Road to Disaster: A New History of America's Descent into Vietnam - Couverture rigide

VanDeMark, Brian

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0062449745 ISBN 13 : 9780062449740

Editeur : Mariner Books, 2018

Synopsis

"The most thoughtful and judicious one-volume history of the war and the American political leaders who presided over the difficult and painful decisions that shaped this history. The book will stand for the foreseeable future as the best study of the tragic mistakes that led to so much suffering."—Robert Dallek

Many books have been written on the tragic decisions regarding Vietnam made by the young stars of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet despite millions of words of analysis and reflection, no historian has been able to explain why such decent, brilliant, and previously successful men stumbled so badly.

That changes with Road to Disaster. Historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own interviews with many of those involved, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford, who served as Defense Secretaries for Kennedy and Johnson. Yet beyond that, Road to Disaster is also the first history of the war to look at the cataclysmic decisions of those in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations through the prism of recent research in cognitive science, psychology, and organizational theory to explain why the "Best and the Brightest" became trapped in situations that suffocated creative thinking and willingness to dissent, why they found change so hard, and why they were so blind to their own errors.

An epic history of America’s march to quagmire, Road to Disaster is a landmark in scholarship and a book of immense importance.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Brian VanDeMark teaches history at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, where for more than twenty-five years he has educated students about the Vietnam War. A Ph.D. graduate of UCLA and an elected visiting fellow at Oxford University, he served as research assistant on Clark Clifford's bestselling autobiography, Counsel to the President, and coauthor of Robert McNamara's number one bestseller, In Retrospect. A Texas native, he now lives in Maryland.

À propos de la quatrième de couverture

Many books have been written on the tragic decisions regarding Vietnam made by the young stars of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet despite millions of words of analysis and reflection, no historian has been able to fully explain why such decent, brilliant, and previously successful men failed so badly. With this book—more than twenty years in the making—that changes.

In Road to Disaster, acclaimed historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own exclusive interviews with many of the officials  involved with the war, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark  Clifford, who served as defense secretaries for presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Beyond that, Road to Disaster is the first account of the war to look at the cataclysmic decisions of those in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations through the prism of recent research in cognitive science, psychology, and organizational theory to explain why “the best and the brightest” became trapped in situations that suffocated creative thinking and willingness to dissent; why they found change so hard; and why they were so blind to their
own errors.

A comprehensive history of America’s descent into Vietnam during the 1960s that posits a striking new way of understanding that catastrophe,  Road to Disaster is a landmark in scholarship and a work of paramount importance, both in comprehending what happened and why, and—just as importantly—preventing fiascoes in the future.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Mariner Books
• Date d'édition: 2018
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0062449745
• ISBN 13: 9780062449740
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 656
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: HarperCollins Publishers Ireland; enquiries@harpercollins.ie; ; Mayor Street Upper 39/40; Dublin; D01 C9W8; Irlande