Overview

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.

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9781982554361

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Reviews

This book is sure to appeal to those still searching for Vietnam War answers that even McNamara, Johnson, and their best and brightest advisers never found. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) VanDeMark, who teaches history at the US Naval Academy, seems well placed to consider how the smart young men of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations got so much so wrong. -- Library Journal Brilliant...With keen insight, some clever new analytical tools, and storytelling drive, Brian VanDeMark has made a timeless tale fresh and riveting-and highly relevant. -- Evan Thomas, New York Times bestselling author A fresh but sobering approach to the disastrous war in Vietnam, of considerable interest to all students of military history and policy. -- Kirkus Reviews 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, New York Times bestselling author

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, New York Times bestselling author Brilliant...With keen insight, some clever new analytical tools, and storytelling drive, Brian VanDeMark has made a timeless tale fresh and riveting-and highly relevant. -- Evan Thomas, New York Times bestselling author VanDeMark, who teaches history at the US Naval Academy, seems well placed to consider how the smart young men of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations got so much so wrong. -- Library Journal A fresh but sobering approach to the disastrous war in Vietnam, of considerable interest to all students of military history and policy. -- Kirkus Reviews This book is sure to appeal to those still searching for Vietnam War answers that even McNamara, Johnson, and their best and brightest advisers never found. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Author Information

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 PhD 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. Ron Butler is a Los Angeles-based actor, Earphones Award-winning audiobook narrator, and voice artist with over a hundred film and television credits. Most kids will recognize him from the three seasons he spent on Nickelodeon's True Jackson, VP. He works regularly as a commercial and animation voice-over artist and has voiced a wide variety of audiobooks. He is a member of the Atlantic Theater Company and an Independent Filmmaker Project Award winner for his work in the HBO film Everyday People.

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