Douglas Valentine

In Douglas Valentine's A Crow's Dream "there is /​ No dark side to /​ The planet anymore." Other mysteries are ominous: "How much of all that seems certain /​ Could vanish with a word?" The natural world is tangible to Valentine as he prunes trees or watches "ghostly columns of frozen mist arise" from the Contoocook River in winter. Yet all is not lyric. Sinister characters abound, and love is uncertain, although it may redeem you; and, as in Ovid, characters who seem stable change other forms-birds, perhaps. Sometimes Valentine channels Robert Frost, sometimes old ballads, sometimes the Surrealists. So Enjoy, and Beware! "

Published Works

A Crow's Dream - my first book of poems

The Hotel Tacloban, a highly praised account of my father's experiences in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in World War II.

The Phoenix Program, described by Professor Alfred W. McCoy as "the definitive account" of the CIA's most secret and deadly covert operation of the Vietnam War.

TDY, a fact-based novel about an Air Force photojournalist who participated in a secret military mission that documented CIA drug smuggling in Laos in 1967.

The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America's War on Drugs, recipient of the Choice Academic Excellence Award .

The Strength of the Pack: The Politics, Personalities and Espionage Intrigues That Shaped the DEA, described by Peter Dale Scott as "an indispensible resource for those who wish to understand the politics of drug enforcement in America; and for those with any sense of the subject’s real importance it is a gripping read as well."

The Hotel Tacloban and The Phoenix Program are available through iUniverse.com as backinprint books under the Authors Guild imprint. TDY is also available through iUniverse.com.

See my Books page for ordering information.

The Douglas Valentine Vietnam Collection at the National Security Archive in Washington, DC, has been open and used by researchers since early 2007. The Collection contains the research material, including audio files of interviews with senior CIA and military officers in the Phoenix program, original handwritten interview notes, and government documents obtained from CIA and military officers as well as through FOIA requests, for my book The Phoenix Program. The Collection can only be used in the National Security Archive's Reading Room; it is not available for interlibrary loan and an appointment must be made to use it. The "resguide" link below will help anyone who wants to read the material.