Dollmaker - Bonnie Barrigar

Dollmaker is a historical review of a war many would just as soon forget. But Dollmaker is different. It provides the reader with an alternative outcome. Call it historical revisionism with a twist of bitter truth. From this unique vantage the war in Vietnam is experienced through the life and actions of an unlikely leader; a charismatic woman who isn't democratic, isn't communist, and is not going to take the back seat to the Americans in the conduct of the war. Le Bon, or Lady Bon, as she is affectionately known, finds passionate outlet early in life as a doll maker.  She makes dolls of every description.  Starting with dolls of cloth and clay, she soon graduates to crafting dolls of flesh and blood. Breaking traditional gender roles, she ascends to the highest pinnacles of power organizing a grassroots paramilitary force called the Blue Shirts. Soon these Vietnamese shock troops under her command garner respect with their communist foes.  All during this time, a gung-ho Marine named Mike Grant is working his way up the ladder of military prestige and influence.  When the female Vietnamese firebrand and the ambitious American meet, the war, its outcome, and the world would never be the same again. Dollmaker peels back the scab covering our collective consciousness regarding Vietnam. It exposes the underlying passions behind power and power's corrupting tincture. It is also a candid, frequently scathing review of what we, as humans, hold dear and what we often blindly adhere to through our allegiance to tradition.