A Tale of Three Wars; A Novel

Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Army War College Foundation Press, 1997. First Edition. Hardcover. xi, [1], 394, [2] pages. Includes Maps, Foreword By Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf (USA Ret.), Preface, Prologue, 33 Chapters, and an Epilogue. A number of many pages are somewhat creased at the bottom edge. Rear board damaged and inside of DJ damaged. Major General Edward B. Atkeson, USA Ret., was a senior fellow with AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare and a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. During his military service he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, U.S. Army Europe, and was later a member of the National Intelligence Council under the Director of Central Intelligence. He also served with the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Department of State. He holds a BS degree from the U.S. Military Academy, an MBA from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Luton, England. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College. He was a fellow at the Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, from 1973 to 1974. General Atkeson is a frequent writer and speaker on military affairs and has contributed more than 100 articles to military journals and other publications. He is the author of four books: The Final Argument of Kings: Reflections on the Art of War (HERO Books, 1988); A Military Assessment of the Middle East 1991-1996 (U.S. Army War College, 1992); The Powder Keg: An Intelligence Officer’s Guide to Military Forces in the Middle East 1996-2000 (NOVA Publications, 1996); and A Tale of Three Wars (Army War College Foundation Press, 1997). This book is the first to portray the Vietnam War through the eyes of officers in three different armies--U.S., South Vietnamese, and Viet Cong. Each figure, a faithful servant of his country, finds himself caught up in a struggle with the policies of the organization in which he serves. The "three wars" are not the campaigns which any of them anticipated at the outset; instead, they are the conflicts of conscientious and dedicated men who discover fateful flaws in their leaders and in the scope of their missions. Many of the incidents described in the book actually occurred, and many of the events described come from General Atkeson's experience, not his imagination. This is a "one of a kind" treatment.

From a review found on-line: A Tale of Three Wars is simply a splendid book. Written by one of the military's leading thinkers, retired General Atkeson's book analyzes the complexities of the Vietnam War through the venue of historical fiction. He illustrates the fractured nature of the NLF (National Liberation Front) and Viet Cong, the often problematic relationship between the US and South Vietnamese intelligence and military authorities, and the troubled internal politics of South Vietnam itself. The result is a nuanced and sophisticated picture of the Vietnam War and the challenges faced by the US in dealing with the daunting problems of insurgency, corruption, and political infighting.

This book is particularly critical now during the War on Terrorism. Atkeson has shattered the notion that the NLF, VC, and North Vietnam represented a homogeneous, monolithic enemy. He has shown that beneath the thin skin of solidarity nationalist and ideological movements (and those purporting to be religious) are more often than not fractured alliances of necessity that hide competing ideas, agendas, and struggles for power. The most effective way to deal with them is to find the seams and the fractures and exploit them, as Atkeson's protagonist, Paul McCandless, did in the novel. A similar approach to the War on Terrorism is likely to be very successful. -- Christopher D. Kolenda, Editor and Co-Author of Leadership: The Warrior's Art.
Condition: Fair / Fair.

Keywords: Vietnam War, Norman Schwarzkopf, Viet Cong, Paul McCandless, Intelligence Officer, Nguyen Van Do, Spies, Code-Breaking, ARVN

ISBN: 1889927007

[Book #79801]

Price: $25.00

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