South Viet Nam: Suicide Series

It was the most macabre week in South Viet Nam's three-month-old religious and political crisis. In Saigon, an 18-year-old girl tried unsuccessfully to cut off her left hand "as a humble offering to Buddha while our religion is in danger." Outside the coastal city of Hué, a 17-year-old novice Buddhist monk wrapped himself in a kerosene-soaked, six-color Buddhist flag, then struck a match. In the village of Ninh-hoa, 200 miles north of Saigon, a young Buddhist nun sat down in a Catholic school playground and set herself on fire. Less than 24 hours later, back in Hué, a 71-year-old monk...