Neil Sheehan's A Better War

“A Better War” focuses on the later years of the highly controversial Vietnam war. As mentioned in the prologue, there is very little attention given to the ladder part of the war (1968-1975). Famous writings such as America’s Longest War by George Harring as well as Neil Sheehan’s A Bright Shining Lie, a book that would later go on to win a Pulitzer Prize, only gave a small fraction of their pages to discuss the conflict under the command of General Abrams and post launch of the Tet Offensive in 1968 (prologue xiv). Missing aspects that would be pivotal to grasping the full story behind one of America’s most criticized political endeavors. The book begins in 1964 with US troops in Vietnam under the command of General William C. Westmoreland.

They saw the ever-growing divide in American politics as favorable and would lay the groundwork to their victory. North Vietnamese General Bui Tin stated “Every day our leadership would listen to the world news radio at 9am” (pg93). Even after the battle atop Ap Bia Mountain, later known as Hamburger Hill, political figures such as Sen. Edward Kennedy would refer to it as “madness” (pg141). The battle was a monumental success in the ongoing war with KIAs on the opposition outnumbering the US 11,00 to 78 (pg140) and severely disrupting enemy operations with control over this key piece of terrain. Still as the Antiwar movement snowballed the gruesome outcome and lives lost in the endeavor were seen as “senseless and irresponsible” (pg141) by a large portion of the US citizens. The cries of the American public would continue as the Cambodian Operations, now under President Nixon, igniting protests. One of which at Kent State University resulting in four protestors dead (pg212). The Cambodian operations were an attempt in securing the borders of the bordering Cambodia and helping the South Vietnam Republic militia grow to a point of being self-sufficient. General Abrams commended the South Vietnamese forces on their performance during the operation as it was their largest undertaking yet (pg210). The South Vietnamese Army grew from 700,000 to over 1,100,000 which made them quite threatening but raised concerns as to how they could sustain an army of that magnitude. General Wheeler was impressed at the progress being made and stated that these actions along with continued pacification would be the only truly favorable end to the war