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The road not taken : Edward Lansdale and the American tragedy in Vietnam / Max Boot.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, [2018]Copyright date: ©2018Edition: First editionDescription: l, 717 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780871409416
  • 0871409410
Other title:
  • Edward Lansdale and the American tragedy in Vietnam
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Prologue: The day of the dead: Saigon, November 1-2, 1963 -- Introduction: The misunderstood man -- Ad man (1908-1945). In terrific flux ; Enfant terrible ; An institution run by its inmates -- Colonel Landslide (1945-1954). The time of his life ; In love and war ; The knights templar ; "A most difficult and delicate problem" ; "All-out force or all-out friendship" ; The power broker ; "A real vindication" -- National builder (1954-1956). La guerre sans fronts ; A fortress falls ; "I am Ngo Dinh Diem" ; The chopstick torture ; Pacification ; The viper's nest ; "Stop calling me papa!" -- Washington warrior (1957-1963). Heartbreak hotel ; Guerrilla guru ; A new war begins ; The ambassador who never was ; "The X factor" ; "Worms of the world unite" ; "Washington at its nuttiest" -- Bastard child (1964-1968). "A hell of a mess" ; "Concept for victory" ; Escalation ; The impossible missions force ; Waging peace in a time of war ; To stay or to go? ; Waiting for the second coming ; The long goodbye -- The beaten man (1968-1987). The war at home ; A defeat in disguise ; The abandoned ally ; The family jewels ; The end of the road -- Afterword: Lansdalism in the twenty-first century.
Summary: A biography of Edward Lansdale, the CIA operative. Boot chronicles his rise and fall as a proponent of a visionary "hearts and minds" diplomacy in Vietnam who was ultimately overruled by the American military bureaucracy, which favored bombs and troop build-ups over winning the people's trust.Summary: "The legendary Edward Lansdale (1908-1987), a covert operative so roguish that he was said to be the model for Graham Greene's The Quiet American, remains one of the most fascinating yet deeply misunderstood figures of post-1945 American foreign policy. Skeptics have belittled him as a con man ignorant of Asian realities, but a few have hailed him as a prophetic military genius whose yin-yang strategy of hunting down guerrillas while employing a 'hearts and minds' approach to win local support provided a lasting template for U.S. foreign policy. Examining these interpretations but also providing a veritable trove of new facts unearthed from previously classified documents, hidden letters, and interviews, [this book] fundamentally recasts both our vision of Lansdale and America's entire involvement in Vietnam. Max Boot positions Lansdale against the American twentieth century and evocatively charts Lansdale's itinerant upbringing and his transition from unorthodox California ad man to army and OSS officer. Leaving behind his wife and two young sons, Lansdale was sent to Manila in 1945. While becoming embroiled in a passionate love affair with the woman who would become his longtime mistress and later wife, he charted a way for the Filipinos to defend themselves against Communist insurgents by promoting Ramon Magsaysay, a charismatic figure who went from being a lowly congressman to the country's greatest president. Lansdale's singular success convinced the Eisenhower administration to send him to South Vietnam after the ignominious French rout at Dien Bien Phu. Assigned the impossible task of protecting the South from Communist encroachment, Lansdale was initially successful, cultivating the friendship of Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnam's new president. Then, increasingly sidelined by elitist generals and blue-blood diplomats, Lansdale watched helplessly as Diem was murdered in an American-supported coup just before Kennedy's own assassination. By 1965, the "hearts and minds" approach to counterinsurgency that Lansdale had so passionately advocated was no longer viable as the United States began a massive Vietnamese buildup. Never a team player, Lansdale became marginalized, watching the humiliating 1975 evacuation of Saigon at a painful remove and dying eleven years later, regarded as a "dirty tricks" specialist of a bygone era. Bringing a tragic complexity to this so-called Ugly American, [this] biography suggests that Vietnam, a conflict whose bitter legacy still haunts American foreign policy, might have been different if only Lansdale's advice had been heeded. With reverberations that continue to play out in Iraq and Afghanistan, The Road Not Taken is a biography of profound historical consequence."--Dust jacket.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography Lansdale E. B725 Available 33111008700581
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (Biography)
New York Times Bestseller

In chronicling the adventurous life of legendary CIA operative Edward Lansdale, The Road Not Taken definitively reframes our understanding of the Vietnam War.

In this epic biography of Edward Lansdale (1908- 1987), the man said to be the fictional model for Graham Greene's The Quiet American , best-selling historian Max Boot demonstrates how Lansdale pioneered a "hearts and mind" diplomacy, first in the Philippines, then in Vietnam. It was a visionary policy that, as Boot reveals, was ultimately crushed by America's giant military bureaucracy, steered by elitist generals and blueblood diplomats who favored troop build-ups and napalm bombs over winning the trust of the people. Through dozens of interviews and access to neverbefore-seen documents--including long-hidden love letters--Boot recasts this cautionary American story, tracing the bold rise and the crashing fall of the roguish "T. E. Lawrence of Asia" from the battle of Dien Bien Phu to the humiliating American evacuation in 1975. Bringing a tragic complexity to this so-called "ugly American," this "engrossing biography" (Karl Marlantes) rescues Lansdale from historical ignominy and suggests that Vietnam could have been different had we only listened. With reverberations that continue to play out in Iraq and Afghanistan, The Road Not Taken is a biography of profound historical consequence.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 611-675) and index.

A biography of Edward Lansdale, the CIA operative. Boot chronicles his rise and fall as a proponent of a visionary "hearts and minds" diplomacy in Vietnam who was ultimately overruled by the American military bureaucracy, which favored bombs and troop build-ups over winning the people's trust.

"The legendary Edward Lansdale (1908-1987), a covert operative so roguish that he was said to be the model for Graham Greene's The Quiet American, remains one of the most fascinating yet deeply misunderstood figures of post-1945 American foreign policy. Skeptics have belittled him as a con man ignorant of Asian realities, but a few have hailed him as a prophetic military genius whose yin-yang strategy of hunting down guerrillas while employing a 'hearts and minds' approach to win local support provided a lasting template for U.S. foreign policy. Examining these interpretations but also providing a veritable trove of new facts unearthed from previously classified documents, hidden letters, and interviews, [this book] fundamentally recasts both our vision of Lansdale and America's entire involvement in Vietnam. Max Boot positions Lansdale against the American twentieth century and evocatively charts Lansdale's itinerant upbringing and his transition from unorthodox California ad man to army and OSS officer. Leaving behind his wife and two young sons, Lansdale was sent to Manila in 1945. While becoming embroiled in a passionate love affair with the woman who would become his longtime mistress and later wife, he charted a way for the Filipinos to defend themselves against Communist insurgents by promoting Ramon Magsaysay, a charismatic figure who went from being a lowly congressman to the country's greatest president. Lansdale's singular success convinced the Eisenhower administration to send him to South Vietnam after the ignominious French rout at Dien Bien Phu. Assigned the impossible task of protecting the South from Communist encroachment, Lansdale was initially successful, cultivating the friendship of Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnam's new president. Then, increasingly sidelined by elitist generals and blue-blood diplomats, Lansdale watched helplessly as Diem was murdered in an American-supported coup just before Kennedy's own assassination. By 1965, the "hearts and minds" approach to counterinsurgency that Lansdale had so passionately advocated was no longer viable as the United States began a massive Vietnamese buildup. Never a team player, Lansdale became marginalized, watching the humiliating 1975 evacuation of Saigon at a painful remove and dying eleven years later, regarded as a "dirty tricks" specialist of a bygone era. Bringing a tragic complexity to this so-called Ugly American, [this] biography suggests that Vietnam, a conflict whose bitter legacy still haunts American foreign policy, might have been different if only Lansdale's advice had been heeded. With reverberations that continue to play out in Iraq and Afghanistan, The Road Not Taken is a biography of profound historical consequence."--Dust jacket.

Prologue: The day of the dead: Saigon, November 1-2, 1963 -- Introduction: The misunderstood man -- Ad man (1908-1945). In terrific flux ; Enfant terrible ; An institution run by its inmates -- Colonel Landslide (1945-1954). The time of his life ; In love and war ; The knights templar ; "A most difficult and delicate problem" ; "All-out force or all-out friendship" ; The power broker ; "A real vindication" -- National builder (1954-1956). La guerre sans fronts ; A fortress falls ; "I am Ngo Dinh Diem" ; The chopstick torture ; Pacification ; The viper's nest ; "Stop calling me papa!" -- Washington warrior (1957-1963). Heartbreak hotel ; Guerrilla guru ; A new war begins ; The ambassador who never was ; "The X factor" ; "Worms of the world unite" ; "Washington at its nuttiest" -- Bastard child (1964-1968). "A hell of a mess" ; "Concept for victory" ; Escalation ; The impossible missions force ; Waging peace in a time of war ; To stay or to go? ; Waiting for the second coming ; The long goodbye -- The beaten man (1968-1987). The war at home ; A defeat in disguise ; The abandoned ally ; The family jewels ; The end of the road -- Afterword: Lansdalism in the twenty-first century.

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