Argument Without End (Signed by Three Co-Authors including Robert McNamara)

The former Secretary of Defense, and leading scholars from the U.S. and Vietnam, offer groundbreaking new study of exactly how the Vietnam War happened-and why it could not be stopped before millions died.

Drawing on an array of recently declassified documents and a series of unprecedented meetings with former top North Vietnamese leaders, Argument Without End re-frames the war and the decision-making that surrounded it. It draws surprising conclusions, many of which debunk conventional wisdom and which will no doubt cause debate among scholars, journalists, veterans, military personnel, and ordinary Americans who lived through the war era. Like no other book before it, Argument Without End allows us to look at the decisions that led to the war and to its tragic, ultimately pointless continuation. It also shows conclusively that the war could not be won militarily by the United States. One of the most important works on Vietnam to be published, Argument Without End is also a book of lasting relevance to all who seek to quell the conflicts between nations.

Robert S. McNamara was Secretary of Defense during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. A former president of Ford Motor Company and the World Bank, he lives in Washington, D.C.