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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 959
EAN: 9780156013093
ISBN: 0156013096
Label: Mariner Books
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 528
Publication Date: April 28, 2007
Publisher: Mariner Books
Studio: Mariner Books
Features:- ISBN13: 9780156013093
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com Review:
Product Description
Neglected by scholars and journalists alike, the years of conflict in Vietnam from 1968 to 1975 offer surprises not only about how the war was fought, but about what was achieved. Drawing from thousands of hours of previously unavailable (and still classified) tape-recorded meetings between the highest levels of the American military command in Vietnam, A Better War is an insightful, factual, and superbly documented history of these final years. Through his exclusive access to authoritative materials, award-winning historian Lewis Sorley highlights the dramatic differences in conception, conduct, and--at least for a time--results between the early and later years of the war. Among his most important findings is that while the war was being lost at the peace table and in the U.S. Congress, the soldiers were winning on the ground. Meticulously researched and movingly told, A Better War sheds new light on the Vietnam War.
Amazon Exclusive Essay: "New Vietnam War History" by Lewis Sorley, Author of A Better War
For a long time most people thought the long years of American involvement in the Vietnam War were just more of the same--with a bad ending. Now we know that during the latter years, when General Creighton Abrams commanded U.S. forces, almost everything changed, and for the better. Abrams understood the nature of the war and devised a more availing approach to the conduct of it. Building up South Vietnam's own armed forces got high priority, whereas before they had been neglected and allowed to go into combat outgunned by the enemy. The covert infrastructure which through terror and coercion kept South Vietnam's rural population under domination was painstakingly rooted out, not ignored as earlier. And combat operations were greatly improved, concentrating on large numbers of patrols and ambushes designed to provide security for the people rather than cumbersome large-unit sweeps through the deep jungle. Some commentators have called the description of these changes "revisionist" history, but actually it is new history. Virtually all the better-known earlier books about the war concentrated heavily on the early years, leaving the later period grossly neglected. New insight came importantly from a collection of hundreds of tape recordings of briefings and staff meetings in General Abrams's headquarters during the four years he commanded in Vietnam. They are filled with human drama, professional debate, successes and frustrations, and ultimately a hard-won triumph, told in the voices of Abrams and his senior associates; such visiting officials as the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and a succession of often brilliant briefing officers. Later, of course, what they had won was thrown away by the United States Congress, but the story of their better war is still a dramatic testament to courage, integrity, devotion, and professional competence.--Lewis Sorley
Product Description:
Neglected by scholars and journalists alike, the years of conflict in Vietnam from 1968 to 1975 offer surprises not only about how the war was fought, but about what was achieved. Drawing on authoritative materials not previously available, including thousands of hours of tape-recorded allied councils of war, award-winning military historian Lewis Sorley has given us what has long been needed-an insightful, factual, and superbly documented history of these important years. Among his findings is that the war was being won on the ground even as it was being lost at the peace table and in the U.S. Congress. The story is a great human drama of purposeful and principled service in the face of an agonizing succession of lost opportunities, told with uncommon understanding and compassion. Sorley documents the dramatic differences in conception, conduct, and-at least for a time-results between the early and the later war. Meticulously researched and movingly told, A Better War is sure to stimulate controversy as it sheds brilliant new light on the war in Vietnam.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Better titled "The Creighton Abrams Hagiography Project", this book makes it's only worthwhile points in the first chapters -- 'clear and hold' is a good idea and that good intelligence information is something to aim at. Other than that, this piece of garbage jumps around from topic to topic, and has the added annoyance of reams of italicized words to give emphasis to Abrams' incessant, profane bloviating. I am second to none in my appreciation of Abrams' abilities and accomplishments, but calling ... Read More
Rating: -
This is a book that should have been written in the seventies... then at least the persons responcible for the the debical that was the Vietnam surrender could have paid for their poor and self driven choices... I only wish I had know about all of the background when I first entered the US Army in 1968...
Rating:  -
Opinions are so deeply divided on the Vietnam War, and there is so much misinformation routinely repeated by both "hawks" and "doves" that every new book on the subject needs critical examination and cross-checking. Lewis Sorely's "A Better War" provides some new interesting facts about the military situation in Vietnam late in the war, and recounts many stories from the point of view of Creighton Abrams, who was William Westmoreland's successor as commander of U.S. forces starting in 1968. But the ... Read More
Rating:  -
Sorley confirms with full documentation my conviction that Nixon and Congress failed to keep the promises made to our allies and gave victory to our enemies.
Rating: -
This book brings to light some interesting thoughts about the Vietnam War including:
- How wrong General Westmoreland's focus on kills and large scale engagements were
- How General Abrams' focus on securing the countryside "won" the war
- "The U.S.A. position in South Vietnam was stronger at the end of 1972 than at any previous point in the war"
- How the U.S.A. "lost" the war by Congress not continuing to fund South Vietnam requests for air support and materiel
- The ... Read More
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