Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam - Hardcover

9780547518268: Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 

Westmoreland is a great book, a classic by an author who knows his subject well and tells the story without hesitation.” — General Donn A. Starry, U.S. Army (ret.), Commander, Army Training and Doctrine Command (1977–1981)

Is it possible that the riddle of America’s military failure in Vietnam has a one-word, one-man answer?

Unless and until we understand General William Westmoreland, we will never understand what went wrong in Vietnam. An Eagle Scout at fifteen, First Captain of his West Point class, Westmoreland fought in two wars and became Superintendent at West Point. Then he was chosen to lead the war effort in Vietnam for four crucial years.

He proved a disaster. He could not think creatively about unconventional warfare, chose an unavailing strategy, stuck to it in the face of all opposition, and stood accused of fudging the results when it mattered most. In this definitive portrait, Lewis Sorley makes a plausible case that the war could have been won were it not for Westmoreland. The tragedy of William Westmoreland carries lessons not just for Vietnam, but for the future of American leadership.

Westmoreland is essential reading from a masterly historian.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
Amazon Exclusive: A Q&A with Author Lewis Sorley

Q: How can the loss of Vietnam be blamed on Westmoreland?

A: He served for four years as U.S. commander there during the crucial period of the buildup of American ground forces, a flood that eventually reached 543,400 due to Westmoreland’s repeated requests for more and more troops. Given a free hand in deciding how to conduct the war within South Vietnam, he chose to pursue an unavailing war of attrition, which failed miserably. Westmoreland thus squandered four years of support by Congress, much of the American people, and even the media.


Q: How did a man as limited as Westmoreland achieve such high rank and position?

A: Fueled by ambition, Westmoreland drove himself relentlessly. He was of impressive military mien, energetic, effective at self-promotion, and skillful in cultivating influential sponsors. From his earliest days of service he led his contemporaries, was admired and advanced by his seniors, and progressed rapidly upward. Westmoreland’s strengths eventually propelled him to a level beyond his understanding and abilities.

Q: What was Westmoreland’s approach as commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam?

A: Westmoreland decided to conduct a war of attrition in which the measure of merit would be body count, the number of enemy killed. His premise was that if he killed enough of their soldiers, the enemy would lose heart and cease its aggression against South Vietnam. He went about this primarily through the use of search and destroy tactics, often involving very large operations in the jungles near South Vietnam’s western borders with Laos and Cambodia.

Meanwhile he neglected other crucially important tasks, such as strengthening South Vietnam’s military forces and rooting out the covert infrastructure that enabled the enemy to use coercion and terror to dominate South Vietnam’s rural populace. He was successful in killing a large number of enemy troops, but this did not represent the progress he claimed; the communists simply replaced their losses and continued to fight. Westmoreland was on a treadmill.

Q: What are the sources for your account of Westmoreland’s life and career?

A: Westmoreland himself provided extensive—and revealing—archival material. His papers, on deposit at the University of South Carolina, run to many thousands of pages. I spent four months going through them.

I interviewed about 175 people who had known and served with Westmoreland over the years. One of the most important, and most helpful, was General Bruce Palmer Jr., with whom I spoke dozens of times. Having been Westmoreland’s West Point classmate, then having served under him in Vietnam and subsequently as his Vice Chief of Staff, General Palmer was an authoritative, sympathetic, and invaluable source of both factual information and sensitive insights.

Q: What do you hope will be the lasting impression of General Westmoreland?

A: It is not a happy story, but I believe it is an important, even essential, one. Unless and until we understand William Childs Westmoreland, we will never fully understand what happened to us in Vietnam, or why.

In the end, of course, this is the story of an officer whose strengths propelled him to a level of responsibility beyond his capacity. From early days prideful and image-conscious, Westmoreland developed into a man of incredible industry, driving himself to achieve, forever in a rush, with unbounded ambition and no apparent sense of personal limitations—doing it by the book, even though he hadn’t read the book or studied at any of the Army’s great schools. His ultimate failure would have earned him more sympathy, it seems certain, had he not personally been so fundamentally to blame by reason of his relentless self-promotion.

Those who have long been Westmoreland admirers and supporters may be offended by an account that, as they will view it, tarnishes his reputation. But many others, I believe, will welcome a factual, detailed, and well-documented explanation of how and why he failed so completely in his most important assignment; what that failure cost us as a nation; and, most important, what it cost the ill-fated South Vietnamese, who risked all and lost all.

Book Description:
A BETTER WAR
ISBN 978-0-15-601309-3
$16.00 PA

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherHoughton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Publication date2011
  • ISBN 10 0547518269
  • ISBN 13 9780547518268
  • BindingHardcover
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages416
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780547844923: Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780547844923
Publisher: Mariner Books, 2012
Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Sorley, Lewis
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
ISBN 10: 0547518269 ISBN 13: 9780547518268
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Ebooksweb
(Bensalem, PA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. . Seller Inventory # 52GZZZ00BCFX_ns

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 16.38
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Sorley, Lewis
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
ISBN 10: 0547518269 ISBN 13: 9780547518268
New Hardcover Quantity: 14
Seller:
BookShop4U
(PHILADELPHIA, PA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. . Seller Inventory # 5AUZZZ000EJP_ns

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 16.38
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Sorley, Lewis
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
ISBN 10: 0547518269 ISBN 13: 9780547518268
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Books Unplugged
(Amherst, NY, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition. Seller Inventory # bk0547518269xvz189zvxnew

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 27.30
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Sorley, Lewis
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
ISBN 10: 0547518269 ISBN 13: 9780547518268
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Book Deals
(Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0547518269-new

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 27.30
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Sorley, Lewis
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
ISBN 10: 0547518269 ISBN 13: 9780547518268
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0547518269

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 23.31
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Sorley, Lewis
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
ISBN 10: 0547518269 ISBN 13: 9780547518268
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0547518269

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 27.03
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Sorley, Lewis
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
ISBN 10: 0547518269 ISBN 13: 9780547518268
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0547518269

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 29.12
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Sorley, Lewis
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
ISBN 10: 0547518269 ISBN 13: 9780547518268
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
The Book Spot
(Sioux Falls, SD, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Abebooks190515

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 59.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Sorley, Lewis
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
ISBN 10: 0547518269 ISBN 13: 9780547518268
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0547518269

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 55.85
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Sorley, Lewis
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
ISBN 10: 0547518269 ISBN 13: 9780547518268
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Pieuler Store
(Suffolk, United Kingdom)

Book Description Condition: new. 1. Book is in NEW condition. Satisfaction Guaranteed! Fast Customer Service!!. Seller Inventory # PSN0547518269

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 42.58
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 31.53
From United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds