Comprehensive yet concise, America's Longest War provides a complete and balanced history of the Vietnam War. It is not mainly a military history, but seeks to integrate military, diplomatic, and political factors in order to clarify America's involvement and ultimate failure in Vietnam. While it focuses on the American side of the equation, it provides sufficient consideration of the Vietnamese side to make the events comprehensible.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Concise, Systematic, Written Well; 4.5 stars:
This is a concise but systematic overview and narrative of the Vietnam war. Evenhanded and drawing on a remarkably rich secondary literature, America's Longest War covers American involvement in Vietnam from the immediate post-WWII period up to the Clinton administration. This is mainly the story of American policy making and the American experience. While Herring does deal with the South Vietnamese experience, there is relatively little analysis of North Vietnamese experience and decision making. This is... more info
A Great Account of American Grand Strategy in Vietnam:
Like many people here, I read this book for a college class concerned with providing an explanation of the numerous questions that arise whenever one ponders America in Vietnam, like why it was there, and why it lost. Any student or curious reader should find this work a great tool for this task. The book is fairly short, numbering less than 400 pages. By that restraint alone, no reader should expect a thorough, voluminous exposition on every aspect of the war akin to Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire,... more info
One of the best:
I read this book in graduate school and thought that it gave the best start to finish depiction of the war. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Vietnam war.
One of the enduring images:
is the network of bicyclists -- children, women and men -- who expertly navigated the region during the American campaigns. A foot bridge blown up was instantly restored. Supplies were expertly moved about. It was their whole backyard.
