Vietnam

An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975

By: Max Hastings

Narrated by: Max Hastings, Peter Noble

Length: 33 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

An absorbing and definitive modern history of the Vietnam War from the acclaimed New York Times best-selling author of The Secret War.

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 US 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 1968 Tet Offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and also much less familiar miniatures 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 two million people.

Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it as overwhelmingly that of the Vietnamese people, of whom 40 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 bar girls, and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, and 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’ fans 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.

©2018 Max Hastings (P)2018 HarperAudio

Spectacular!

I’ve become a fan of Max Hastings’ latter works, and Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy is perhaps the pinnacle of his works. It’s better than the Secret War, Catastrophe, and Inferno — due primarily to his proximity to events as a young foreign correspondent for the BBC at the outset of Vietnam and a subsequent half-century of reflection and personal maturation. Peter Nobel narrates, and is brilliant. The author reads the introduction, and it’s good to preface such a work in his own voice. Sir Max Hastings is uncanny in his ability to find nuance. Highly recommended!

Another Hastings Gem

Best of the many overview histories I have read on the war. Well organized and narrated. Tough subject to keep it down the middle on. He succeeds.

Tragedy and truth

Very well researched and presented facts that every Vietnam veteran needs to know. Well done.

A masterful accomplishment

Another tour de force by Max Hastings. Exhaustively researched, objectively and fairly presented by one of if not the most skillful of Paris’s writers. Both narrators are superb

A Great History

Hastings takes a well-merited “plague on both your houses“ view of the combatants. What I found very useful and informative was his copious use of North Vietnamese sources, both official and unofficial. He illuminates a hitherto virtually unknown (to the public) side of the conflict.

great

A good a fresh modern look at the war. the narrator however could have done some minimal research on how to correctly pronounce vietnamese names and places.. my inly quibble.

Long and Good

Daunting length, but don't be afraid to check it out. A smooth, narrative book that is easy to digest.

Very comprehensive review of an important historical moment

I have been left feeling much richer in my understanding of an important historical event, the factors leading to the outcome, and the worldview of many in Vietnam. Highly recommend!

A Wonderful Book

I put the Viet Nam War behind me years ago, and now in my older years wanted to re-examine this part of our history that was central to my life and our nation's life. The book makes for painful reading; the stupidity, the deception, and the destruction displayed by all sides are almost Shakespearean. Yet, it helps put America's role in the war in a perspective that seems balanced, comprehensive, and more than instructive. Magnificent writing. A great balance between big picture and accounts of individual participants--on all sides. And a terrific reader. It was prefect for me as a thoughtful overview of the tragedy. I don't see how he could have written a better book.

Very Thorough Book About Vietnam

Excellent book starting at the end of WWII like it should to explain the Vietnam disaster. I didn't realize Vichy France and Japan played a role in the start of the three decade disaster of Vietnam. I did know Ho Chi Minh visited US Diplomats in WWII and was essentially ignored. It is unbelievable what went on in Vietnam for 10 years. Hopefully, Americans are studying books like this to understand what war really is and what the real results are. Excellent book to really understand this war.