All of his books are fantastic. He served during WW2 then went to Indochina as a reporter. The "Street Without Joy" was the name given to Highway 1 leading from Haiphong to Hanoi. It centers on the French's futile efforts to keep this stretch of road open against the Viet Minh. I think Fall uses the illustration of how the French couldn't keep this one road open as a basis for his explanition of France's overall failure in IndoChina.
IIRC, Fall later lost his life in an ambush on this road while traveling with a French armored convoy.
But, before I'd buy this book, I'd get Fall's "Hell in a Very Small Place". It is the most in-depth look at the circumstances leading up to, and the battle itself, of Dien Bien Phu. The book is moving in its description of the bravery of the Foriegn Legionaires who volunteered to jump into the camp, even when they knew it was a lost cause, just to be there with their comrades. At the same time, the folly of the mission gives the reader an excellent precusor to the US's failure in Vietnam.
Read both, you will not be dissapointed. They cover both the military strategy and tactics used and the overall political circumstances surounding the French-IndoChina War.
BTW, for even more of the subject, look for the Preatorians and the Centurions by Jean' Larteguy. Larteguy describes the tortures suffered by the Legionaires at the hands of the Viet Minh and their return to Algeria, which was undergoing a revolt by Muslims. The Legionaires used the brutal tactics they learned in IndoChina to attempt to put down the revolt. In the end, De Gualle gave up Algeria, a move which caused members of the Legion to attempt to assinate him (the same story told in "The Day of the Jackal"). De Gualle tried to have the Legion disbanded after that, but in the end a couple of brigades were permenently disbanded.