Laughing War

by Martyn Burke


Formats

Hardcover
£17.00
Softcover
£10.75
Hardcover
£17.00

Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 23/08/2000

Format : Hardcover
Dimensions : 6x9
Page Count : 308
ISBN : 9781587215384
Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 5x8
Page Count : 308
ISBN : 9781587215131

About the Book

Bien Hoa airbase, outside Saigon, wasn't a very funny place, but Barney's job had one advantage: he always played to a packed house. The soldiers flocked to his shows, and the war-zone comedian coaxed his battle-weary audiences first into chuckles and then into guffaws of healing laughter with material drawn from the lunacy around them: the little old VC with the single-shot rifle taking potshots at the jets, the international "peace-keeping" mission, the Vietnamese "car wash" racket, the numbering routine of army life, the officers

One officer in particular: Colonel Isaacs, the blood-and-guts commander of the base, a driven man whose soldiers pay the price of his obsessions. Barney often ridiculed his authority from in front of the footlights, and after hours he wooed the colonel's woman, Donna, a beautiful singer with a secret. So far, he had gone unpunished

But the colonel had included Barney in his plan for a jungle showdown with the enemy, a battle that would turn an abandoned firebase into a bloody killing ground and the scene of Barney's greatest performance.

LAUGHING WAR does for Vietnam what Catch-22 did for World War II, laying bare the absurdity of war with a taut, fast-moving, darkly humorous tale of romance and suspense in a combat zone.


About the Author

Martyn Burke is a novelist, screenwriter and filmmaker.

His books are often drawn from places and situations in which he has been involved. They include Laughing War, The Commissar's Report, Ivory Joe, and his latest novel, the sequel to Ivory Joe, The Shelling of Beverly Hills.

His credits as a documentary filmmaker include Connections, powerful expose of the North American and Italian mafia; and Witnesses the award winning behind-the-lines film on the last day of the soviet war in Afghanistan.

Other documentaries have ranged in subject matter from street gangs in Los Angeles to the feuds among the Mohawk Indians.

He has written screenplays for such comedies as Paramount's Top Secret and The Second Civil War for HBO.

He wrote and directed the hit TNT movie Pirates of Silicon Valley which was nominated for five Emmies including Best Screenplay, the Producers Guild award for best film, and the Directors Guild award for best directing.

Martyn Burke divides his time between Toronto, Canada and Santa Monica, California.

Click here to visit Martyn Burke's website.