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by: Fredrik Logevall
List Price: $22.95Amazon.com's Price: $20.65 You Save: $2.30 (10%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780520229198
ISBN: 0520229193
Label: University of California Press
Manufacturer: University of California Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 557
Publication Date: March 05, 2001
Publisher: University of California Press
Sales Rank: 483205
Studio: University of California Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In one of the most detailed and powerfully argued books published on American intervention in Vietnam, Fredrik Logevall examines the last great unanswered question on the war: Could the tragedy have been averted? His answer: a resounding yes. Challenging the prevailing myth that the outbreak of large-scale fighting in 1965 was essentially unavoidable, Choosing War argues that the Vietnam War was unnecessary, not merely in hindsight but in the context of its time.
Why, then, did major war break out? Logevall shows it was partly because of the timidity of the key opponents of U.S. involvement, and partly because of the staunch opposition of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations to early negotiations. His superlative account shows that U.S. officials chose war over disengagement despite deep doubts about the war's prospects and about Vietnam's importance to U.S. security and over the opposition of important voices in the Congress, in the press, and in the world community. They did so because of concerns about credibility--not so much America's or the Democratic party's credibility, but their own personal credibility.
Based on six years of painstaking research, this book is the first to place American policymaking on Vietnam in 1963-65 in its wider international context using multiarchival sources, many of them recently declassified. Here we see for the first time how the war played in the key world capitals--not merely in Washington, Saigon, and Hanoi, but also in Paris and London, in Tokyo and Ottawa, in Moscow and Beijing.
Choosing War is a powerful and devastating account of fear, favor, and hypocrisy at the highest echelons of American government, a book that will change forever our understanding of the tragedy that was the Vietnam War.
Amazon.com Review:
When the first American Marines marched into Vietnam in March 1965, historical consensus holds, they were there because there was no alternative. President Johnson's hand had been forced by the right-wing hawks and the Communists. The general public wholeheartedly supported defending South Vietnam, as did our allies in Europe.
That's not really the case, argues Fredrik Logevall, in Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam. His provocative thesis--that Kennedy, Johnson, Rusk, McNamara, and Bundy chose to escalate American involvement when the war could have been avoided--is well supported by careful archival research and newly declassified documents. Logevall focuses on what he calls 'The Long 1964'--18 critical months between August 1963 and February 1965, at the end of which President Johnson made the decision to 'Americanize' the war. Despite many opportunities to negotiate a settlement, the Kennedy and the Johnson administrations were opposed to early negotiation--in part because they were worried about being seen as 'soft on Communism' before the 1964 presidential election. Where this book is most interesting--and, in the long run, most valuable--is in Logevall's careful study of the conflict and American policymaking in international context. Looking at how the war played in London, Paris, Ottawa, Tokyo, Moscow, and Beijing--not just in Hanoi and Washington--reveals that even our allies had grave doubts about the probable outcome of a war. Both our allies and our enemies understood that 'the Vietnam conflict's importance derived in large measure from its potential to threaten their own political standing--and their party's standing--at home.' Compelling and controversial, Logevall's book is an excellent addition to the literature on the Vietnam War. --Sunny Delaney
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Nothing was Learned
I read this book when it first came out. Then with our Iraqi fiasco in mind I read it again and was overwhelmed by the fact that the same hubris laden micalculated assumptions of a cearly incompetent cabal of idiots in power once again has sent Americans to early graves for nothing. Choosing War is never a good choice!!
Rating: - A Very Excellent Work
In Choosing War, Mr. Logevall presents a very cogent and deeply reasoned assessment of America's entry into the futile and eventually tragic landscape of an Americanized war in Vietnam. There are so many commonly held beliefs about the necessity of America's involvement there was to prevent the spread of Communism, that it is refreshing, but painful, to read about how and why America went so wrong - and how many chances we had to change direction. It is most infuriating to see the steady drumbeat ... Read More
Rating: - A real page-turner
This book is well written, well argued, and fascinating. It's especially timely now as we try to understand the forces that led us into the Iraq war. My students liked it too.
Rating: - Escalation: By whom and why
As the war in Vietnam escalated in 1994 and 95, I was a young naïve supporter of the war simply because I believed that whatever it took to stop and fight communism was justified. My first doubts about the justification of this war came when I would hear the causality figures at the end of each week on the nightly news. I can remember these figures e.g. 946 VC killed in the fighting this week; 94 Americans died. I simply did not believe that anyone knew how many VC were killed, and questioned the figures ... Read More
Rating: - Choosing War
Not only is Professor Logevall an excellent historian...he is an excellent teacher as well! I have taken one of his classes at UC Santa Barbara; they are the best and most popular classes on campus.
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