Of Rice and Men

Of Rice and Men (2006) by Richard Galli. This book is reminiscent of nothing so much as "M*A*S*H." Galli has tried to do for the Vietnam War what "M*A*S*H" did for the Korean War. As a remf (rear-echelon motherfucker) in the war himself -- he served as an interpreter -- Galli witnessed and took part in many of the adventures described in his book. The title comes from one of the book's central conceits -- that it was ridiculous on the face of it for the U. S. to send "experts" to teach the Vietnamese how to grow rice, when they already knew how. America tried to get our Vietnamese allies to grow newly developed varieties of "super" rice, which yielded up to three times the crop as their traditional rice. Only problem was, the new rice tasted lousy to Vietnamese palates. These and other absurdities of the time and place are played out in Galli's mostly comic novel. Grade: B+