SOURCE: A review of Nothing, and So Be It, in Saturday Review, Vol. IV, No. 10, March 18, 1972, pp. 75-76.

In the following review, Parton considers the Vietnam experiences that are the basis of Fallaci's Nothing, and So Be It.

"Life, what is it?" asked Oriana Fallaci's small sister the night before the well-known Italian journalist was to leave for Vietnam. "Life is the time that passes from the moment we're born to the moment we die … that's all" the older sister replied. Nothing, and So Be It is the harrowing account of Miss Fallaci's search, in the midst of man's utmost bestialities, for a better answer to that question.

The diary of her three trips to Vietnam in 1967 and 1968, which comprises the bulk of the book, reveals Miss Fallaci as a woman who is not only courageous but passionately honest as well. She admits to being terrified at Dak...