A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam

“A Bright Shining Lie is about John Paul Vann, a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who clung to the belief that the U.S. could achieve its objectives in Vietnam—until he finally saw that perspective was a tissue of lies. More broadly, it’s about how a country can convince itself that a flawed strategy can succeed if you just give it one more month or a few thousand more troops.” Read more...

The best books on National Security

Juliette Kayyem,

“It’s about the Vietnam war and it’s a masterpiece, a stone cold masterpiece. An amazing book. There’s this comparison between Vietnam and Afghanistan that’s been made so much, but it’s apposite. For a start, I think there’s a lot to be said concerning parallels between modern western perceptions of Islam and past perceptions of Communism. What Neil Sheehan shows is the patriotic dimension of the struggle from the Vietnamese point of view, that this is really what it was about, much more than Communism, just as in Afghanistan it is more about Pashtun identity than about Islam. Communism was a means of rallying and systematising a patriotic movement. It’s often said, but never seems to be taken on board by people at the top level, that in Afghanistan, Pashtun nationalism and the identification of Pashtun customs with Islam is the driver of resistance to the West.” Read more...

The best books on The Death of Empires

James Meek, Novelist