 "Relevent for today" | 2009-10-13 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3C3OHBCUNNDG7 |
| As a student of history and war, this book is relevent today. Excellent read with details not collated in other books...must read for students and Officers. |
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 "The other side of the story" | 2009-07-08 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3FA2RD849TN8K |
Good book. Some of the reviewers who didn't like the book make some valid points but overall the book was good (not great). Yes, Sorley worships Abrams but I think the point is that one good man can make a big difference. That's the power of good, effective leadership (see General Petreaus in Iraq or Field Marshall Templar in Malaysia). Abrams, Bunker, and Colby understood the problem which is 90% of the battle in formulating a winning strategy. If you don't understand the problem you won't come up with a winning plan. Abrams and crew correctly understood the problem and turned things around. How effective they were is still up for debate but Sorley I think does a good job at least of giving the reader some things to think about. The war was winnable and losing was not a foregone conclusion which many writers, journalists and politicians like to claim. Just like Iraq we can succeed in these conflicts when we understand the problem / enemy. It took us a few years in Iraq but we turned it around. Its not perfect but its getting better.
I enjoyed Sorley's insights into the disconnect between Abrams and company and Washington. The Pres / JCS / Depts of Defense and State were all not on the same page with each other or the guys on the ground. Another lesson for today.
Also found interesting the dynamics of dealing with Congress, the press and public opinion. Once again all still very relevant issues in today's operating environment.
For those that enjoy this subject this is a good read with some different opinions.
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| "Defeat from the jaws of victory" | 2009-05-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1VKBC74YLBSRA |
Superb analytical account of Creighton Abrams efforts to turn the war in America's favour. Lewis Sorley's access to classified Abrams documents, staff conferences,briefings etc places him in a unique position to be able to give the reader an insight into Abrams thinking as never before. Methodical in his description of Abrams successful one war policy encapsulated in pacification, vietnamization and combat resolve led to the war being practically won in 1970. In depth analysis also, into the political manoeuvring and machinations that utimately led to troop withdrawals and restrictions on the use of the B52 as a strategic weapon.
Sorley pays a lot of attention to the major role intelligence played in the war or at least the importance Abrams attributed to it. Also neatly displels the myth that the US Army had to be withdrawn from Vietnam due to a break-down in discipline but rather exhalts the troops who found themselves in a desparate situation towards the end. Lots of other stuff about incursions into Laos amid shady CIA going-ons and the use of airpower as a force multiplier.
Never appreciated to such an extent until now how close the US and the South Vietnamese had really come to a successful outcome. Highly recommended read. |
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| "About time" | 2008-07-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3FNOD7FK31UW0 |
Americans typically talk about the "Vietnam War" as if it were a single conflict. But no; defined by time alone,there were three distinct "Vietnam's." A Better War focuses on the last of these, particularly the period around 1970, when we had the war virtually won but decided to leave instead.
Note to Author: It's no coincidence that like you it's the last phase of Indochina II that holds me enthralled; I suppose because it's the one I served in (18 months w/ The Americal Division). For a young enlisted man's ground-eye views I hope you'll read my novel "The Gates of the Shadow." I think you'll find that young Sergeant Murphy's impressions of the latter-day Army in Vietnam mirror your own to a remarkable extent.
I believed then as I believe now that we could have achieved ultimate victory at any time with: an all-volunteer force; segregation of North from South by militarizing the 17th parallel all the way to Thailand with heave forces, and expanding the U.S. Marines' very effective CAPS instead of sending them all home in 1969-70. Bombing campaigns could have been executed as punitive expeditions and strikes into N. Vietnam carried out as needed.
I highly recommend this trenchant analysis of our mangled and heartbreaking war.
Yours,
Richard Vidaurri
Author
The Gates of the Shadow
144 Pages
BookSurge
richvidaurri@sbcglobal.net
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| "Outstanding" | 2008-01-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1G47C8A539UNV |
| A Better War is an outstanding work of history. Sorley, through extensive research and interviews, takes us inside the latter years of the American involvement in Vietnam. Sorley weaves facts, statistics, and personal glimpses seamlessly. While the topic is dense I found myself easily moving through the book, I was just unable to put it down. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand the final years of Vietnam and what was lost due to short sighted political pressures. |
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| "The Missing Piece to the Puzzle" | 2007-06-28 |
| - Reviewed By jbierly@us.oracle.com |
I finished reading "A Better War" by Lewis Sorley - it is subtitled "the unexamined victories and final tragedy of America's last years in Vietnam".
I have been searching for answers to some of the questions that have bothered me for over 30 years: how could we win the battles and lose the war? what was the real impact of our strategies on the enemy? what are the lessons for Iraq?
This book really hits home - it provides an answer to part of the puzzle. It does this by describing the enormous differences in approach to the war by General Westmoreland and General Abrams. Abrams assumed command of MACV right after Tet '68 - a time when public support for the war had come undone. Some of you may be too young to remember, but I remember it all too well. We had massive demonstrations in the streets of our cities, troops deployed to Wash DC, bombings on college campuses, and hippies who delighted in spitting on our troops. Everything was falling apart. Yet, Abrams somehow managed, with great dignity and integrity, to effectively fight the war in Vietnam despite the intense distractions back home. He recognized that security of the population was the real objective, and that the war could not be won through a strategy of attrition (a strategy which had totally misread the will of the enemy). And so he completely changed the course of the war.
Of course, we know how that movie ended....the war was lost politically despite the new strategy and the victories on the battlefield. And we abandoned an entire people and an ally to their fate. And now we are witnessing a replay of the same script in Iraq.
One of the most telling parts of the book is in the Epilogue. Long after the war ended and Abrams had died, his son was on the faculty at the Army C+GS College where someone approached him and said that his father "deserved a better war". His son responded at once, " He didn't see it that way. He thought the Vietnamese were worth it." .
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