The phantom blooper

Written by Bernie Weisz/Vietnam Historian @ Book Reviewer April 10, 2010 E Mail address:BernWei1@aol.com see all my reviews at the following URL: http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A25HKEGXUN7YPD

Title of Review: Gustav Hasford:Capital Punishment For Library Violations! In reading Gustav Hansford's "The Phantom Blooper", as a historian my gist was to extract any parallels to reality that occurred in the quaqmire of America's debacle in Vietnam. While finding that out and much more, I also discovered how much of an enigma Hustav Hansford truly was. Born November 28th, 1947 in Russellville, Alabama, Hansford was a U.S. Marine and served as a combat correspondent in Vietnam. He wrote a semi-autobiographical novel after the war The Short-Timers which was later made into a best selling movie Full Metal Jacket. Authored by director Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick Collection (2001: A Space Odyssey / Dr. Strangelove / A Clockwork Orange / The Shining / Lolita / Barry Lyndon / Full Metal Jacket / Eyes Wide Shut) and writer Michael Herr Dispatches (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) as well as Hansford, it was nominated for an Academy Award. Ultimately, Hansford's contributions became a point of contention between the three, and Hasford abstained from attending the Oscar Awards. Two years before Hasford authored "The Phantom Blooper", he was arrested in San Luis Obispo, California for stealing almost 800 books across the U.S. and Great Britain. He was accused of having "bibliophilia", an obsessive-compulsive disorder that centers on the collecting and acquiring of books to the point where social relations are ignored and health declines. Books are pursued by the sufferer of this psychological condition to the point where they are not to be admired or read, but simply to be obsessively possessed. Hansford's defense at his trial, costing over $20,000, was that he had "borrowed" the missing books to serve as the basis for an ultimately never published book on the U.S. Civi