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Road to Disaster : A New History of America's Descent into Vietnam
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Road to Disaster : A New History of America's Descent into Vietnam

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Road to Disaster
Author(s): Brian VanDeMark

"The most thoughtful and judicious one-volume history of the war and the American political leaders who presided over the difficult and painful decisions that shaped this history. The book will stand for the foreseeable future as the best study of the tragic mistakes that led to so much suffering."—Robert Dallek

Many books have been written on the tragic decisions regarding Vietnam made by the young stars of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet despite millions of words of analysis and reflection, no historian has been able to explain why such decent, brilliant, and previously successful men stumbled so badly.

That changes with Road to Disaster. Historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own interviews with many of those involved, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford, who served as Defense Secretaries for Kennedy and Johnson. Yet beyond that, Road to Disaster is also the first history of the war to look at the cataclysmic decisions of those in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations through the prism of recent research in cognitive science, psychology, and organizational theory to explain why the "Best and the Brightest" became trapped in situations that suffocated creative thinking and willingness to dissent, why they found change so hard, and why they were so blind to their own errors.

An epic history of America’s march to quagmire, Road to Disaster is a landmark in scholarship and a book of immense importance.



Review(s):
“Engrossing…. Absolutely first-rate.”
“Why do smart people do stupid things? That is the tragic question at the heart of this brilliant exploration of American leaders and the Vietnam War.”
“Monumental…a landmark… This is the book I’ve been waiting for — a thorough and thoughtful history of what led to the war that shaped my life.”
“The most thoughtful and judicious one-volume history of the war and the American political leaders who presided over the difficult and painful decisions that shaped this history. The book will stand for the foreseeable future as the best study of the tragic mistakes that led to so much suffering.”
“An immensely readable and richly informative book, the best study to date of those fateful years when the Kennedy and Johnson administrations Americanized the war in Vietnam.”
“A monumental achievement….Brian VanDeMark shows that we still have much to learn about America’s war in Vietnam. Road to Disaster is an excellent and accessible history of decision making in the Kennedy and Johnson years.”
“A hard look at the flawed decision-making that figured in America’s misadventures in Southeast Asia...VanDeMark turns in some surprising observations...A fresh but sobering approach to the disastrous war in Vietnam.”
“This book is sure to appeal to those still searching for Vietnam War answers that even McNamara, Johnson, and their best and brightest advisers never found.”
“[An] exceptional work.…VanDeMark offers a valuable corrective to the Good Guys/Bad Guys theory of war making, and there’s no doubt he knows his research. Will interest military history buffs and anyone still trying to understand America’s most outstanding military fiasco.”
“Brian VanDeMark’s Road to Disaster: A New History of America’s Descent into Vietnam is a startling read, a book that puts America’s leaders on the couch and analyzes the psychology behind the decisions that led us into an unwinnable war in Southeast Asia.”



ISBN:  9780062449757