There are several reasons to welcome this study of South Vietnam's efforts to control the so-called Central Highlands. That it focuses on Saigon's objectives is one of those points. Another is that "Montagnard" peoples get dealt with in a level of detail that I haven't seen before. Three, Harris emphasizes that, by the end of the period he's covering, the ARVN was still game and had done as much damage, if not more so, to the PAVN mainforce units than they had received in return; a relevant point since Harris argues that the performance of the 1st Cavalry Division at Ia Drang has been somewhat overrated. Highly recommended. ( )