Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow

My spouse and I listened to this exhaustive history of the Vietnam War. Stanley Karnow was a journalist for a lot of reputable news organizations throughout the lead up to our involvement in Vietnam and well beyond the conclusion, and he examines in minute detail the history of Vietnam before the French colonized it, and then the history of what happened when France was there--which leaves no doubt as to why the Vietnamese would want out from under the French, who then proceeded to get the US involved by providing aid, and finally boots of the ground soldiers. Every single assessment of the South Vietnam government was that it was corrupt and incompetent, without the will to defeat the nationalist movement from the north, and unable to hold any appeal to the people. Every US president understood clearly that we would not be able to defeat the North Vietnamese Army nor the Viet Cong. They understood that bombing was not going to work, and they knew they were in a no win situation. And yet. Onward they went, unable to step away, unable to admit what they had seen from the very beginning, and all those soldiers, most of them barely out of high school, who went blindly into that war. This should be required reading for anyone in the upper echelon's of government who thinks they can solve a problem with brute force, mostly alone, but mixed in with some lying and cheating and hoping they won't remember that part. It is a sad story with a sad start, a sad middle, and a sad ending.