A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann And America In Vietnam (1989) - Plot & Excerpts
Sobering, grim look at the incredible hubris that led to America becoming hopelessly (and, at times, helplessly) entwined in Vietnam. Sheehan, who was a reporter for UPI and, later, the New York Times, frames the book generally around a biography of a maverick Lt. Colonel in the Army: John Paul Vann. However, there are sections of the book where Vann is either not mentioned at all, or only fleetingly. For most of the book, Sheehan deftly juxtaposes something specifically having to do with Vann, with a particular aspect of the war in general. The last two hundred pages focuses more exclusively on battles and Vann's growing delusions about the war.Sheehan starts the book off in an unconventional manner: he describes in detail the scene at Vann's funeral in June 1972, and his family's impressions of Richard Nixon. Sheehan then goes back and writes about the status of the war in 1962, when Vann first goes there. He then switches gears and traces the history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam: back to the late 1940s and the first few fateful steps taken by Harry Truman and Dean Acheson. He goes even further back by discussing, in general terms, Vietnam's history as a country, and then the French occupation following WWII. I found this part of the book very interesting - and also essential for anyone who wants to get a better understanding not just what happened in the 1960s and 1970s, but WHY the U.S. was there in the first place, and what the dynamic was that they were dealing with in Vietnam.He then switches gears and talks about a pivotal battle: the Battle of Ap Bac, in 1963 and how the cowardliness shown by the South Vietnamese soldiers contributed to a shocking victory for the Viet Cong. Sheehan goes into detail about the lack of will that these troops had, and how they just kept waiting for either the Viet Cong to go away, or for the U.S. to swoop in and save them. He discusses at length the delusional and egotistical generals who were in charge for the U.S.: Paul Harkins, William Westmoreland, and - to a lesser extent - Creighton Abrams. All three did horrendous jobs there: tricking themselves into believing that their short-sighted strategies of attrition and increasing U.S. troop levels were winning the war, and refusing to listen to anyone tell them anything to the contrary. This was the same behavior in Washington; combined, this led to the disaster that took over a decade for the U.S. to free itself from, as Kennedy and then Johnson and the men around them truly never understood the war because they never understood the Vietnamese people and culture, yet their arrogance blinded them to the errors of their ways. Like the generals, top officials in Washington counted on the U.S. military superiority (in men and weaponry) to defeat the Communists. They never stopped to even try to understand what exactly was going on in the country. Only too late did Kennedy realize that Diem was a failure, and even after he was assassinated, things did not improve because the U.S. did not change its strategy.Next, there is a chapter about Vann's hardscrabble youth, his alcoholic mother, his unhappy home life, and his slow rise through the Army, including his service in the Korean War. We also learn about his character: his compulsive womanizing, the lack of attention paid to his children (for the most part), and his successful defense against a true rape allegation. Vann had an insatiable sex drive, and was for all intents and purposes absent from his family for the last seven years of his life - only returning once or twice a year for a few weeks on leave. Sheehan keeps things interesting by mixing up the chapters as noted above. I would have preferred less focus on military battles in the last long chapter. And, during his description of he and David Halberstam witnessing the attack on a pagoda of monks during Diem's regime, he does not explain how he escaped being noticed despite both he, and especially Halberstam, not being openly welcomed by the government. Grade: B+
A Bright, Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan is an erudite, well-informed and exhaustive narrative of the Vietnam War. Sheehan provides a complete modern history of Vietnam, from the French Colonial period beginning in the 1850s to the end of French rule, particularly the period of Ho Chih Minh’s rise to power after World War II. As a reporter on the ground in the 1960s, he also provides a detailed analysis of American foreign policy in the region and the complicated cultural make-up of Vietnam, with its odd assortment of aristocratic mandarins, both communist and non-communist, dynastic vestiges, French and catholic influences and the seemingly ever present shadows of Russo-Sino and American intrigue. This is also a fine portrait of America in the 20s to 40s. Most poignant was the observation that children of this era were taught to understand at an early age that the spread of communism must be stopped in Asia, because if it was not stopped here, then communism, like a great ravenous organism, would then move to Hawaii and then to the western shores of the United States. Sheehan uses the story as a vehicle to describe how the United States came to be what it was in Vietnam, especially how the military leadership had evolved from a lean and hungry, almost desperate group at the beginning of World War II, to the victors of that war, to the aristocratic mis-directions of MacArthur in Korea and then to the delusional, bureaucratic and careerist misdeeds in Vietnam.Sheehan also shows the greatness and shortcomings of the hero, John Paul Vann, a complex, fundamentally flawed man who is almost an intelligent, dark Forrest Gump; a sinister American Everyman of the middle of the twentieth century. Vann is shown as a microcosm of America’s greatness and it’s immoral, ugly underside. Riveting, compelling, and at times deeply thought provoking, the novel also tends to flounder under its own weight, as Sheehan’s ambition is realized, but with flaws. The book won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and is thoroughly well researched and crafted by a talented author, but it fails to answer many of the questions it raises and ultimately leaves the reader feeling educated and moved, but unsympathetic and without an enduring moral.
What do You think about A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann And America In Vietnam (1989)?
Perhaps the most comprehensive book I have read about the largest cluster-feck I am aware of - The Vietnam War. What resonates most with me, is that the general tenor of this book, comports with the memories that my oldest brother, who served two tours in Vietnam as an Officer (being Honorably Discharged as a Major), shared with me individually - before, during, and after that experience, paralleling his unique, distinct and personal recollections.This is an important book about a time and place that deserves to be understood, reevaluated and accurately restored. The version of the Vietnam War recorded and portrayed in United States history books is quite at odds with the personal recollections and accounts of the heroic, honorable men that were actually in South-East Asia. Many who survived the ground and air war, subsequently lost their lives, as did my brother, to exposure to Monsanto's Agent Orange.This is a scholarly work, that intellectual people will recognize the importance of. Deservedly so, the author won The Pulitzer Prize for his authentic prowess. If accurate history matters to you, this book is a must read.
—Don
Started this in 1990 in college and stopped reading it in 1990 because I was in college. Picked it back up a few months ago and all I recalled from reading it the first time were helicopters being shot down in Ap Bac, Vann needing only four hours of sleep (a cyborg), and the killing of a large rat with a cane, umbrella, or parasol (hazy on the specifics). Why I couldn't remember the huge recipe for failure that was America's involvement in Vietnam as outlined in the pages is anyone's guess. Anyone who writes or reads about Vietnam can Monday-morning quarterback the hell out of American involvement but Vann knew what needed to be done at that moment. It is a well written treatise on one man throwing his soul into a failed venture. Although Vann was not the ideal family man by any means and the author does not gloss over anything that made Vann the man he was, his drive and passion could not be questioned. A well written biography/Vietnam war history. And yes the pages about the rats once again did not disappoint.
—Howard Hoover
This is one of the best books I have ever read. A fascinating and engaging look at America's involvement in Vietnam, couched in the story of John Paul Vann's life. I poured through the 800+ pages in a short time because I was fascinated by the story, the writing and the historical perspective that Neil Sheehan brought to the book. It read very much like a novel, yet still was packed with insight, historical background and compassion for the real people involved. I will never look at the Vietnam War in the same way again.It's hard to imagine a better single-volume look at the Vietnam War than this one, made all the more real and compelling because of the fascinating story of one broken man's important role in it all. Thank you Mr. Sheehan for putting in the exhaustive work that it must have taken to bring this book to the world. It is an impotent work and I feel like I am better for having read it.
—Brent
