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.
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