A Bright Shining Lie; John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam
by Sheehan, Neil
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very good/Very good
- ISBN 10
- 0394484479
- ISBN 13
- 9780394484471
- Seller
-
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
After an assignment as province senior adviser, Vann was made Deputy for Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS) in the Third Corps Tactical Zone of Vietnam, which consisted of the twelve provinces north and west of Saigon-the part of South Vietnam most important to the US. CORDS was an integrated group that consisted of USAID, U.S. Information Service, Central Intelligence Agency and State Department along with U.S. Army personnel to provide needed manpower. Among other undertakings, CORDS was responsible for the Phoenix Program, which involved neutralization of the Viet Cong infrastructure. Vann served as Deputy for Civil Operations and Rural Development Support CORDS III (i.e., commander of all civilian and military advisers in the Third Corps Tactical Zone) until November 1968 when he was assigned to the same position in IV Corps, which consisted of the provinces south of Saigon in the Mekong Delta. Vann was highly respected by a large segment of officers and civilians who were involved in the broader political aspects of the war because he favored small units, aggressive patrolling over grandiose, large unit engagements. Unlike many US soldiers, he was respectful toward the ARVN soldiers notwithstanding their low morale and was committed to training and strengthening their morale and commitment. He encouraged his personnel to engage themselves in Vietnamese society as much as possible and he constantly briefed that the Vietnam War must be envisaged as a long war at a lower level of engagement rather than a short war at a big-unit, high level of engagement. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and was the only civilian in Vietnam to receive the Distinguished Service Cross. He died in a helicopter crash in 1972 at 47 years old.
Derived from a Kirkus review: John Paul Vann was a visionary as well as a gung-ho army officer. Arriving in Saigon in 1962, Vann perceived something amiss in the US approach to the war. The ruling family, the Ngo Dinhs, were considered foreigners by most of the population; the ARVN existed primarily to protect them; and American-supplied weapons were going to the Viet Cong. Vann was quick to realize that until the US took the population into account, it would be pouring lives and money into the quagmire. Vann returned to Vietnam as a Foreign Service Officer before he was listened to. He came to be regarded as one of the best minds in the field, and his ideas were adopted too late. Sheehan conducted close to 400 interviews and did exhaustive research to put together this brutal and honest book. His canvas is broad, filled with integrated historical information, portraits, tactical and logistic detail, and political analysis, along with the biography of a fascinating and uniquely American character.
Synopsis
One of the most acclaimed books of our time--the definitive Vietnam War exposé and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. When he came to Vietnam in 1962, Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Vann was the one clear-sighted participant in an enterprise riddled with arrogance and self-deception, a charismatic soldier who put his life and career on the line in an attempt to convince his superiors that the war should be fought another way. By the time he died in 1972, Vann had embraced the follies he once decried. He died believing that the war had been won. In this magisterial book, a monument of history and biography that was awarded the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction, a renowned journalist tells the story of John Vann -- “the one irreplaceable American in Vietnam” -- and of the tragedy that destroyed a country and squandered so much of America’s young manhood and resources.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Ground Zero Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1734
- Title
- A Bright Shining Lie; John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam
- Author
- Sheehan, Neil
- Illustrator
- John Sposato (Jacket Art)
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very good
- Jacket Condition
- Very good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition [stated], presumed first printing
- ISBN 10
- 0394484479
- ISBN 13
- 9780394484471
- Publisher
- Random House
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1988
- Keywords
- Vietnam War, John Paul Vann, Ap Bac, Westmoreland, Pacification, Guerrilla Warfare, CIA, Viet Cong, Daniel Ellsberg
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- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...