A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam

Hard to imagine anything better

This is simply the best Viet Nam book I've ever read. Sheehan's actual experience reporting from Viet Nam provides a perspective that few could have offered. The history melded within the story is seamless and until the last page is read, you will not realize how much you have learned during the journey. John Paul Vann is portrayed as the man and hero he was, complete with flaws and imperfections. For someone like myself, who was a child during the Viet Nam era, this book was both educational and thrilling to read. Ultimately, it's difficult to not overuse superlatives when commenting on this book.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A Great Book

This was the best book I've read on the Vietnam War. It's a perfect balance between what was happening on the ground, in Washington, and in John Paul Vann's personnel life. A must read for anyone interested in the subject.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

41 M - reading century top 200

An outstanding hisory lesson on the Vietnam war - while maintaining the reader's interest as a 'story' as well. A good perspective on the futility and ineptitude of our Vietnam involvement. Also, a good perspective on how a hero cannot be a hero in every sense. Be prepared to spend a long time on this book because its incredibly long - but mostly worth the effort.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good Book, with Some Flaws

Neil Sheehan dissects the Vietnam War from a first-hand perspective and helps those not young enough to have lived through it (like me) understand it comprehensively. His narrative has great pace, depth, and quality. Only one criticism: Sheehan is utterly beguiled by the communist side of the war, hailing Ho as a one-dimensional hero and blaming even North Vietnam's totalitarianism on America. Fortunately, this flaw infects only occasional parts of the book: most of it is first rate reporting of an exceptionally insightful character.

1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

A massive, but relatively easy and eye-opening read

I have seen Sheehan's book in stores since it was published in 1988, but did not read it until last week. Although the book requires an investment in time, energy, and thought, my understanding of the Vietnam War in particular, and America in general, have been profoundly enlarged and deepened. Spending time with Mr. Sheehan and running his thoughts and analysis through your mind will leave a lasting impression, which I think is important, since Vietnam and the Vietnam era are often compared to Iraq and the 'Iraq Era.'

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A Must Read for Understanding the Vietnam War

In 1967-68 I proudly served in the Navy on a heavy cruiser off the coasts of both North and South Vietnam. I did my duty as required, came home, attended college on the GI Bill, and got a job. When I first read Sheehan's book over 13 years ago my first thoughts were, 'Those Americans and allied forces who served deserve our deepest thanks but, boy, were their lives and those of so many others - including both North and South Vietnamese - so needlessly wasted.' As a park historian with the National Park Service at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in Virginia back in the mid-1970s, I was charged with the task of helping visitors understand the reasons for our Civil War, its ending, and the aftermath. Sheehan's book on Vietnam's 'civil war' offers an eye-opening analogy to that of America's 100 years before....fanatical leaders spoiling for a fight,so many of the country's youngest and brightest answering the call to arms, and all those lives and materiel so needlessly wasted.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

I can see clearly now

Retrospective review of an epic event is the only clear and definitive approach to truly understanding the scope of the event. You may have some lingering political or emotional bias concerning this war, but after reading Mr. Sheehan's report you will come away with the facts.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Too many accounts of this war (and some other reviews on Amazon'

Too many accounts of this war (and some other reviews on Amazon's pages) call the war an American disaster or an American tragedy.
This is like calling World War Two a German disaster or a German tragedy.
The US war against Vietnam was a crime, a war crime, a crime of aggression.
Sheehan's book is a wonderful study of the way the US fought this dreadful war, and of one officer's attempts to fight the war better.
So it is just like one of those books that portrays a 'good Nazi', like Rommel or Guderian, who opposed the way Hitler fought WWII.
The US ruling class who committed the crime of aggression against Vietnam fooled themselves, and others too, that theirs was some noble mission, to save other nations from communism. In fact, their crime resulted in the killing of three million innocent Vietnamese, who were killed trying to save their country from a savage, unjustified and illegal assault.

Outstanding - the pace of a novel; the depth of a documentary

I can't say enough about the importance of this book as a symbol of quality and excellence in writing. The oustanding documentation makes the story real but never burdens the story. The personal story of John Paul Vann alone would make a book worth reading with awe and sadness for the human condition, the paths we choose that lead us to our best and our worst and no place to turn around to go back to our former lives, our former selves. And then there is the story of "America in Vietnam." Always something to learn there - again with awe and sadness. One of the best-written books in any category that I have read in over 60 years of steady reading. I have reread this book periodically since it was first published. It's rarely a "pretty" story, but it is motivating to me: to aspire just another notch higher than I already aspire, to keep believing in myself no matter how alone I stand at times, to seek protection for my sanity when I am in danger of exhausting not only my body but everything within me, to focus on what I can do in the face of odds that seem certain to defeat any ordinary efforts, to get up again after being knocked down hard, to never treat a mortal wound with a bandaid.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.