The Big Buddha Bicycle Race

A Novel

Fiction & Literature
Cover of the book The Big Buddha Bicycle Race by Terence A. Harkin, Ohio University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Terence A. Harkin ISBN: 9780804040907
Publisher: Ohio University Press Publication: April 9, 2018
Imprint: Swallow Press Language: English
Author: Terence A. Harkin
ISBN: 9780804040907
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Publication: April 9, 2018
Imprint: Swallow Press
Language: English

Brendan Leary, assigned to an Air Force photo squadron an hour from L.A., thinks he has it made. But when the U.S. invades Cambodia and he joins his buddies who march in protest, he is shipped off to an obscure air base in upcountry Thailand. There, he finds himself flying at night over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in a secret war that turns the mountains of Laos into a napalm-scorched moonscape. As the emotional vise tightens, his moral fiber crumbles and he sinks ever deeper into a netherworld of drugs, sex, and booze.

When a visit by Nixon looms, Brendan dreams up an all-squadron bicycle race to build morale, win hearts and minds in rural Thailand, and make him and his underpaid buddies a pile of money. The Big Buddha Bicycle Race is a last gasp of hope that turns into a unifying adventure—until the stakes turn out to be far higher than anyone imagined.

The Big Buddha Bicycle Race is a new take on the Vietnam War. A caper on the surface, it is also a tribute to the complex culture and history of Southeast Asia and a sober remembrance of those groups who have been erased from American history—the brash active-duty soldiers who risked prison by taking part in the GI antiwar movement, the gutsy air commandos who risked death night after night flying over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and the people of Laos, whose lives and land were devastated in ways that have yet to be fully acknowledged in Western accounts of the war.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Brendan Leary, assigned to an Air Force photo squadron an hour from L.A., thinks he has it made. But when the U.S. invades Cambodia and he joins his buddies who march in protest, he is shipped off to an obscure air base in upcountry Thailand. There, he finds himself flying at night over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in a secret war that turns the mountains of Laos into a napalm-scorched moonscape. As the emotional vise tightens, his moral fiber crumbles and he sinks ever deeper into a netherworld of drugs, sex, and booze.

When a visit by Nixon looms, Brendan dreams up an all-squadron bicycle race to build morale, win hearts and minds in rural Thailand, and make him and his underpaid buddies a pile of money. The Big Buddha Bicycle Race is a last gasp of hope that turns into a unifying adventure—until the stakes turn out to be far higher than anyone imagined.

The Big Buddha Bicycle Race is a new take on the Vietnam War. A caper on the surface, it is also a tribute to the complex culture and history of Southeast Asia and a sober remembrance of those groups who have been erased from American history—the brash active-duty soldiers who risked prison by taking part in the GI antiwar movement, the gutsy air commandos who risked death night after night flying over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and the people of Laos, whose lives and land were devastated in ways that have yet to be fully acknowledged in Western accounts of the war.

More books from Ohio University Press

Cover of the book Threatening Others by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book Gendered Lives in the Western Indian Ocean by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book The Life and Death of Gus Reed by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book The Medieval Risk-Reward Society by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book Memories of Madagascar and Slavery in the Black Atlantic by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book The Jury in Lincoln’s America by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book Through a Long Absence by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book Samuel Steward and the Pursuit of the Erotic Sexuality, Literature, Archives by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book Custodians of the Land by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book A Mother's Tale by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book Ministers of Fire by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book The Wake of Wellington by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book Apocalypse, Darling by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book A Theology of Sense by Terence A. Harkin
Cover of the book AND LADIES OF THE CLUB by Terence A. Harkin
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy