During the early years of US involvement in Vietnam, the CIA helped arm militia groups in South Vietnam referred to as the “Fighting Fathers.” The name was a reference to the Catholic priests who organized the fighting groups. The fathers fought alongside their parishioners to defend their localities from the Communist insurgency, the Vietcong.  

Author Alessandro Giorgi has studied the subject in unprecedented detail, conducting original research in recently declassified archives and interviewing former US intelligence personnel and Italian missionary witnesses. 

Giorgi's first English language book Vikings in Vietnam (2024) received praise from noted historians from various elite universities in the US and also an endorsement from Pulitzer prize winning author Thomas Powers.