Counterpart: A South Vietnamese Naval Officer’s War, co-authored with Kiem Do (Naval Institute Press, 1998) History Book Club Featured Alternate Selection, Spring 1999 “As well written and detailed as most novels, Counterpart gives a fascinating view of the Vietnam War from a drastically under-represented point of view—the Vietnamese. This is an important—even indispensable—book.” -- Robert Olen Butler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain “As Saigon fell in 1975, South Vietnamese Naval Captain Kiem Do had a choice to make: take the exit visas offered by his U.S. Navy ‘counterpart’ and get him and his family out of the country, or tie his fate to that of the 30,000 men under his command who were carrying out his own risky evacuation plan. Counterpart: A South Vietnamese Naval Officer’s War is Kiem’s memoir, written in the third person with poet Julie Kane . . . . His firsthand descriptions of various battles and skirmishes enrich our perspective on the war and make for a gripping narrative.” -- Publishers Weekly “[This is] a useful history of a service few Americans have heard of and the story of a capable sea warrior . . . . His account adds to the general knowledge of the South Vietnamese professional military, who are walk-ons or parasites in too many other accounts of the war, and reminds us that for the Vietnamese, unlike most foreign soldiers, the war was no ‘one year, then back to the world’ experience.” -- Roland Green in Booklist “Counterpart: A South Vietnamese Naval Officer’s War is a riveting memoir about the fall of Saigon, full of heroism, adventure, and tragedy. Mandatory reading for anyone interested in the human aspects of the war.” -- Douglas Brinkley “Kiem’s story is fascinating, and he is fortunate in having a gifted writer have him tell it.” -- Edward M. Coffman, Professor Emeritus of History, the University of Wisconsin – Madison, reviewing for the History Book Club “Kiem Do’s superbly written memoir gives us a glimpse into the way our allies saw the war and how they saw us . . . . It deserves a wide readership among those who wish to understand the war we fought and the forces we fought alongside and against . . . . While Kiem’s deep frustration pervades this memoir, his narrative, like almost every immigrant’s, is also a story of longing for the homeland. No doubt, it was written in part for the benefit of the rising generations who either knew Vietnam only as children or who have known it only through the hazy secondhand accounts of their elders. They should read this book. Here they will find a loving portrait of Vietnamese culture, its folkways and close-knit families and, the war to the contrary notwithstanding, its deeply harmonious society where even bitter enemies agree on fundamental principles. All these are rendered in the exquisite, often poetic prose of co-author Julie Kane, who serves Kiem Do and his readers well throughout this fine book.” -- Randy Fertel in The New Orleans Times-Picayune “The South Vietnamese side of the story is seldom told. It’s a different story from their perspective. Do, who was deputy chief of operations in the South Vietnamese Navy, offers his vision of what happened in Vietnam in this book. Co-written by Baton Rouge poet and author Julie Kane, this story is sometimes horrifying, often harrowing and always informative.” -- Greg Langley in The Baton Rouge Advocate “The Navy of the Republic of Vietnam never surrendered. Instead, in accordance with the best tradition of navies, the ships got underway with families aboard and turned themselves over to the United States at Subic Bay in the Philippines. The story of the heroic way in which this was accomplished is part of the life story of Kiem Do, an illustrious and patriotic veteran.” -- Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., Commander Naval Forces, Vietnam, 1968-70; Chief of Naval Operations, United States Navy, 1970-74 “Counterpart is a brutally honest tale of Captain Kiem’s and his family’s experiences in the Vietnam War. As his ‘counterpart’ for part of the war and a player in the events he describes, I find this book a must read for those who would understand the brown-water war that could not be won.” -- Admiral Paul A. Yost, Jr., Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, 1986-1990 “As the Operations Officer for RLT-4 during the Saigon evacuation in 1975 and witness to the emotions of the departure of a few while leaving many behind, I read Kiem Do’s story with great anticipation. It is an engaging account by a man I have come to admire—a must read for all.” -- Major General James E. Livingston, United States Marine Corps, Operations Officer for “Operation Frequent Wind” and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient “[Kiem Do] has produced a fascinating memoir . . . . Kiem’s book fills an important gap in the literature on the naval war in South Vietnam—the Vietnamese perspective.” -- Indochina Chronology, Vietnam Center at Texas Tech University “Do Kiem, with the poet Julie Kane, tells the story of his amazing life in Counterpart: A South Vietnamese Naval Officer’s War, an engagingly written memoir told in the third person . . . . He provides intriguing and informative glimpses of many parts of the Vietnam War that are often overlooked in this country.” -- The VVA [Vietnam Veterans of America] Veteran “The book is something between a racy thriller and a whimsical memoir, the latter perhaps partly because the ghost writer, Julie Kane, is a poet from Boston . . . . it is an extraordinary story which gives an unconventional slant on that most unhappy period of Vietnam’s history.” -- Tim Laurence, Commander, Royal Navy, in Naval Review “His is the story of a remarkable man, a tale that illuminates the culture and history of Vietnam, especially its modern encounters with France, Japan, and the United States.” -- Stuart McCracken in Bostonia