The Hidden History of the Vietnam War
Victor Thompson (Maps) Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1995. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. xii, [4], 329, [7] pages. Map. Abbreviations and Acronyms Used in the Text. A Note on Military Unit Names. A Note on Sources. Index. DJ is in a plastic sleeve. John Prados is an analyst of national security based in Washington, DC. Prados holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and focuses on presidential power, international relations, intelligence and military affairs. He is a senior fellow and project director with the National Security Archive at George Washington University. Prados heads the Archive’s documentation projects for Vietnam and for the CIA, is co-director of the Iraq project, and assists with the Archive’s Afghanistan project. Prados is author of about 20 books, with titles on national security, the American presidency, intelligence, diplomatic and military history, including Iraq, Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and World War II. Prados’s works on Vietnam include The Hidden History of the Vietnam War, a volume examining the lack of “perfect strategies” for the United States in that conflict. The United States could have won the war in Vietnam if only President Lyndon Johnson had let his air generals do what they wanted...if only we had intervened massively...if only we had pursued our campaign against the Viet Cong infrastructure. These propositions and others, advanced by apologists for the American defeat in Vietnam, are fast becoming conventional wisdom. In The Hidden History of the Vietnam War, John Prados meets them head on. His straightforward narrative does not aim to be a comprehensive history; instead he focuses on key strategies, events, and personalities in the struggle. Mr. Prados's book draws from a broad range of evidence, including archival documents and official military government reports. By avoiding the atomized individual accounts that have characterized much of the nonfiction on Vietnam, and selecting crucial issues and battle actions, he succeeds in illuminating the high points of the Vietnam experience and puncturing the popular mythologies of the war.
Derived from a review by Publishers Weekly: Prados offers a rare fresh look at the war in Southeast Asia. Instead of trying to cover it chronologically from start to finish, he has illuminated the `high' points and dilated on issues moving into eclipse. He brings into focus Lyndon Johnson's role in the 1954 Dien Bien Phu crisis, when LBJ was Senate minority leader; defines the political characteristics of the South Vietnamese Army; describes how the Buddhist Struggle Movement hindered that army's anticommunist efforts; defines U.S. intentions in the air war to a degree not seen previously; and explains President Nixon's controversial order to mine Haiphong Harbor in 1972. Of lesser significance but equally interesting, Prados considers such matters as the Viet Cong's radio-intelligence efforts, which, as he shows, were thoroughly professional. About the infamous U.S./government of South Vietnam Phoenix Program, which targeted the Viet Cong leadership but often rounded up and indiscriminately killed ordinary Vietnamese citizens, he writes, `The antiwar protesters were right that Phoenix constituted a massive civil rights violation on a national scale.' Turning to the tumultuous home front, Prados skillfully analyzes the Nixon administration's efforts to discredit American veterans' groups that opposed the war. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Vietnam War, CIA, Civil Operations, Counterinsurgency, Henry Kissinger, Military Assistance Command Vietnam, Thomas Moorer, Ngo Dinh Diem, Pacification, Phoenix Program, Tet Offensive, Viet Cong, Vietnamization, William Westmoreland
ISBN: 1566630797
[Book #79980]
Price: $45.00