A comprehensive military history

Based on thousands of pages of military, diplomatic, and intelligence documents, Geoffrey Wawro offers a definitive account of a war 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.

This is an unsettling, resonant story of the limitations of American power.

Review Quote

“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

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