After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam [Hardcover]

Ronald H. Spector (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1992 | ISBN-10: 002930380X | ISBN-13: 978-0029303801 | Edition: First

In the wake of the TET offensive in March, 1968, Lyndon Johnson announced the cessation of bombing against North Vietnam and his decision not to run for president. Now, in time for the 25th anniversary of the TET offensive, Ronald Spector has written a narrative account of that bloodiest year of the war, a year that largely determined the course and outcome of the war. The battles of 1968 were costly and inconclusive, leading to a diplomatic deadlock that, in the long run, frustrated Americans and worked to the advantage of their patient enemies. Yet, by failing to break the political and military deadlock, these indecisive operations condemned the belligerents to five more years of war. Drawing upon recently declassified military records and personal documents, this book describes the desperate struggle in the jungles, mountains and rice paddies of Vietnam, as both sides mounted increasingly expensive and predictable offensives. Caught between an American government which could never make up its mind and a North Vietnamese government which refused ever to change its mind, thousands of brave men and women gave up their lives to an undefinable end. Spector gives the reader an in-depth look at the experience of the American GI, in combat and "in the rear". Drawing upon first-hand accounts by GIs who were there, as well as his own eye-witness experience as a marine in Vietnam, Spector explores the lesser-known aspects of the war: the deterioration of race relations, the growth of drug culture and the riots in the US military prisons near Saigon and Danang. The vantage point of the rank and file soldier finds its counterpart in Spector's parallel exploration of the experience of the war for the Vietnamese, from the Viet Cong soldier "born in the north to die in the south", to the South Vietnamese soldier, brave and resourceful, but hobbled by an all-pervasive system of corruption and nepotism. This history of the American military experience in Vietnam explores the bloodiest year from all angles - the personal military and political, the American and the Vietnamese. Spector has also written "Advice and Support: The Early Years of the US Army in Vietnam, 1941-1960", "Eagle Against the Sun" and "The American War with Japan".

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Spector ( Eagle Against the Sun ) maintains that the months following the Tet offensive (January and February 1968) illuminated the true nature of the war in Vietnam and largely determined its course during the five years that followed. In '68 both sides launched their most powerful efforts to break the military and political stalemate, and the U.S., furthermore, began to recognize potentially disastrous problems of racial tension and drug abuse among its troops. Spector analyzes the ultimately futile tactics of U.S. military operations, the "other war" effort to win hearts and minds, and the race riots at the Long Binh stockade and Danang brig, among other developments of that fateful year. He is perhaps the first major historian to scrutinize the Combined Action Program, in which Marine squads lived for indefinite periods in villages, providing aid and protection. The Army high command in Saigon regarded the program as well-meaning but misguided; according to Spector, however, it was the most effective, imaginative and humane approach the Americans devised. By concentrating on its most representative year, Spector has produced a first-rate history of the war. BOMC and History Book Club alternates.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

America's fighting forces suffered their greatest losses of the Vietnam War in the year following the Viet Cong/North Vietnam Army's February 1968 Tet Offensive. Spector's thorough examination of this period carries some surprising conclusions about motives and methods on both sides and reinforces many accepted ones. In the overall history he focuses on some of the more important actions, like Dai Do and the siege of Kham Duo, to outline each side's tactics. Equally interesting to students of the conflict is his description of support unit life in the major urban areas, reviled by the combat troops but dangerous nonetheless. The year 1968 also saw a decline in racial harmony and an increase in drug use. This readable, insightful, comprehensive work is a step forward in Vietnam War histories. BOMC and History Book Club alternates.
- Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, Cal.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; First edition (October 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 002930380X
• ISBN-13: 978-0029303801
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #730,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tet was Hell............, June 28, 2002

By 

Ross Gadeberg (Glen Ellen, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam (Paperback)

Yes Tet of 1968 was hell for those of us that were over there at the time. And then came May and August of 68, which were also two of the bloodiest months of the war. I was with the 1/27 25th Infantry Division at Cu Chi, which was a major area of tunnels for which the VC and NVA stored weapons and supplies. As a "tunnel rat" I experienced some herrendous experiences there. Ron Spector has made some very good conclusions regarding the war and points out some of the many problems that we 19 year olds had to incur. Great book for those of us that were there as well as the rest of you who just want to gain some understanding as to why we lost the war, and some 56,000 young men as well.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An imminently re-readable reference on the Vietnam War., September 26, 1998

By 

Carl Voyles ([e-mail]) (Anna Maria, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam (Paperback)

This exceptionally comprehensive and readable book is a "page turner." I couldn't put it down! Highlighter in hand, I penned marginal note after note, comparing my own memories and observations as a Navy doctor ashore in I Corps in 1968 and '69 with those of the author. In the introduction Spector asks: "How did we lose the war? Why were we there?" Then he adds: "In a sense we have no real history... instead we have controversy, myth and popular memory." He then proceeds to skillfully weave historical background, Vietnamese and American, with vivid descriptions of battles, skirmishes, debates, intrigues and campaigns... providing vignettes of personal experiences balanced from many viewpoints: the young American draftee, the college OCS-trained officer, the Viet Cong soldier... generals and politicians, presidents and negotiators... Vietnamese and American. "After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam" will be placed, along with Frances Fitzgerald's "Fire in the Lake," Neil Sheehan's "Bright Shining Lie," Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" and Bernard Fall's "Street Without Joy," as an irreplaceable, imminently re-readable reference on the Vietnam War.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wish I wasn't there in 68, August 24, 2001

By 

Roger Dufresne (Derry, NH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam (Paperback)

I guess I really didn't know that my period of time in Nam was the bloodiest until I read this book and all of the statistics, etc. However, I can tell you from an artilleryman's perspective in I Corps that 68 was a year that still makes me wake with the sweats every few nights. I was near My Lai in June (at LZ Dottie about 3 mos after the massacre) and the area was still bad news. My unit was also near the DMZ near Phu Bai a couple of months later - same story -at Fat City - same story and the same story for the remainder of the year. Please note that I didn't come into country until June which was about 4 1/2 months after Tet when so many of the VC were killed. I believe that the Tet Offensive was a political not a military victory because of need for the press to get stories. Yes, the VC proved that no part of Nam really was safe. But, who really felt safe in a combat area? Because of this need for press coverage I believe that the NVA and the remainder of the VC were embolden in 68 until they were nearly militarily destroyed. And at the same time how many young American men had to die or become maimed because of the press' need for blood. Don't forget the roles that McNamara and Jane Fonda (both war criminals in my perspective) had in the creation of Tet offensive. My time in 69 was not so night sweat inducing, since most of the VC and many of the NVA realized that they too were "cannon fodder" because so many of their numbers were killed or seriously wounded in 68. If you want to read a good book regarding this time period, this is one good book. It can be considered a little dry with its statistics, but what true history book doesn't give statistics. This book belongs on every Viet Nam vet's bookcase.