Rating: 
Summary: Dense Authoritative Comprehensive
Review: The basics of the Vietnam disaster are familiar to all of us. There is much new information to learn, however, about the political aspects of the conflict. All this and more is covered in great detail in this enormous volume by Robert Mann. Besides the familiar details exposed by David Halberstam some thirty years ago in "The Best and the Brightest", Mann documents in enormous detail the political events related to Vietnam each and every year beginning with the French defeat and running right through the fall of Saigon in 1975. This was far and away America's longest war and there is much to tell. While Mann blames Eisenhower and Kennedy, he reserves the bulk of blame for Lyndon Johnson who knew the struggle was hopeless yet refused to be "the first president to lose a war." Johnson also misled COngress and the country at large as to the costs of the war because he was afraid it would jeopardize his domestic programs. This book is most useful, however, in showing the evolution of later war opponents like Mike Mansfield William Fulbright and George McGovern. All supported the war in its early stages. Much has been written about this war and much still needs to be written. While all concede the war was a disaster opinions still vary on why. Could the war have been won? Was it worth fighting at all? Why did these political figures who later opposed the war support it at the beginning? These are questions Mann attempts to answer. The book is not easy or light reading but is a necessary antidote to a generation of books and films which portray the horror of the war but not the why's of it. It's a good read and I recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: A very readible political history of Vietnam War
Review: This is a wondeful book, very well written, and readable. Because it's written by someone who has worked in Washington and knows the political process, I gained a surprising understanding of the political machinations and intrigue behind our involvement in Vietnam. Mann clearly understands that his readership is not the professional historians, but the casual reader and people, like me, who are devoted afficiandos of Vietnam lore.If you are interested in congressional history, this book will also be appealing. In addition to discussing Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, Mann also devotes more attention to the congressional side of Vietnam than anything I've ever read. Mansfield, Fulbright, McGovern, Church, Morse, Russell and others are very prominent characters and central to the story. At times I thought this read like a novel.
Rating:
Summary: A very readible political history of Vietnam War
Review: This is a wondeful book, very well written, and readable. Because it's written by someone who has worked in Washington and knows the political process, I gained a surprising understanding of the political machinations and intrigue behind our involvement in Vietnam. Mann clearly understands that his readership is not the professional historians, but the casual reader and people, like me, who are devoted afficiandos of Vietnam lore. If you are interested in congressional history, this book will also be appealing. In addition to discussing Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, Mann also devotes more attention to the congressional side of Vietnam than anything I've ever read. Mansfield, Fulbright, McGovern, Church, Morse, Russell and others are very prominent characters and central to the story. At times I thought this read like a novel.
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