Vietnam: An Epic History of a Divisive War 1945-1975

By Max Hastings

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ‘His masterpiece’ Antony Beevor, Spectator ‘A masterful performance’ Sunday Times ‘By far the best book on the Vietnam War’ Gerald Degroot, The Times, Book of the Year

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 Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and less familiar battles 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 2 million people.

Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it as overwhelmingly that of 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 is testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bargirls and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, 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 Max Hastings’ readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle with so many lessons for the 21st century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. He marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Sep 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9780008133009

Max Hastings

Max Hastings is the author of twenty-eight books, most about conflict, and between 1986 and 2002 served as editor in chief of the Daily Telegraph, then as editor of the Evening Standard. He has won many prizes, for both his journalism and his books, the most recent of which are the bestsellers Vietnam, The Secret War, Catastrophe, and All Hell Let Loose. Knighted in 2002, Hastings is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, an Honorary Fellow of King’s College London, and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He has two grown children, Charlotte and Harry, and lives with his wife, Penny, in West Berkshire, where they garden enthusiastically.

Reviews for Vietnam

[tommcgreevy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a strong general history of the wars in Vietnam between 1945-1975. The 'Afterwards' chapter should almost be read as an introduction. The author has some axes to grind, and does a fair bit of grinding, but that said, otherwise does a good job in the telling. You won't find everything in here but you will find a well reasoned overview.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this non-fiction history tome immediately after having read a similar work, Normandy ’44. I say similar, because they were of similar length and scholarship. Both were meticulously researched and presented, however the reading experience could not have been more different. Whereas Normandy ’44 was exceedingly dry and frequently bogged down in mind numbing detail, of little interest to any but a minute few, Vietnam was fascinating while being equally informative.Perhaps the target audience for the two works is completely different, but I can safely say that a huge percentage of people with an interest in either warfare, or history in general, will have a much more pleasant reading experience reading Vietnam. In addition to a detailed chronicle of the American involvement in Indochina, a significant investment is made in the French colonial period, which, of course, set the stage for all that followed.I have read perhaps half a dozen works on the various aspects of the Vietnam War. For those looking for a comprehensive treatment of both the politics and the warfare itself, I can unreservedly recommend this book.

[octafoil40 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in how the USA ever got involved with South Vietnam. I personally served a one year tour of duty at Camp Bearcat in South Vietnam. But it was not until I read this book that I finally understood why America got involved with South Vietnam in the first place and how badly we handled this war.

[schmerguls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

5617. Vietnam An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975 by Max Hastings (read 28 Mar 2019) This is a book published in 2018 so it has the advantage of having some perspective on its subject. It is the fourth book by its author (he has 24 books published) I have read. It is a massive study, having 757 pages of text, 57 pages of notes, a 24 page bibliography, and a 30 page index. He covers the whole story, and some of the detailed account of battles is not overly interesting, but his account of the of the escalation of American involvement is well-done. The escalation is told of in detail and the years of Nixon's mishandling of the war from 1969 till 1974 (21,000 Americans died when Nixon was president and when he knew the war could not be won)--Hastings is pretty even-handed in assessing blame for the tragic events, and shows that there was indeed evil to be resisted and, and while spme South Vietnam leaders were corrupt many of the South Vietnamese people greatly and justifiably feared the Communist effort to take over the entire country. One cannot rejoice over the way so many people who trusted in American help were bitterly disappointed in the outcome. All in all, the book tells the whole story well.

[whiskey3pa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book recounting the sad story of Vietnam from the end of WW2 thru the end of American involvement and beyond. A genuinely tragic story with few winners. Max Hastings is as fine as there is at the telling of history and he really outdid himself on a contentious subject. My family were part of the military during the war and, sadly, one never came home. This book neither glorifies not denigrates and does a very good job of creating context to aid understanding. Highly recommended.

[the7ken7petersen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book took me two months to read and it is such a relief to have finished it. That is NOT to say that it is a bad book: it isn't. It is an excellent piece of work. Hastings presents facts. He never judges as to whether the Americans should have invaded South Vietnam but, he comes down very heavily upon some of their actions. He is equally robust in his disgust at the antics of the North Vietnam Army; a side of the story which is rarely told.The book is not a difficult read due to poor use of English or historical confusion. I found that I had to pause, every 20-30 pages, simply to clear my head of the depressive inevitability of all around failure. Like so many wars, this was a conflict that was never going to provide either side with a joyous victory. America went into the country without any clear target as to what would represent success - a trait that seems to continue through Iran and Afghanistan. The Vietcong similarly, did not have any desire to win the hearts and minds of those that they were "rescuing from American imperialism".This book manages to give the overall story of the conflict and include personal stories. It shows the evil that is done by any army upon the civilian population caught in the fighting. Were our leaders to read this, they might be a little more reticent to call upon a military solution so quickly.