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

Apr 22, 2012 David rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone, inquiring minds

Shelves: asia, challenging-ideas, history, modern-culture, usa, war-history, vietnam

The Vietnam War is one of the most important events in modern history. This is one of the many books written about it.
The amount of detail is staggering. The research that went into this one book must fill a small library with notes, clippings, photographs, references, biographies, maps and more.
Take for example the first day in the Army of the central character in the book - John Paul Vann. This occurs on page 423 in my copy.
" During his first day at Camp Lee and for four days afterward the...more The Vietnam War is one of the most important events in modern history. This is one of the many books written about it.
The amount of detail is staggering. The research that went into this one book must fill a small library with notes, clippings, photographs, references, biographies, maps and more.
Take for example the first day in the Army of the central character in the book - John Paul Vann. This occurs on page 423 in my copy.
" During his first day at Camp Lee and for four days afterward the Army hit him with the psychological shock of disorientation and beginning anew that facilitates the transformation of boys into fighting men. He was made to shed his civilian clothing, including his underwear, and handed Army khaki and olive green; his head was shaved; he was given another medical examination to verify that he had been telling the truth when he signed his arrival statement; and he was revaccinated for smallpox and vaccinated typhoid and tetanus. "

The enormous amount of detail and the size of this book is somewhat daunting. My edition is 790 pages, not including Maps, Source Notes, Interviewees section, bibliography and Index.

Among the facts is the information that the war was partially caused by nepotism, corruption and cronyism based on the Catholic religion. The French colonialism established a Government where you had to be a Catholic or give acceptance to the religion to get promoted or achieve a position. This aspect of the conflict was totally downplayed by the Western news media, which adds another side to the story.
The so called "Domino theory" of Communist take over that was meant to justify the USA involvement has proved to be a sham. Vietnam held suspicions about it's allies in Russia and China and is now a thriving economy based largely on free market ideas. Tourism to Vietnam is a multi-million dollar a year business.
Nobody in the USA has been held to account for involving millions of US troops and at a cost of hundreds of thousands dead. The toxic poisoning of vast areas of Vietnam has caused birth defects, and the contamination will take generations to clear up.(less)

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Sep 15, 2011 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't know of many books that win both the Pulizer and the National Book Award. Sheehan's book is one of them, and it shows.

An entirely engrossing narrative of the profound arrogance, paralyzing complaisance and careerism, and the incorrigible, altogether impenetrable ignorance of Americans in Vietnam. Generals Harkins and Westmoreland seem to have been the two most seriously impaired of the bunch. And as a result millions died. [Let's just say that in comparison 9/11 is only a vanishingly sma...more

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Jan 26, 2009 Brendan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, american-history, military, pulitzer-prize-winners

A great compliment to The Best and the Brightest.

This book focuses less on the domestic politics behind the Vietnam War and more on the military/operational realities than confronted the US military, as well as delving into the corruption of the South Vietnamese regime that the US tried to prop up 18 different ways, coup after coup after coup.

The conclusion of the book is basically that if the Vietnam War was ever winnable, it was no longer winnable after 1965-66. The failure of the LBJ administ...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book in 1988 while a member of the "Book of the Month Club," before it became a best-seller and Neil Sheehan won a Pulitzer for this remarkable book, 16-years in the making.

And I've been talking about it ever since.

"A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam" is THE primer on contemporary US foreign policy and should be read by every student of American history. School boards should buy this book and stock the high school libraries (excuse me, "media centers") with a...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Molly rated it 5 of 5 stars

A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan is a superior book that took 5 months, and every ounce of my concentration, to finish. I recommend it to anyone interested in American military history, specifically the Vietnam war, but warn you that you are in for a long, difficult read. Sheehan's research and writing style are without fault, I think. After all, he was there. The lynchpin of the book is John Paul Vann, a fascintating, complex man, who may have allowed the U.S. to win the war in Vietnam, had...more

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Jan 29, 2010 Shaun Appleby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An ironic and provocative history of US involvement in Vietnam. By following the tragectory of the career of a dedicated, smart and decisive individual, convinced of the righteousness of the cause and the possibility of a victorious outcome, it is possible to catalogue the lost opportunities, misdeeds and outright stupidity that cost the lives of so many US and national servicemen and multitudes more of Vietnamese civilians on both sides of the conflict.

By the time one has half finished the book...more

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Jan 15, 2010 Kathleen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, history, non-fiction, political, read-in-2010

Nominally a biography of John Paul Vann--a soldier and civilian who was one of the first American Advisers in Vietnam at the beginning of American intervention and remained involved in the conflict until his death in 1972--this is actually the most complete history of the Vietnam War that I have ever read. I feel that, for the first time, I really understand this conflict, what lead to it, and why America could never have really won.

Among the things I never knew was that the Viet Cong was essen...more Nominally a biography of John Paul Vann--a soldier and civilian who was one of the first American Advisers in Vietnam at the beginning of American intervention and remained involved in the conflict until his death in 1972--this is actually the most complete history of the Vietnam War that I have ever read. I feel that, for the first time, I really understand this conflict, what lead to it, and why America could never have really won.

Among the things I never knew was that the Viet Cong was essentially the Viet Minh, the armed nationalists who overthrew the French colonialists. That the Vietnamese people saw no difference between the French and the Americans. That Ho Chi Minh was drawn to communism only because it was the only governmental theory at the time to preach against colonialism and mean it. That Minh was originally hopeful that America would support him against the French because American Presidents were saying that it was time for Colonialism to end. That Presidents as early as Eisenhower admitted that Minh would win any election in Vietnam with 80 percent of the vote. That every South Vietnam government was ridiculously corrupt because they could never be comprised of nationalists, only people who didn't mind colluding with foreign powers for their own gain. So there's that.

And then there's John Paul Vann, who was a womanizer, a jerk, prone to bouts of irrational anger, and a man who always believed that America could win the war. Beyond that, though, he left the Army for complicated reasons near the beginning of the conflict in Vietnam with one of the reasons being protest of how the war was being handled. He didn't believe in bombing the village to save the village. He worked closely with--became good friends with--many of the Vietnamese. After leaving the army, he returned to Vietnam as a civilian working with the pacification program. Perhaps his ideas were based on false premises, and some--like me--might argue he wasn't even a very good man, but he wanted to be a hero. Better than that, at least for those reading a biography, he was an interesting man who led an interesting life. (less)

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Oct 17, 2009 Rick Saffery rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

I've read this book twice and recommended it perhaps a hundred times more. I'll always hold Mr.Sheehan in the highest regard for the way he crafted this impressive work. The epic drama of the Vietnam war, as expressed through the lens of John Paul Vann, profoundly resonates with me as a former infantry soldier of the post-Vietnam era. One of the things I took away from reading this book is Vann's insight with respect to keeping the war personal. He shrewdly observed and held that had we prosecut...more

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Oct 15, 2009 Eric rated it 5 of 5 stars

The definitive book about Vietnam according to my buddy and former english teacher Paul Sonerson. I finally read it, and believe me, you absolutely would not believe it. Government lies, heartlessness, and incompetence on a scale that you would not believe. It really makes a mockery of my parents' generation for their failure to see through the government's current horseshit wars and put a stop to it. I mean what the hell does most of my generation know about this shit? How the hell were Nixon's...more

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May 19, 2013 Lyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

A Bright, Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan is an erudite, well-informed and exhaustive narrative of the Vietnam War. Sheehan provides a complete modern history of Vietnam, from the French Colonial period beginning in the 1850s to the end of French rule, particularly the period of Ho Chih Minh’s rise to power after World War II. As a reporter on the ground in the 1960s, he also provides a detailed analysis of American foreign policy in the region and the complicated cultural make-up of Vietnam, with i...more A Bright, Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan is an erudite, well-informed and exhaustive narrative of the Vietnam War. Sheehan provides a complete modern history of Vietnam, from the French Colonial period beginning in the 1850s to the end of French rule, particularly the period of Ho Chih Minh’s rise to power after World War II. As a reporter on the ground in the 1960s, he also provides a detailed analysis of American foreign policy in the region and the complicated cultural make-up of Vietnam, with its odd assortment of aristocratic mandarins, both communist and non-communist, dynastic vestiges, French and catholic influences and the seemingly ever present shadows of Russo-Sino and American intrigue. This is also a fine portrait of America in the 20s to 40s. Most poignant was the observation that children of this era were taught to understand at an early age that the spread of communism must be stopped in Asia, because if it was not stopped here, then communism, like a great ravenous organism, would then move to Hawaii and then to the western shores of the United States. Sheehan uses the story as a vehicle to describe how the United States came to be what it was in Vietnam, especially how the military leadership had evolved from a lean and hungry, almost desperate group at the beginning of World War II, to the victors of that war, to the aristocratic mis-directions of MacArthur in Korea and then to the delusional, bureaucratic and careerist misdeeds in Vietnam.

Sheehan also shows the greatness and shortcomings of the hero, John Paul Vann, a complex, fundamentally flawed man who is almost an intelligent, dark Forrest Gump; a sinister American Everyman of the middle of the twentieth century. Vann is shown as a microcosm of America’s greatness and it’s immoral, ugly underside. Riveting, compelling, and at times deeply thought provoking, the novel also tends to flounder under its own weight, as Sheehan’s ambition is realized, but with flaws. The book won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and is thoroughly well researched and crafted by a talented author, but it fails to answer many of the questions it raises and ultimately leaves the reader feeling educated and moved, but unsympathetic and without an enduring moral.(less)

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Apr 18, 2013 Francis Gahren rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: military

This is the best book on Vietnam that I have read – it is a passionate, epic account of the Vietnam War centers on Lt. Col. John Paul Vann, whose story illuminates America's failures and disillusionment in Southeast Asia. Vann was a field adviser to the army when American involvement was just beginning. He quickly became appalled at the corruption of the South Vietnamese regime, their incompetence in fighting the Communists, and their brutal alienation of their own people. Finding his superiors...more

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Jan 26, 2011 Darryl Mexic rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

***”A BRIGHT SHINING LIE: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam” by Neil Sheehan. This is a work of non-fiction. It feels like I have been reading this book for months, although it is only a matter of weeks. It is long; over 800 pages of very small type. Initially it was mind blowing, but after the first third, it became tiresome. John Vann was a colonel in the U.S. Army and was one of the military advisors to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) during the Kennedy administration and durin...more ***”A BRIGHT SHINING LIE: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam” by Neil Sheehan. This is a work of non-fiction. It feels like I have been reading this book for months, although it is only a matter of weeks. It is long; over 800 pages of very small type. Initially it was mind blowing, but after the first third, it became tiresome. John Vann was a colonel in the U.S. Army and was one of the military advisors to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) during the Kennedy administration and during the beginning of the Johnson administration. He later went back to Vietnam as a civilian official of the AID pacification team during the period we Americans stopped advising and started doing most of the fighting, increasing the number of American soldiers in Vietnam to almost half a million. If you are one of the few remaining holdouts who still think that we were on the side of the angels in the war and that it was a mistake only because we lost it, this book will surely change your mind. It was a colossal error from the time we took over from the French and decided that we needed to stop the expansion of monolithic Communism in Indochina. We feared Communism like we fear Islamic terrorism today. But there was no monolithic Communism in Indochina; there were Vietnamese Communists who were fighting a war of liberation from foreigners, whether the French colonialists or the American placed and propped up rulers in the South. John Paul Vann was a true believer in American exceptionalism, in the need to stop the advance of Communism, and in the need to prevent the Chinese and/or Russians from taking over all of Vietnam. But he observed, as an advisor to ARVN, how the war was being fought, or more accurately, not being fought by the ARVN, how they were so unpopular among the peasants of South Vietnam, and how they were indiscriminately bombing villages and hamlets full of peasants and absent of Viet Cong. He did just about everything he could to point out these and other follies in the prosecution of the war to the top command, but it was to no avail. General Harkins, the American in charge in Vietnam during the “advisory” phase of the war, considered him only a thorn in his side and kept providing glowing reports of war progress to Robert McNamara and President Kennedy. The first third of the book essentially ends with the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which our government portrayed as an unprovoked attack by the North Vietnam government on one of our ships, even though the administration knew that it was anything but unprovoked. President Johnson and McNamara used that incident to get Congress to pass legislation that they then took to give them cart blanche to convert the war to an American war and to send so many of our men to fight and die in the jungles of Vietnam. A second third of the book pertains to John Paul Vann’s life. While interesting, it is not interesting enough for the slogging through all those pages that it requires. The final third is directed to the war as most of us remember it; Westmorland’s war to crush the Viet Cong by killing everything in sight with overwhelming American power and by bombing the hell out of the Northern cities to force the North to give up support of their southern countrymen. As it turned out, America became tired before the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese. Not surprising when one realizes that our participation was questionable at best and dead wrong at worst, whereas their participation, in their view, was to save their country from foreign invaders.
By the way, I have to admit that I was one of those who believed in the American cause in Vietnam, and even years later only felt our mistake was in not sticking it out and winning. I give this book a high rating for being detailed enough and powerful enough to change my views, but I give it a lower rating because it should have been shorter. By including a biography of Vann in the book, it takes away from the power of the message. The biography of Vann should have been a separate and possibly companion book.
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Feb 15, 2010 Randy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Walking through a book store one day I spotted this book and purchased it on the fly. Best that I can remember I purchased the book because: 1) It won a Pulitzer, 2) It won the National Book Award, 3) It was a National Bestseller; and 4) It's about the Vietnam War, a place and event I was told by the draft board that I could expect to visit (I didn't). This was an interesting book with lots of history. At the time I read it I had no idea who John Paul Vann was. And, maybe that was one point the...more

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Jan 05, 2011 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars

3/17/01 - 8/10

A Bright Shining Lie combines a history of American involvement in Vietnam from 1962-1972 with a biography of John Paul Vann. Vann was a very influential advisor in Vietnam during this time. This book was a little dry to read, but it was very insightful. Sheehan provides a lot of food for thought on what went wrong for Americans in Vietnam. It was also very interesting to see Vann morph from one of the critics of American tactics, into one of the 'deluded' leaders who thought Ameri...more

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Dec 10, 2009 Ray rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Incredibly informative book about the Vietnam War, told in part through the experiences of Lt. Col. John Paul Vann, an early military advisor and advocate for a change in what ultimately proved to be a losing and costly war strategy. Neil Sheehan, a New York Times war correspondent, provides insights into the thoughts and policies of American and Vietnamese political and military leaders, and why the war failed to accomplish its intended outcome. It's NOT a bash-America book, and is respectful o...more

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Nov 24, 2009 Nishant rated it 5 of 5 stars

Outstanding! Perhaps one of the best non-fiction books I've read. The Vietnam war told through the prism of one man. It's a biography and then its so much more...

two things that were re-emphasized, but which are plenty obvious: illegitimate governments and sanctuary for insurgents are problematic in all counterinsurgencies. In Hamid Karzai and Pakistan Obama has both wrt Afghanistan.

another quick point: one of the reasons it was such a good biography was because the author had me caring for Jo...more

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May 20, 2013 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a magnificent book! It won a Pulitzer; it probably should have won ten. It is both the story of the war in Vietnam as well as the story of one very flawed man who fought it, ending up as the second highest commander, after Creighton Abrams, with control over all U.S. troops in the central highlands section of Vietnam.

Sheehan was a reporter in Vietnam and knew John Paul Vann very well. He gives us not only the history of the war, but a sense of the profound and systemic nature of the reason...more What a magnificent book! It won a Pulitzer; it probably should have won ten. It is both the story of the war in Vietnam as well as the story of one very flawed man who fought it, ending up as the second highest commander, after Creighton Abrams, with control over all U.S. troops in the central highlands section of Vietnam.

Sheehan was a reporter in Vietnam and knew John Paul Vann very well. He gives us not only the history of the war, but a sense of the profound and systemic nature of the reasons it was doomed from the very beginning. By concentrating on a few, key battles, he demonstrates exactly how this played out, how corruption, incompetency, a smug U.S. military, a detached political bureaucracy in the U.S., the social forces in the Saigon government, personal ambition, greed, and more brought down the greatest superpower in the world and changed the scope of U.S. ambitions forever and altered American society in a way unimaginable in 1965.

Meanwhile, John Paul Vann is his anti-hero. In the first part of the book, Sheehan writes about Vann's carefully constructed self-image as one of the few military officers who understood how poorly the war was being fought and who lobbied to change the strategy. This was in the early years of 1966-67. As we continue to read, what he exposes is the man's amoral and limitless ambition which drove him to fight the war in 1971-1972 in a way he decried during the earlier years.

The contrast Sheehan draws between the two - Vann and the war - is stark: this is the kind of man that the U.S. government gave limitless firepower with which "to destroy a country to save it."

This book is good for people who aren't military readers. You don't have to know all sorts of military terms to read it. It doesn't get bogged down in details that make you feel stupid. It is sweeping history, written excellently. You could read this one book and understand the war on a basic level. It also gives you an admiration for the people of Vietnam who suffered so much, and yet seem like some of the most resilient people in the world.

I highly recommend it.(less)

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Dec 24, 2011 Les Aucoin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, history

Everything that the Powers That Be knew was wrong about the war but didn't tell you. I heard much of this in a international relations class at Portland State University, taught by a Professor Kovak. Students thought he was a communist.

Neil Sheehan lived a few blocks from me in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It took him 16 years to complete the book. I was fortunate to hear him give a talk about it at the National Archives. There, he signed my copy of the book: "To Congressm...more

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Feb 08, 2011 Ice Bear rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: one-off-reads

As a child a heard the large planes flying into Stansted Airoport at 3/4am as they stopped to refuelled, they were bringing the bodies back from Vietnam, but no one spoke about it.
In the early eighties I was in Washington and deeply moved by the Memorial to the fallen, which brought a sense of silence to a busy city.
From the mid eighties the soul searching in the US was more public and reached out to the UK, films like Platoon, Tour of Duty, Hamburger Hill, documentaries, tunes (19) and this boo...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars

Neil Sheehan’s book, A Bright Shining Lie is a real eye opener for anyone who may have served in the military or lived through what is known as the “Vietnam Era”.

I did both as a member of the Marine Corps (1960-1964) and as a student during the Vietnam War protests.

Mr. Sheehan follows the life of John Paul Vann a Lt. Col in the US Army as he spends his time, energy and intellect in trying to persuade the leaders of the American war effort to change course. Sheehan shows much of the parallel and...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Adam Yoshida rated it 4 of 5 stars

The really interesting thing about "A Bright Shining Lie" is that Neil Sheehan can't, in the very end, seem to fully work through his own political antipathy towards the work of John Paul Vann in Vietnam. The author is willing to, if not excuse altogether, at least look beyond the lies, the statutory rapes, and the various other immoral acts committed by Vann over the years. In fact, I think that it's pretty clear that he admired the man. Yet, for reasons that I can only presume are a mix of pol...more The really interesting thing about "A Bright Shining Lie" is that Neil Sheehan can't, in the very end, seem to fully work through his own political antipathy towards the work of John Paul Vann in Vietnam. The author is willing to, if not excuse altogether, at least look beyond the lies, the statutory rapes, and the various other immoral acts committed by Vann over the years. In fact, I think that it's pretty clear that he admired the man. Yet, for reasons that I can only presume are a mix of political and personal, Sheehan begins, especially as his narrative works towards the later part of the 1960's, to work from the assumption that the war was irrevocably lost by, at the absolute latest, the time of the Tet Offensive and refuses to look critically at that belief, even as it chronicles work by Vann that arguably suggests a contrary point of view.

It's a strange form of myopia in an otherwise-excellent work. I wonder, though I have not researched, at what point Sheehan's personal feelings turned against the war. Because, editorial commentary aside, the book does a fairly good job of making the case that the adoption of the sort of strategies advocated by Vann during the early part of his time in Vietnam by the Nixon Administration had created a situation where a free South Vietnam might have been sustained as a fairly low continuing cost. This is especially true if one looks at the situation from the perspective of the late 1980's - or even today. South Vietnam would not have had to survive under siege conditions indefinitely. All other things being equal, it would only have had to make it to 1980 or so before changes in both American foreign policy and the geopolitical structure of Asia would have rendered it safe. It strikes me as genuinely odd that, in assessing the life and work of a man like John Paul Vann - who believed in and gave his life for a free Vietnam - Sheehan never even stops to seriously consider the possibility.

I find this omission to be particularly jarring because, otherwise, this is a very fine work and fully deserving of the Pulitzer Prize that was bestowed upon it. Sheehan is a first-rate journalist and the depth of his research, both in the field in Vietnam during the 1960's and throughout the world later, shows on every page.

This is a book that I avoided for many years because of Sheehan's evident biases. Yet, having read it, I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the topic of the Vietnam War or the American military during the Cold War, regardless of their exact thoughts on the details of either topic.(less)

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Dec 21, 2011 Roberta rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2007

Vietnam una sporca bugia (traduzione poco indovinata, a mio parere, di A Bright Shining Lie) racconta la storia della guerra del Vietnam attraverso la vita di un uomo che al Vietnam dedicò 10 anni della sua esistenza: John Paul Vann. La sua carriera iniziò nel 1962, quando giunse in Vietnam come militare. Nel 1972, ancora in Vietnam come civile, nell’ambito del corpo di pacificazione, morì in un incidente in elicottero. Questo libro, ben scritto, è il frutto di anni di ricerche approfondite sull...more Vietnam una sporca bugia (traduzione poco indovinata, a mio parere, di A Bright Shining Lie) racconta la storia della guerra del Vietnam attraverso la vita di un uomo che al Vietnam dedicò 10 anni della sua esistenza: John Paul Vann. La sua carriera iniziò nel 1962, quando giunse in Vietnam come militare. Nel 1972, ancora in Vietnam come civile, nell’ambito del corpo di pacificazione, morì in un incidente in elicottero. Questo libro, ben scritto, è il frutto di anni di ricerche approfondite sulla sua vita e sulle parallele vicissitudini vietnamite.

Nell’ambito di questa decade l’approccio degli Stati Uniti al conflitto vietnamita cambiò più volte: con il Presidente Kennedy l’America iniziò ad essere coinvolta su larga scala in Vietnam, con il Presidente Johnson la guerra venne “americanizzata”, con il Presidente Nixon cominciò il ritiro delle truppe. Quando arrivarono per la prima volta in Vietnam i militari americani erano convinti di esercitare il loro dovere come difensori della libertà. La minaccia comunista incombeva nel Vietnam da quando i francesi avevano abbandonato la colonia al suo destino. Gli Stati Uniti erano convinti di andare a liberare una popolazione oppressa da una possibile dittatura comunista, e si sentivano forti, appena usciti com’erano dal secondo conflitto mondiale, un successo da ogni punto di vista.

Convinti di poter vincere in qualsiasi caso grazie al dispiego delle proprie enormi forze militari, gli americani non si resero conto di quando la situazione in Vietnam fosse intricata. Il movimento comunista era volto alla liberazione dei vietnamiti dal giogo di potenze esterne, e il fascino della loro dottrina si faceva sentire su quasi tutti i vietnamiti. Gli uomini al potere nel Vietnam del Sud, ancora in mano al governo di Saigon appoggiato dagli Stati Uniti, erano corrotti e non interessati a lanciare quelle riforme agrarie e sociali che divennero invece il tratto distintivo dei comunisti. Il governo di Saigon era interessato al mantenimento dello status quo e cercavano di evitare il conflitto con i guerriglieri comunisti di cui avevano paura. Erano convinti che l’appoggio degli Stati Uniti li tutelasse da qualsiasi problema. Gli Stati Uniti da parte loro si rifiutavano di prendere in mano le redini del governo: volevano che – almeno apparentemente – i vietnamiti apparissero i reali detentori del potere a Saigon, onde evitare accuse di colonialismo. Tutti questi problemi vennero aggravati dal rifiuto – forse in parte inconsapevole – della maggioranza dei militari presenti in Vietnam di riconoscere le sconfitte. Il conflitto era una guerriglia in cui era difficile tracciare i confini tra le zone in mano comunista e le zone in mano a Saigon. Le teste d’uovo potevano facilmente alterare i loro dati in modo da far apparire la situazione molto più ottimistica di quanto non fosse in realtà, tecnica che venne sfruttata largamente e portò alla rovina definitiva. I militari inoltre rifiutavano di prendere in considerazione un programma vasto ed approfondito di pacificazione e di riforme, in parte perché erano convinti che bastasse la forza bruta per risolvere il problema, in parte perché – come già detto – non desideravano immischiarsi negli affari interni del governo di Saigon.

Quando finalmente anche in madre patria si resero conto di quanto la situazione fosse degenerata, gli Stati Uniti (nella persona del Presidente Nixon) cominciarono il processo di “vietnamizzazione”: si trattava di rafforzare l’esercito vietnamita e di richiamare progressivamente le truppe americane. Nel 1973 vennero firmati gli accordi di pace, dopo un ritiro unilaterale di tutte le truppe statunitensi. Nonostante la promessa di Nixon di intervento in caso di ripresa delle ostilità da parte del FLN (Fronte di Liberazione Nazionale, il nome ufficiale del governo comunista), il Congresso votò contro e il Vietnam del Sud venne lasciato solo e successivamente conquistato da ed annesso al Vietnam del Nord a costituire la Repubblica Socialista del Vietnam, un governo comunista tutt’oggi in vigore.

Parallelamente viene raccontata la storia di Vann, che cominciò la sua carriera in Vietnam come consigliere militare. Le sue capacità organizzative, unite alla sua intelligenza e all’incredibile energia che lo animava, lo portarono a salire velocemente nella stima dei suoi superiori. La sua carriera però si bloccò nel momento in cui Vann, resosi conto dell’autoinganno praticato da praticamente tutti gli ufficiali più alti in grado presenti in Vietnam, cominciò ad andare contro-corrente, cercando di svelare le reali condizioni del conflitto. I suoi superiori e le teste d’uovo però erano più contenti di sentirsi dire che la guerra stava andando bene, anche se non era vero, e Vann venne osteggiato al punto che cominciò a parlare con i giornalisti. La sua idea era appunto quella di affiancare all’azione militare un’azione di pacificazione. Vann era anche convinto che gli Stati Uniti dovessero prendere in mano le redini della situazione. La sua testardaggine nel difendere le sue idee a rischio della sua carriera gli valsero ammirazione nel mondo del giornalismo (che inoltre poteva confidare in lui per avere informazioni di prima mano). In realtà Vann stava rischiando solo quello che voleva rischiare: la sua carriera era già stata rovinata da un episodio avvenuto prima del suo coinvolgimento in Vietnam (una denuncia di corruzione di minore). Audace e di saldi principi nello svolgimento del suo lavoro, Vann nella vita privata non era esattamente un santo. Quando la situazione degenerò Vann decise di congedarsi anticipatamente dall’esercito e cominciò a lavorare per le organizzazioni civili di pacificazione in Vietnam. Nel suo ruolo Vann crebbe velocemente, cercando di raggiungere il suo obiettivo, che era quello di ottenere un potere anche sulle truppe americane in Vietnam, pur da civile. Anche se Vann riuscì in parte nel suo intento, l’autore dimostra che ormai era troppo tardi: le idee di Vann, che un tempo avrebbero potuto cambiare le sorti della guerra, erano diventate anacronistiche. Vann però si illuse di avere ancora la possibilità di cambiare le cose, e chiuse gli occhi di fronte ad una situazione che ormai era degenerata, e continuò a sperare in una guerra che era ormai diventata il suo modus vivendi. Vann non riusciva più ad immaginarsi al di fuori del conflitto del Vietnam e morì appena in tempo per non essere disilluso del tutto.(less)

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Dec 22, 2011 Aaron Crofut rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: war, vietnam, history, biography, must-read

While not always a page turner, Sheehan's book is a must read for anyone interested in modern warfare and nationalism. It meshes very well with Bernard Fall's idea of revolutionary warfare, in contrast to guerrilla warfare. South Vietnam never possessed a government worth fighting for. In fact, the longer we stayed there, the worse their corruption became, largely because our government was unwilling to ever acknowledge faults with our allies.

Guerrilla warfare can be beaten if the terrain and p...more While not always a page turner, Sheehan's book is a must read for anyone interested in modern warfare and nationalism. It meshes very well with Bernard Fall's idea of revolutionary warfare, in contrast to guerrilla warfare. South Vietnam never possessed a government worth fighting for. In fact, the longer we stayed there, the worse their corruption became, largely because our government was unwilling to ever acknowledge faults with our allies.

Guerrilla warfare can be beaten if the terrain and population are not protecting the guerrilla forces. The V.C. had the advantage of being seen as legitimate, in stark opposition to the Saigon forces; to have the reputation of the Viet Minh, itself a legendary nationalist (and not entirely communist) force that almost all Vietnamese could feel pride in; and in the United States appearing (and largely being) a replacement for French imperialism, which drove many in opposition to the puppet government. Combine this with the fact that the Saigon government was almost always under the control of rich Catholics that sided with the French and were brutal to the majority of the population that was Buddhist, and the Viet Cong could operate almost at will in South Vietnam. This book also highlights the dangers of bureaucracy and its hindrance to adaptation when adapting is vital.

Ironically, this book convinces me beyond doubt that the Iraq War has little in common with the Vietnam conflict. The comparison is much more apt for our Afghanistan debacle. Afghanistan has a history of defeating superpowers, the Taliban have inherited the mujahedin's reputation as nationalists fighting foreigners, the Kabul government has the odious role of working with the foreigners, and Pakistan is almost a perfect replica of the porous borders that allowed the Ho Chi Minh Trail to work.

It'll take work to read it (Vann himself was not particularly interesting to me and I ended up skipping over chunks about his personal affairs), but I highly recommend this book. (less)

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Dec 26, 2009 Kathryn Muratore rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who enjoy reading about military strategy

I learned an awful lot about the Vietnam war. I enjoyed the political history of the war and the more biographical sections of the book. But, overall, the book was way to detail-oriented and focused on military conflicts and strategy for my taste.
I was a little bothered by the hagiography feel the book had. John Vann was pretty despicable in my view as a person, but the author is willing to make excuses for him. To be sure, he had a bad childhood - a fascinating read in the rubber-necking at a...more I learned an awful lot about the Vietnam war. I enjoyed the political history of the war and the more biographical sections of the book. But, overall, the book was way to detail-oriented and focused on military conflicts and strategy for my taste.
I was a little bothered by the hagiography feel the book had. John Vann was pretty despicable in my view as a person, but the author is willing to make excuses for him. To be sure, he had a bad childhood - a fascinating read in the rubber-necking at a car wreck kind of way - but an adult is still responsible for his disgusting behavior. I also did not find John Vann's insights into how the war ought to be fought very compelling. He came across as someone who needed to be in control, so, whether it was a more practical or winnable strategy or not, it just had the fell of central planning to me. He saw the criminal behavior of both American and South Vietnamese soldiers towards Viet Cong and civilians and failed to recommend the simplest, most humane, solution - get the military out of the situation.
However, as someone who was not alive during this war, the book provided me with a much better timeline of how the war started. The author includes the pre-history of the war - the politics and conflicts in Vietnam of the 40's and 50's. To be sure, there was some "mismanagement" of the war, which seems to be the author's primary point. But this seems inevitable when there was no justifiable reason for the war to begin with. Although I don't think this was the author's intention, I did learn exactly how unjust the Vietnam War was. The Vietnamese were a people who had been subject to the rule of invaders for decades. The Communism of the North was not ideological Communism at all, but they used the Communist movement of China to gain support for their opposition to colonial rule. The Viet Minh were only aiming at independence and if the French, and later the Americans, had just allowed the Vietnamese to self-rule, it is unlikely that either full-fledged Communism or Civil War would have resulted.
The cost in human life of Americans and Vietnamese, both military and civilian, is disturbing and a testament to the terrible foreign policy of our leaders - right, left, or center.(less)

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Mar 23, 2009 Evan marked it as to-read

Shelves: epic, modern-library-top-100-nonfiction, __in-my-collection, warfare, celebrity-famous-bio, asia, vietnam, pulitzer-prize, 1960s

I've had this on my to-read list for 15 years or so, so when a copy became available a few days ago at Half Price Books for $1 it was a no-brainer. I started reading this today while waiting in the long line at the polling booth; I thought it entirely appropriate on election day to begin reading a book about a war and the conflicting policies that got us into it and kept us in it, since all the hubris and misguided do-goodery and righteousness that got us into Vietnam is of the same ilk as has g...more

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May 28, 2008 Toby Decker added it

This Pulitzer Award winning book for non-fiction is 20 years old. It is fascinating account of the untruthful self-serving leaders in the military and government both Republican and Democrat from 1964-1973. This closely parallels the untruthful propaganda in which Bush-Cheney manipulated Congress to start the worst military disaster in our 230 plus year history.
Most effective is the writer's clear, concise style, exhaustive research over 16 years. From the hero's incredible sexual energy - with...more

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Oct 06, 2008 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: history-of-america-in-eight-books

Tight, informative, and well-structured, A Bright Shining Lie mixes biography and serious history to provide a comprehensive and compelling history of the Vietnam War.

Sheehan, the author, was a NYT correspondent through the war, and it was under his byline that the Pentagon Papers were first published. He had personally met and reported on all the books principle characters, and speaks with an authoritative voice - even when criticizing his own reporting. This is no Anti-American slash 'n burn...more

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May 26, 2008 Patrick rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

A stunning piece of biography and history. Perhaps the most impressive thing about this book is the way Sheehan constructs the book. The first part of the main body of the book starts with Lt. Colonel John Paul Vann landing in Vietnam and discovering the substantial difficulties the U.S. faces in defeating the Viet Cong. In this first part, Vann comes off as the unlistened to, wise sage who, if we the generals and politicians had only listened, would have provided a real opportunity to preserve...more

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Mar 03, 2008 Howard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-reviewed-for-kirkus

Using the life of one man as his framework, Sheehan has written the best book on America's involvement in Vietnam since Frances Fitzgerald's Fire in the Lake. John Paul Vann was a visionary as well as a gung-ho army officer. Arriving in Saigon in 1962 as a Lt. Colonel, Vann soon perceived something amiss in the US approach to the blossoming war. The American-backed ruling family, the Ngo Dinhs, were considered foreigners by most of the population; the ARVN existed primarily to protect them and g...more

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Aug 12, 2008 gwen added it

I'll admit this book was a slog for me; 800 pages of non-fiction on any topic would have been a slog for me, but 800 pages on such a profoundly violent and depressing topic as the Vietnam War was especially so. But I am very glad I read it and very glad that J. recommended it in the first place.

Neil Sheehan started out with a strong concept: Take one man's life and use it as a kaleidescope for the whole war. He took that concept further than I could have imagined -- by the end, you feel like yo...more

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