The Cage Book

In the library of pungent, grittily written books on the Vietnam war, Tom "Bud" Abraham's The Cage is something different--something very different indeed. Bud Abraham was one of the very few Englishmen who served in Vietnam. In the late 60s he took part in some of the most carnage-filled battles of the war as an officer in the first Cavalry Division. His courage gained him a slew of medals, and he even obtained one of the most prestigious decorations awarded by the American army, the Silver Star. This astonishing testimony takes us into the very heart of that nightmare conflict, and some passages are positively lacerating in their impact. Captured by the Viet Cong during the Tet offensive, Abraham endured torture during the relentless interrogations, and his bold escape into the treacherous jungle was a classic case of from frying pan to fire: his ordeal (naked, hungry, terrified) brought him (Abraham tells us) to the level of a beast. Abraham's ability to convey his own extreme psychological state is astonishing, but not just in terms of the Vietnam war: the book is equally involving when Abraham takes us on to the events that nearly destroyed his life 30 years after the conflict, when he had returned to England. Not a book for the squeamish, certainly, but the final effect of this trenchant and distinguished memoir is genuinely inspiring: a testimony to the endurance of the human spirit. --Barry ForshawRead More