Vietnam Chronicles: The Abrams Tapes, 1968-1972 (Modern Southeast Asia Series) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0896725332 ISBN 13: 9780896725331

Publisher: Texas Tech University Press, 2004

Synopsis

'During the Iraq War ...we have seen the media rush from one extreme to the other, offering both dire reports filled with pessimistic analysis and upbeat accounts heralding democracy triumphant. It is hard to know what the reality is at any given moment. The Vietnam War suffered famously from such home-front confusion, and from policy confusion too. Thus ""Vietnam Chronicles"" is especially welcome - for what it tells us about Vietnam, of course, but also for what it says about the myth-making and misperceptions that surround any war...Anyone seriously interested in understanding war - any war, including the current one - will want to sample the transcripts, not least for their vividness, real-time drama, and strategic insights' - James Schlesinger, ""Wall Street Journal"". 'The transcriptions provide verbatim recordings of briefings, meetings, and presentations among U.S. military men, their Vietnamese counterparts, and stateside visitors. Such sources give the sense of being present in the room...A valuable window for those attempting to understand the less-studied Vietnam War of the Nixon era. Highly recommended' - ""Choice"". 'A volume of importance and clout ...The military historian's equivalent of Webster's most comprehensive dictionary and a matching thesaurus . ..It stands without peer as the most authoritative record of one of the nation's most trying experiences' - Maj. Gen. Edward B. Atkeson, ""Army Magazine"". 'Sorley's argument is controversial, but I find it persuasive...To truly understand the Vietnam war, it is absolutely imperative to come to grips with the years after 1968...The edited transcriptions in ""Vietnam Chronicles"" clearly demonstrate that Creighton Abrams and his team possessed a policy and strategy that, but for domestic politics, might have led to an American success in Vietnam' - Mackubin Thomas Owens, ""Weekly Standard"". In ""Vietnam Chronicles: The Abrams Tapes, 1968-1972"", Lewis Sorley catapults the record to a whole new level...An important document that is certain to influence observers seeking to understand America's Vietnam War' - John Prados, ""The VVA Veteran"". 'Hugely engrossing ...An extremely important historical work and a valuable reference for historians, biographers, and others writing about or studying the Vietnam War...A remarkable record' - ""On Point"". 'The Abrams Tapes are extraordinary not for any particular revelation they make about the war. Rather, they present a sort of 'counter history' of the war's later years, wholly distinct from that known to the American public by authors such as David Halberstam and Francis Fitzgerald. Reading through [""Vietnam Chronicles""], a different, forgotten vision of the war appears, parallel to that of Halberstam, and incommensurable with it' - www.intellectualconservative.com. During the four years General Creighton W. Abrams was commander in Vietnam, he and his staff made more than 455 tape recordings of briefings and meetings. In 1994, with government approval, Lewis Sorley began transcribing and analyzing the tapes. Sorley's laborious, time-consuming effort has produced a picture of the senior U.S. commander in Vietnam and his associates working to prosecute a complex and challenging military campaign in an equally complex and difficult political context. The concept of the nature of the war and the way it was conducted changed during Abrams' command. The progressive buildup of U.S. forces was reversed, and Abrams became responsible for turning the war back to the South Vietnamese. The edited transcriptions in this volume clearly reflect those changes in policy and strategy. They include briefings called the Weekly Intelligence Estimate Updates as well as meetings with such visitors as the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other high-ranking officials. In ""Vietnam Chronicles"" we see, for the first time, the difficult task that Creighton Abrams accomplished with tact and skill.

About this title

Review:

Anyone seriously interested in understanding war any war will want to sample the transcripts, not least for their vividness, real-time drama, and strategic insights.
"The Wall Street Journal""

About the Author:

Lewis Sorley is a researcher and writer in Potomac, Maryland, USA. His previous books include Thunderbolt: General Creighton Adams and the Army of His Times, Honorable Warrior: General Harold K. Johnson and the Ethics of Command, and A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam.

About this edition

• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0896725332
• ISBN 13: 9780896725331
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 917
• Editor: Lewis Sorley