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The Vietnam War
A Military History
Description
“Remarkable… the best overview of America’s misadventure in Southeast Asia, and it is sure to become the standard one-volume book on the war.” – Thomas E. Ricks, New York Times
The Vietnam War cast a shadow over the American psyche from the moment it began. In its time it sparked budget deficits, campus protests, and an erosion of US influence around the world. Long after the last helicopter evacuated Saigon, Americans have continued to battle over whether it was ever a winnable war.
Based on thousands of pages of military, diplomatic, and intelligence documents, Geoffrey Wawro’s The Vietnam War offers a definitive account of a war of choice that was doomed from its inception. In devastating detail, Wawro narrates campaigns where US troops struggled even to find the enemy in the South Vietnamese wilderness, let alone kill sufficient numbers to turn the tide in their favor. Yet the war dragged on, prolonged by presidents and military leaders who feared the political consequences of accepting defeat. In the end, no number of young lives lost or bombs dropped could prevent America’s ally, the corrupt South Vietnamese regime, from collapsing the moment US troops retreated.
Broad, definitive, and illuminating, The Vietnam War offers an unsettling, resonant story of the limitations of American power.
The Vietnam War cast a shadow over the American psyche from the moment it began. In its time it sparked budget deficits, campus protests, and an erosion of US influence around the world. Long after the last helicopter evacuated Saigon, Americans have continued to battle over whether it was ever a winnable war.
Based on thousands of pages of military, diplomatic, and intelligence documents, Geoffrey Wawro’s The Vietnam War offers a definitive account of a war of choice that was doomed from its inception. In devastating detail, Wawro narrates campaigns where US troops struggled even to find the enemy in the South Vietnamese wilderness, let alone kill sufficient numbers to turn the tide in their favor. Yet the war dragged on, prolonged by presidents and military leaders who feared the political consequences of accepting defeat. In the end, no number of young lives lost or bombs dropped could prevent America’s ally, the corrupt South Vietnamese regime, from collapsing the moment US troops retreated.
Broad, definitive, and illuminating, The Vietnam War offers an unsettling, resonant story of the limitations of American power.
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Praise
"The best overview of America’s misadventure in Southeast Asia... it is sure to become the standard one-volume book on the war."
—New York Times
“A useful introduction to the contours of the war… It provides a clear analysis of the relationship between decision-making in Washington and the realities of operations on the ground, emphasizing how the political context of consecutive presidential administrations during the Cold War ultimately enmeshed US forces within a seemingly unwinnable conflict.”
—Military History Matters
"Wawro’s contempt for generations of misguided policies leaps off the page in this worthy rival to Max Hastings’ brilliant Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy. Among the best Vietnam War histories, and just as painful as the others."
—Kirkus (Starred)
"Written in fluid, artful prose... this is well worth checking out."
—Publishers Weekly
“The most page-turningly readable history of the war ever written.”
—Open Letters Review
“Geoffrey Wawro is one of our finest military historians, renowned for his books on the wars of Europe. Here he turns his attention to the defining American conflict of the era since 1945. His insightful, sobering account of the Vietnam war is at once fair-minded and hard hitting—and eminently readable.”
—H. W. Brands, author of Our First Civil War
“There have been countless books written about the Vietnam War but, until now, no comprehensive military history. Wawro capably fills that gap with his new book. He provides an account of America’s worst military defeat that is not only accurate but also eye-opening. He has managed to unearth a great deal of fascinating material and to place it in the proper historical context. In the process, he demolishes many myths and clears away many misunderstandings. An essential read.”
—Max Boot, author of The Road Not Taken
“Unlike most critical accounts of the war, Wawro’s The Vietnam War takes the threat posed by the North Vietnamese Communists and their Chinese and Soviet backers seriously while still indicting US strategy, decision-making, and abuses. This is the best kind of military history, full of compassion for American men fighting an unwinnable war against a ruthless opponent—and for the almost unimaginable suffering of Vietnamese civilians—but unsparing in judgment of the politicians and commanding officers who sent American troops into combat without a clear idea of what they were trying to achieve while lying at every turn to deceive the US public about how the war was going. Wawro’s meticulous research into everything from terrain to tactics, from logistics and weapons systems to what was carried in each soldier’s pack, and the jargon men used to humanize a hellish war, brings confusing battles to life. The effect is so vivid that one can almost smell the napalm.”
—Sean McMeekin, author of Stalin’s War
“A compelling and comprehensive single volume on one of the most controversial conflicts of the modern age. Wawro is at the top of his game in this stunning book, full of wisdom and insight and convincingly arguing this was both a highly political and unnecessary war. Superb.”
—James Holland, author of Normandy ‘44
“In The Vietnam War, master historian Wawro wades into the historical world of the Vietnam War, where nearly everything is an argument. Wawro brings fresh eyes and a new perspective to the struggle for the history of America’s lost war. The result is a readable, entertaining, and indispensable account of this most controversial of conflicts.”
—Andrew Wiest, author of Vietnam’s Forgotten Army
“Fifty years after it came to an end, the Vietnam War still casts a shadow over American life. Wawro has written a brilliant, gripping account of that conflict and its effects, rigorous in military and political detail but never lacking in empathy when considering the human cost. A definitive account.”
—Rana Mitter, author of Forgotten Ally
“Wawro has written an excellent history of the Vietnam War that includes important lessons learned from that war. These are valuable insights that our political and military leaders would be wise to consider before committing our forces in future conflicts.”
—General Anthony Zinni, USMC (ret)
“Wawro’s The Vietnam War pits one of the sharpest historians of his generation against the most controversial war in US history. Sparks fly throughout, as Wawro zeroes in relentlessly on the mistakes, misjudgments, and the hubris that led to American defeat in Vietnam. It is not a pretty picture: Politicians and generals floundering in a sea of tables, charts, and graphs, young men in the field fighting and dying as they try to learn the art of jungle warfare on the fly. Featuring deep research, unsparing analysis, and Wawro’s always brilliant writing, The Vietnam War delivers across the board.”
—Robert M. Citino, senior historian, National World War II Museum