Return To Afghanistan; Stockdale Triumphs: A Return To Vietnam

Admit it; there are still days when you ask yourself: what the heck ever happened to Arthur "The Scud Stud" Kent? Well, here's a partial answer--he went to Afghanistan. Return to Afghanistan, hosted by the urbane Kent in that singsong authoritative voice common to news reporters, is basically two stories grafted together in which Kent returns to the Panjshir Valley and capitol of Kabul, places he visited several years ago during the height of the Soviet-Afghanistan war. In the Panjshir Valley, Kent finds that the agricultural area has prospered for the most part, while in Kabul, nine warring political factions have reduced the city to rubble. Mixing personal interviews, war footage, and fairly simple commentary, Return to Afghanistan is a pair of extended news reports most suitable for a current events class. Still the Kent name (okay, the Kent face) may warrant consideration by public libraries. Recommended, with reservations.In another "return," Admiral James Stockdale, the highest ranking POW during the Vietnam war, revisits the city of Hanoi where he spent over seven years, most of them in the Tloa Lo Prison. Accompanied by his wife Sybil (who remarks that the prison "looks junkier" and "smells pissier" than she expected), another POW named Bill Butler, and Clark Neher, a professor of political science, Stockdale talks about his experiences and tries to locate a second prison (nicknamed Alcatraz) where he spent 18 months. Although he characterizes the trip as a walk down a "very sad memory lane," Stockdale is neither bitter nor angry towards the country which held him captive so long. While interesting overall, the program is technically so-so, and the content is more spontaneous than planned out. Still, libraries with large Vietnam collections and large budgets will want to add. Recommended, with reservations. (R. Pitman)