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The Vietnam War: A Military History
The first comprehensive military history of the war in Vietnam
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.
672 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2024
About the author
Geoffrey Wawro
19 books63 followersGeoffrey Wawro is the General Olinto Mark Barsanti Professor of Military History at the University of North Texas, and Director of the UNT Military History Center. His primary area of emphasis is modern and contemporary military history, from the French Revolution to the present.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 7, 2024
This is an amazing book! The amount of research that the author poured into this book is astounding! It's an honest, no holding back synopsis of the war from beginning to end. I'd recommend this book to anyone who's interested in the Vietnam War: why it happened, how it affected numerous people, and lessons to be learned.
I was provided a copy of the book from Basic Books/ Hachette Book Group via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I was provided a copy of the book from Basic Books/ Hachette Book Group via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
October 30, 2024
Best and most complete history of the Vietnam era: battles, campaigns, and politics. Very personal and empathetic with multiple participants and those personally involved. Its history cannot be separated from the dirty politics and the Zeitgeist of the tempestuous 60s and 70s.
October 27, 2024
While very much focused on the US side of the equation - the North Vietnamese thoughts and discussions are more sketched out to provide context for US decision making, the moral rage at the futility of the whole affair sustains this book. No real revisionist attempts here, and an excoriating dissection of the moral and intellectual failings of the US armed forces (and their politicians - the title is perhaps slightly misleading, as more than most wars, management and direction of the US efforts in the Vietnam war were subject to vast intervention by politicians, generally for short term venal goals)
Highly recommended
Highly recommended
April 23, 2024
A good book on the war in Vietnam. The author does a good job of looking at the political aspects as well as the human costs of the war. An informative book for the history fans.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews