Vietnam: An Epic History of a Divisive War 1945-1975

An Epic History of a Divisive War 1945-1975

De: Max Hastings

Narrado por: Peter Noble

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ‘His masterpiece’ Antony Beevor, Spectator ‘A masterful performance’ Sunday Times ‘By far the best book on the Vietnam War’ Gerald Degroot, The Times, Book of the Year

Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and less familiar battles such as the bloodbath at Daido, where a US Marine battalion was almost wiped out, together with extraordinary recollections of Ho Chi Minh’s warriors. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed 2 million people.

Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it as overwhelmingly that of the Vietnamese people, of whom forty died for every American. US blunders and atrocities were matched by those committed by their enemies. While all the world has seen the image of a screaming, naked girl seared by napalm, it forgets countless eviscerations, beheadings and murders carried out by the communists. The people of both former Vietnams paid a bitter price for the Northerners’ victory in privation and oppression. Here is testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bargirls and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, Huey pilots from Arkansas.

No past volume has blended a political and military narrative of the entire conflict with heart-stopping personal experiences, in the fashion that Max Hastings’ readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle with so many lessons for the 21st century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. He marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record.

Reseñas de la Crítica

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON MEDAL FOR MILITARY HISTORY 2019

‘Masterpiece … manages with great skill to combine the accumulation of strategic and political disaster with the real experience of those fighting on the ground’ Antony Beevor, Spectator

‘Will surely set the benchmark for years to come… This may be his best … Exhaustively researched and superbly written, it is both a balanced account of how and why the war unfolded as it did, and a gripping narrative on what it was like to take part…History as it should be: objective, immersive and compelling’ Daily Telegraph, 5*

‘Magnificent… One by one, the sacred canons of right and left are obliterated. The war is laid bare, with all its uncomfortable truths exposed’ The Times

‘Powerful and chilling… Hastings is masterful at describing the conditions faced by young American soldiers… [he] is second to none in his ability to describe military strategy with a clarity that makes things entirely understandable to the layman’ Mail on Sunday, 5*

‘An altogether magnificent historical narrative’ Tim O’Brien

‘A masterpiece’ Frank Scotton

‘Magnificent, his best work … full of extraordinary and compelling detail and thoroughly informed by his own personal experience of so much of the war. It's written in unputdownable style, with a dispassionate, liberal-minded understanding of the detail of the war, which draws on testimony from every side and doesn't favour anyone. I've never read a better history of the wars in Vietnam, and it’s hard to see how anyone will be able to improve on this’ John Simpson

‘Neophytes and experts alike will find Hastings’s book stimulating, informative – and above all, riveting’ New Statesman

‘This fabulous work offers up a gut-wrenching glimpse of the reality of war’ The Sun, 5*

‘Impressive… A fast-paced, poignant and eye-opening read’ Literary Review

Outstanding

Just brilliant. Gripped, shocked, saddened and excited from beginning to end.
I was pleased to hear he’d released another book. Max Hastings has the ability to weave personal experience with the grand view like no other author I know. I’ve read or listened to all of his writings on WW2 and the Falklands and never been disappointed.
The narrator, Peter Noble, is one of my favourites. He seems to achieve a ‘flow’ like few others. He does great justice to this book.
Listen to it now!!

A must read

I found out about Max Hastings via Dan Carlin’s podcast. I have now read most of his books. This one must surely be one of his best. It sure gave me a new perspective of US politics, terror, the history of south east Asia etc. if you are from the US you have to read this book! Beat regards/ Mr.Sweden

Astonishing and Moving Account

An outstanding account of modern Vietnam. Mandated reading for any foreigner living or dealing with Vietnam.

Insight

Epic telling of the Vietnam war as we know it. It’s origins from colonialism to the ring where communism and democracy met and murdered each other. Read it and learn and know what to say to your politicians so that these crazy occurrences can never be repeated. Let’s hope.

Well written but undermined in places

This was a comprehensive telling of the Vietnam story, well researched, well read but weakened by an obvious bias.
While making entirely justified criticisms of the horrible conduct of France the author blithely airbrushes the British colonial record. There is a strong whiff of France bad, Britain good which is later converted to America stupid - Britain wise.
In particular Hastings mentions Ho Chin Mins years in London but omits that while there he would have witnessed the brutality of Irish War of Independence against the British Empire.
It is a well documented fact that the North Vietnamese learned the art of guerilla warfare from the Irish struggle and revered Michael Collins tactics but the author makes no reference to this which, in a military history is weak to say the least.
Most glaring however, Hastings briefly refers to the Bengal famine of 1943 but blithely omits the fact that it was a direct result of entirely deliberate policy of Winston Churchills government which killed an estimated 5 million people - supposedly citizens of this more enlightened colonial power,
For such a noted historian to airbrush his own countries colonial behaviour is not only wrong but undermines the credibility of an otherwise well written history.