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Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975
Hardcover – October 16, 2018
by Max Hastings (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 112 customer reviews
See all 11 formats and editions
Kindle
$9.00Read with Our Free App
Hardcover
$23.8435 Used from $18.0753 New from $23.781 Collectible from $125.00
Vietnam: The Real War: A Photographic History by the Associated Press
Pete Hamill
4.3 out of 5 stars 78
Hardcover
$23.71
Editorial Reviews
Review
“We’ve seen a shelf-load of histories, analyses, memoirs, and novels on Vietnam. But what Hastings does in Vietnam is pull all these genres together in a highly readable and vivid narrative that, I think, will become the standard on the war for many years to come.” (NPR.org)
“This is a comprehensive, spellbinding, surprisingly intimate, and altogether magnificent historical narrative.” (Tim O’Brien, author of Pulitzer Prize finalist The Things They Carried)
“This balanced and insightful book is a pleasure to read. It destroys the fantasy that one side or the other held the moral high ground or a monopoly on devastating folly.” (Karl Marlantes, author of What It Is Like to Go to War and Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War)
“A gripping, well-researched look at a divisive American war.” (New York Post)
“A comprehensive and compelling narrative that illuminates political and military tactics and strategies — and the daily realities of a war that killed 2 million people.” (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
From the Back Cover
Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the 1968 Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and much less familiar miniatures such as the bloodbath at Daido—where a US Marine battalion was almost wiped out—together with extraordinary recollections of Ho Chi Minh’s warriors. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.
Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it overwhelmingly as one for the Vietnamese people, of whom forty died for every American. US blunders and atrocities were matched by those committed by their enemies. While all the world has seen the image of a screaming, naked girl seared by napalm, it forgets countless eviscerations, beheadings, and murders carried out by the communists. The people of both former Vietnams paid a bitter price for the Northerners’ victory in privation and oppression. Here we are given testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bar girls, and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, and Huey pilots from Arkansas.
No past volume has blended a political and military narrative of the entire conflict with heart-stopping personal experiences in the fashion that Hastings’s readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle, and presents many lessons for the twenty-first century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. In Vietnam, Hastings marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record.
See all Editorial Reviews
Product details
Hardcover: 896 pages
Publisher: Harper;
by Max Hastings (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 112 customer reviews
See all 11 formats and editions
Kindle
$9.00Read with Our Free App
Hardcover
$23.8435 Used from $18.0753 New from $23.781 Collectible from $125.00
Vietnam: The Real War: A Photographic History by the Associated Press
Pete Hamill
4.3 out of 5 stars 78
Hardcover
$23.71
Editorial Reviews
Review
“We’ve seen a shelf-load of histories, analyses, memoirs, and novels on Vietnam. But what Hastings does in Vietnam is pull all these genres together in a highly readable and vivid narrative that, I think, will become the standard on the war for many years to come.” (NPR.org)
“This is a comprehensive, spellbinding, surprisingly intimate, and altogether magnificent historical narrative.” (Tim O’Brien, author of Pulitzer Prize finalist The Things They Carried)
“This balanced and insightful book is a pleasure to read. It destroys the fantasy that one side or the other held the moral high ground or a monopoly on devastating folly.” (Karl Marlantes, author of What It Is Like to Go to War and Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War)
“A gripping, well-researched look at a divisive American war.” (New York Post)
“A comprehensive and compelling narrative that illuminates political and military tactics and strategies — and the daily realities of a war that killed 2 million people.” (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
From the Back Cover
Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the 1968 Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and much less familiar miniatures such as the bloodbath at Daido—where a US Marine battalion was almost wiped out—together with extraordinary recollections of Ho Chi Minh’s warriors. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.
Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it overwhelmingly as one for the Vietnamese people, of whom forty died for every American. US blunders and atrocities were matched by those committed by their enemies. While all the world has seen the image of a screaming, naked girl seared by napalm, it forgets countless eviscerations, beheadings, and murders carried out by the communists. The people of both former Vietnams paid a bitter price for the Northerners’ victory in privation and oppression. Here we are given testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bar girls, and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, and Huey pilots from Arkansas.
No past volume has blended a political and military narrative of the entire conflict with heart-stopping personal experiences in the fashion that Hastings’s readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle, and presents many lessons for the twenty-first century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. In Vietnam, Hastings marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record.
See all Editorial Reviews
Product details
Hardcover: 896 pages
Publisher: Harper;
----------------
112 customer reviews
4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5 stars
5 star 76%
4 star 9%
3 star 9%
2 star2 star (0%)
0%
1 star 6%
See all customer images
Read reviews that mention
vietnam war max hastings united states epic tragedysouth vietnam north vietnamese tet offensive south vietnamesechi minh ken burns agent orange white house north vietnambien phu dien bien saigon government nixon and kissingerviet minh history of the vietnam vietnam
Showing 1-8 of 112 reviews
Top Reviews
Vu
5.0 out of 5 starsA more nuanced view than Ken Burn's documentary companion bookOctober 20, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Max Hastings delivers a great overview of the Vietnam War, and much better than Ken Burns did in his documentary and its companion book in my opinion. I enjoyed the Burns book, but I felt like many South Vietnamese felt that it was a lacking in detailing the atrocities of the Communists. I'll admit my biases now however. My own Grandfather was an ARVN grunt who got put in a gulag for years after the war. Ken Burns deserves credit for bringing the Vietnam War back to the forefront, but more details of the beasts that the US and South Vietnam were fighting would have given a more nuanced look to the viewership.
The Communists buried people alive who resisted them to save bullets. They hacked people to death. Summary executions of "enemies of the revolution" were done in order to create a Stalinist society. Westerners sometimes of a romantic view of the Davidian "freedom fighters" throwing off the Goliaths of the west, and label Ho Chi Minh as a Nationalist rather than a Communist. But the North Vietnamese policies were Stalinist policies, and no one but the most ardent Communists today would call Stalin anything other than a ruthless butcher. Hastings did well in discussing Ho's commitment to the Comintern even before WWII, and his purges of the Vietnamese peoples of the various nationalist groups who also fought the French. There were dozens of Nationalists striving for an independent Vietnam. The Viet Minh butchered them all. Americans who remember Afghanistan in the 80s will remember that we did not aid the Taliban, but rather a fractured network of Mudjahideen fighting against Soviet troops. However, the Taliban won the scramble for power in the post-war period and destroyed all other opposition groups. The Viet Minh had done the same thing 30 years earlier.
I believe Hastings put it best when he said something along the lines of "Those who feel like America was wrong had a tendency to take the extra step, and assume that their enemies were right" and that South Vietnam and North Vietnam embarked a bloody conflict that neither "deserved" to win.
Hastings frames it as a tragedy, so the language and prose he uses stir the heart and the stories he collected are truly heartbreaking. As a journalist, he knows how to write in a manner that a more perhaps "dry" history does not fully capture. Since he is a Brit, I felt that Hastings approached this story with less bias that Vietnamese or American historians tend to. American historians understandably tend to frame it as an American history. Hastings takes a more Vietnamese-centric angle with this work. We also see perspectives from the British officials throughout the work. I simply could not put this book down, because it is so well written.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book, and recommend it to anyone who liked Ken Burns' documentary and would like to flesh out their understanding of the conflict.
186 people found this helpful
HelpfulComment Report abuse
John Harrison
5.0 out of 5 starsIf you want to read only one history of the Vietnam War, choose this bookOctober 29, 2018
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
If you want to read only one history of the Vietnam War, choose this book, “Vietnam, an Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975”, by Max Hastings. Does that mean I agree with all of the author’s conclusions—no. It means that Max Hastings has succeeded better than any other author I have read in capturing, and then presenting in an understandable way what actually happened in that long bloody conflict.
Hastings faces head on the lingering questions about the war, gives the reader the facts as he found them and then his conclusions based on those facts. He finds few generals worthy of the name on either side. On the other hand he also recites in detail the actions of these generals that led to those conclusions. You can chose a differing opinion if you want.
The Vietnam War for Hastings was a 30 year tragedy, interspersed with courage, stupidity alternating with brilliance, and some humor as well. Thirty years is a lot to cover even in 752 pages. The beauty of the book is that Hastings succeeds in telling the larger story of the war along with many of the smaller ones as well. Like Cornelius Ryan, in his books, “The Longest Day” and a “Bridge Too Far”, Hastings is a former newspaper reporter, actually a war reporter that reported on the Vietnam War. What that means for the reader is mostly short well thought out sentences that tell an understandable story about a complex subject. The fact that the war itself changed every year and that a soldier’s experience depended a great deal on the unit he was with and the Area of Operations that the unit was responsible for is well told, well explained. Even more important Hastings finally gets the battles of Tet ’68 right. It was a massive victory completely misreported at home.
You can read my book, “Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive 1968” to find out what being an elite paratrooper was like in the late 1960's, when the country had a draft and well over five hundred thousand Americans were serving one year tours in Vietnam, or Frank Boccia’s book “Crouching Beast” to learn what happened at the battle of Hamburger Hill, but if you want to know what happened during the entire Vietnam War including more than a bit about the French debacle and lead in to America’s involvement, then read “Vietnam, an Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975”, by Max Hastings.
I should disclose that I was one of those interviewed by the author and I am quoted a couple of times in the book but that was the only time I ever met him.
75 people found this helpful
HelpfulComment Report abuse
RayB
1.0 out of 5 starsAgenda-driven history makes for poor narrativeOctober 30, 2018
Format: Hardcover
I am very disappointed in Mr. Hasting's approach to the narrative in this book. He tends to forget that real people with real stories were part of this narrative. I specifically am appalled at his treatment of Maj. General Jim Livingstone (then Captain Livingstone, Congressional Medal of Honor winner for leading Echo Company of the 2/4 Marines during the Battle of Daido). You see, Mr. Hastings had a premise working here. SecDef Macnamara had lowered standards to get more infantrymen into the field. So, his anecdotal reflections had to be that the Marines' leaders were incompetent martinets and the Marines were drug-addled, low IQ pawns in the battle. The problem is that nothing could be far from the truth. Mr. Hastings cherry picks his quoted interviews. He called Captain Livingstone a glory hound, who was trying to get the CMH at the expense of his men's lives. What Captain Livingstone did was get his men into shape, led from the front and with tactical prowess and great personal courage, saved the lives of his fellow Marines and rescued other companies in his battalion from certain destruction. I know Captain Livingstone's family personally, and seeing the pain in his eyes from Mr. Hasting's personal invective makes it difficult for me to recommend this book. I expected a more professional treatise from a writer of his weight. Instead we got Vietnam: the Oliver Stone version.
74 people found this helpful
112 customer reviews
4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5 stars
5 star 76%
4 star 9%
3 star 9%
2 star2 star (0%)
0%
1 star 6%
See all customer images
Read reviews that mention
vietnam war max hastings united states epic tragedysouth vietnam north vietnamese tet offensive south vietnamesechi minh ken burns agent orange white house north vietnambien phu dien bien saigon government nixon and kissingerviet minh history of the vietnam vietnam
Showing 1-8 of 112 reviews
Top Reviews
Vu
5.0 out of 5 starsA more nuanced view than Ken Burn's documentary companion bookOctober 20, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Max Hastings delivers a great overview of the Vietnam War, and much better than Ken Burns did in his documentary and its companion book in my opinion. I enjoyed the Burns book, but I felt like many South Vietnamese felt that it was a lacking in detailing the atrocities of the Communists. I'll admit my biases now however. My own Grandfather was an ARVN grunt who got put in a gulag for years after the war. Ken Burns deserves credit for bringing the Vietnam War back to the forefront, but more details of the beasts that the US and South Vietnam were fighting would have given a more nuanced look to the viewership.
The Communists buried people alive who resisted them to save bullets. They hacked people to death. Summary executions of "enemies of the revolution" were done in order to create a Stalinist society. Westerners sometimes of a romantic view of the Davidian "freedom fighters" throwing off the Goliaths of the west, and label Ho Chi Minh as a Nationalist rather than a Communist. But the North Vietnamese policies were Stalinist policies, and no one but the most ardent Communists today would call Stalin anything other than a ruthless butcher. Hastings did well in discussing Ho's commitment to the Comintern even before WWII, and his purges of the Vietnamese peoples of the various nationalist groups who also fought the French. There were dozens of Nationalists striving for an independent Vietnam. The Viet Minh butchered them all. Americans who remember Afghanistan in the 80s will remember that we did not aid the Taliban, but rather a fractured network of Mudjahideen fighting against Soviet troops. However, the Taliban won the scramble for power in the post-war period and destroyed all other opposition groups. The Viet Minh had done the same thing 30 years earlier.
I believe Hastings put it best when he said something along the lines of "Those who feel like America was wrong had a tendency to take the extra step, and assume that their enemies were right" and that South Vietnam and North Vietnam embarked a bloody conflict that neither "deserved" to win.
Hastings frames it as a tragedy, so the language and prose he uses stir the heart and the stories he collected are truly heartbreaking. As a journalist, he knows how to write in a manner that a more perhaps "dry" history does not fully capture. Since he is a Brit, I felt that Hastings approached this story with less bias that Vietnamese or American historians tend to. American historians understandably tend to frame it as an American history. Hastings takes a more Vietnamese-centric angle with this work. We also see perspectives from the British officials throughout the work. I simply could not put this book down, because it is so well written.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book, and recommend it to anyone who liked Ken Burns' documentary and would like to flesh out their understanding of the conflict.
186 people found this helpful
HelpfulComment Report abuse
John Harrison
5.0 out of 5 starsIf you want to read only one history of the Vietnam War, choose this bookOctober 29, 2018
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
If you want to read only one history of the Vietnam War, choose this book, “Vietnam, an Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975”, by Max Hastings. Does that mean I agree with all of the author’s conclusions—no. It means that Max Hastings has succeeded better than any other author I have read in capturing, and then presenting in an understandable way what actually happened in that long bloody conflict.
Hastings faces head on the lingering questions about the war, gives the reader the facts as he found them and then his conclusions based on those facts. He finds few generals worthy of the name on either side. On the other hand he also recites in detail the actions of these generals that led to those conclusions. You can chose a differing opinion if you want.
The Vietnam War for Hastings was a 30 year tragedy, interspersed with courage, stupidity alternating with brilliance, and some humor as well. Thirty years is a lot to cover even in 752 pages. The beauty of the book is that Hastings succeeds in telling the larger story of the war along with many of the smaller ones as well. Like Cornelius Ryan, in his books, “The Longest Day” and a “Bridge Too Far”, Hastings is a former newspaper reporter, actually a war reporter that reported on the Vietnam War. What that means for the reader is mostly short well thought out sentences that tell an understandable story about a complex subject. The fact that the war itself changed every year and that a soldier’s experience depended a great deal on the unit he was with and the Area of Operations that the unit was responsible for is well told, well explained. Even more important Hastings finally gets the battles of Tet ’68 right. It was a massive victory completely misreported at home.
You can read my book, “Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive 1968” to find out what being an elite paratrooper was like in the late 1960's, when the country had a draft and well over five hundred thousand Americans were serving one year tours in Vietnam, or Frank Boccia’s book “Crouching Beast” to learn what happened at the battle of Hamburger Hill, but if you want to know what happened during the entire Vietnam War including more than a bit about the French debacle and lead in to America’s involvement, then read “Vietnam, an Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975”, by Max Hastings.
I should disclose that I was one of those interviewed by the author and I am quoted a couple of times in the book but that was the only time I ever met him.
75 people found this helpful
HelpfulComment Report abuse
RayB
1.0 out of 5 starsAgenda-driven history makes for poor narrativeOctober 30, 2018
Format: Hardcover
I am very disappointed in Mr. Hasting's approach to the narrative in this book. He tends to forget that real people with real stories were part of this narrative. I specifically am appalled at his treatment of Maj. General Jim Livingstone (then Captain Livingstone, Congressional Medal of Honor winner for leading Echo Company of the 2/4 Marines during the Battle of Daido). You see, Mr. Hastings had a premise working here. SecDef Macnamara had lowered standards to get more infantrymen into the field. So, his anecdotal reflections had to be that the Marines' leaders were incompetent martinets and the Marines were drug-addled, low IQ pawns in the battle. The problem is that nothing could be far from the truth. Mr. Hastings cherry picks his quoted interviews. He called Captain Livingstone a glory hound, who was trying to get the CMH at the expense of his men's lives. What Captain Livingstone did was get his men into shape, led from the front and with tactical prowess and great personal courage, saved the lives of his fellow Marines and rescued other companies in his battalion from certain destruction. I know Captain Livingstone's family personally, and seeing the pain in his eyes from Mr. Hasting's personal invective makes it difficult for me to recommend this book. I expected a more professional treatise from a writer of his weight. Instead we got Vietnam: the Oliver Stone version.
74 people found this helpful
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