a time in Russia. For the French in particular he opines what is obvious as one reads this book that it was a stupid nihilistic war in pursuit of an antiquated foreign policy of colonialism but does not embellish the equally obvious proposal that the French could have eventually have established as much or more influence by vacating and gradually establishing cordial practical working relationships with Ho Chi Min and the Vietnamese people in general. Certainly some would have seen that possibility but one is not able to say without more depth why such thinking was not allowed to intrude into the grossly dysfunctional and anachronistic governmental/military fixations that established that unfortunate stairwell to a veritable blood soaked hell of devastating injuries and broken lives. Well the current reality is a cordial, positive, and productive relationship, one might even say alliance, that over time was gradually and naturally established between Vietnam and France and the US - obviously that end point could have been established without the massive destruction and human suffering of these wars. Reprise: one slightly amusing tangent to this historical account of a war far away was the author's description of women at the front especially intriguing though was the French habit of bringing along a mobile unit of prostitutes (many of whom apparently were fine looking girls from North Africa) for the bivouacked troops. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Required reading even for casual interest *by S***H on February 21, 2022* Excellent book! Well written, insightful and well researched. He was lucky enough to be able to do some research in Hanoi, as well as in both French and American archives which rounds things out a bit. He was also able add some more detail about the American experience up to about 1964 comparing and contrasting with the French experience in a limited way. His description of tactics and adaptations of both the French and Viet Minh are clear and detailed, and not too overwhelming for non-military experts to understand. Some of the maps are a little iffy, too much information or not enough labeling, but others are great. He is unsparing in his criticism on all sides, but praises where praise is due even-handedly. He is writing from a Western point of view, and having been published in 1961 it is a product of it's time. Some terms like "reds" are now out-dated, but in no way interfere with the narrative. As far as the Kindle edition is concerned there are a few typesetting issues such as "die" instead of "the" and "tom" instead of "torn" but not enough to make it unreadable. The footnotes are not back-hyperlinked, meaning within the text you can hit the linked footnote and it will take you there, but it will not take you back. Other than those issues, which are manageable, the kindle edition is fine. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Interesting read for a Vietnam vet *by P***S on March 21, 2022* For a retired Army Combat Medic serving in III Corps from Sept '68 to Sept ''69 without a working knowledge of the history behind war I fought this book helped me understand why we were there. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.us/products/124042191-street-without-joy-the-french-debacle-in-indochina-stackpole-military](https://www.desertcart.us/products/124042191-street-without-joy-the-french-debacle-in-indochina-stackpole-military) --- *Product available on Desertcart United States of America* *Store origin: US* *Last updated: 2026-05-19*