A Tract of Time

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A Tract of Time
Cover of 1966 Houghton Mifflin first edition. Dust jacket illustration by William Hofmann.
Author	Smith Hempstone
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Vietnam War novel
Publisher	Houghton Mifflin
Publication date	1966
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
ISBN	NA

A Tract of Time is an antiwar novel from 1966 by Smith Hempstone, that covers the time period about 1960, when there was an attempted coup of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem^[1]. Even as the United States backed Diem's government during the war, it's American advisers worked with the Montagnar people who opposed Diem, to help them fight the Vietcong, whom they also opposed^[2]. The book follows one CIA operative, Harry Coltart, as he works with the Montagnard mountain tribesmen in the Central Highlands^[3]. Harry is initially successful in getting the Montagnards to fight against the Veit Cong, but then the Montagnards are betrayed and South Vietnamese troops are sent in. Harry has to be rescued as the Montagnards join the Vietcong^[4].

The book has been considered to be an important novel from the time^[5], and has been cited in at least one history book, A Modern History of Southeast Asia: Decolonization, Nationalism and Separatism, by Clive J. Christie^[6]. It was listed in Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine in a list of the top 51 Vietnam War novels^[7].