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Vietnam: The Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of America's Most Disastrous Military Conflict Paperback – July 16, 2002

by Michael Lind (Author)

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What went wrong in Vietnam?
Michael Lind casts new light on one of the most contentious episodes in American history in this controversial bestseller.
In this groundgreaking reinterpretation of America's most disatrous and controversial war, Michael Lind demolishes enduring myths and put the Vietnam War in its proper context -- as part of the global conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. Lind reveals the deep cultural divisions within the United States that made the Cold War consensus so fragile and explains how and why American public support for the war in Indochina declined. Even more stunning is his provacative argument that the United States failed in Vietnam because the military establishment did not adapt to the demands of what before 1968 had been largely a guerrilla war.
In an era when the United States often finds itself embroiled in prolonged and difficult conflicts in places like Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia, and Iraq, Lind offers a sobering cautionary tale to Ameicans of all political viewpoints.

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Editorial Reviews

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John Patrick Diggins Distinguished Professor of History, City University of New York Graduate Center Most Americans prefer to forget the Vietnam War. Lind compels us to remember it in all its complexity and tragedy and to consider military and diplomatic possibilities that almost no other author or statesman has though of raising. Moving through the pages of this richly provocative book is an agitated originality.

Fareed Zakaria managing editor, "Foreign Affairs" A quarter century after its bitter end, Vietnam remains America's most controversial war and Michael Lind's book is sure to set off new sparks about it. Looking at the war from the heights of grand strategy and the inner reaches of domestic politics, Lind makes a fresh, highly intelligent, and passionate case for rethinking the conventional wisdom. Agree with it or not, it is compelling reading.

Dan Rather CBS News Michael Lind is one of the smartest and most gifted writers I know of. He is also one of the bravest, unafraid to tackle the most controversial subjects. Now he turns his formidable attentions to the Vietnam War, and the results will dazzle you. More importantly, this book will make you think. Even if, ultimately, you don't agree with every single provocative analysis Michael Lind provides, I guarantee you will be challenged to reassess and reinvigorate every idea you have received, stockpiled, and taken for granted for three decades. "Vietnam: The Necessary War" is a necessary book -- for anyone who really wants to understand one of the most difficult periods in our history.

Paperback: 314 pages
Publisher: Free Press; Reprint edition (July 16, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780684870274
ISBN-13: 978-0684870274
ASIN: 0684870274
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 58 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #573,045 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #640 in Books > History > Asia > Southeast Asia
- #1235 in Books > History > Military > United States > Vietnam War
- #2592 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Ethics & Morality

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Nicholas E. Sarantakes

Pushing the Envelope

February 28, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Lind is a provocative, engaging, and also infuriating writer. In this book on the American experience in Vietnam, he offers up a new take strategy and the balance of power in the Cold War that is extremely different. The United States had to fight in Vietnam and lose (although winning would have been preferable) to prove that its word had meaning and that the allies could count on their American friends. "It was necessary for the United States to escalate the war in the mid-1960s in order to defend the credibility of the United States as a superpower, but it was necessary for United States to forfeit the war after 1968, in order to preserve the American domestic political consensus in favor of the Cold War on other fronts. Indochina was worth a war but only a limited war--and not the limited war that the United States actually fought" (p. xv).

At times the book reads like it was designed for domestic political consumption and winning points on one of the cable talk shows that are broadcast from various parts of the Washington, D.C. area. It is far more sophisticated than what anyone will find on those shows, though.

Lind basically calls it like he sees it and manages to rankle almost anyone who has a stake in American public life: Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, the religious, the military, the antiwar movement and pacifists, the American intellectual community, and the civil rights movement to name just a few. Those few groups that do not get offended in some form from this book are probably not all that important in the first place. In the process, he punctures many myths. Chapter three on the failure of the U.S. military in Vietnam--rejecting the idea popular among veterans that the politicians kept them from winning the war--alone is worth the price of the book. He also goes after the antiwar movement and argues in convincing fashion that it became the witting pawn of the North Vietnamese and that many of the leaders crossed the line between dissent and disloyalty. The chapter on American politics and culture is interesting, but he makes the United States far more historical conscious than is actually the case. It is also difficult to take serious an argument that claims Wisconsin and Oregon are part of New England. Few people will buy all his arguments, but he will make you stop and think a bit.

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Alan Dale DanielTop Contributor: Drawing

Geopolitical Assessment of Vietnam

March 23, 2000

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The author does an excellent job of reviewing the geopolitical importance of the Vietnam war and the various theories of geopolitical power that explain the conduct of nations. The book attacks the views of both liberals and conservatives on the reasons for military and political failure in Vietnam. While the reasons for failure and the possible solutions are subject to attack themselves, at least they pose a new way of looking at the war and its aftermath which should lead to a better way of examining our current foreign policy. The book asks the right questions and it helps develop answers to current and future problems of a geopolitical nature. The author's writing style is excellent. The book reads quickly and the concepts are well explained. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in history or politics.

18 people found this helpful

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June 5, 2017

Verified Purchase

Arrived on time and in good condition. I may disagree with some of Lind's points, but he still makes a compelling argument.

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January 10, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

thank you

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Harmonious

A serious topic makes for a delightful reading

August 9, 2007

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Michael Lind has to be either the leading American intellectual alive or, a close competitor for that honor. With this lucid book, I was more than persuaded - indeed swept - into giving credence to Lind's arguments about the importance of the American involvement in Vietnam. Mr Lind draws from many sources in order to bolster his artfully weaved thesis. This book has history, analysis, and even some conjectures that are highly plausible. I am sure this book will become the standard against which similar books will be compared. In case that you are curious, here is Lind's verdict: "The Vietnam War was a just, constitutional and necessary proxy war in the Third World War that was waged by methods that were often counterproductive and sometimes arguably immoral. The war had to be fought in order to preserve the military and diplomatic credibility of the United States in the Cold War, ...."

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