Borrow it
Coverart for item
The Resource The road not taken : Edward Lansdale and the American tragedy in Vietnam, Max Boot

The road not taken : Edward Lansdale and the American tragedy in Vietnam, Max Boot

Creator
Author
Summary
  • A biography of Edward Lansdale, the CIA operative. Boot chronicles his rise and fall as a proponent of a visionary "hearts and minds" diplomacy in Vietnam who was ultimately overruled by the American military bureaucracy, which favored bombs and troop build-ups over winning the people's trust
  • "The legendary Edward Lansdale (1908-1987), a covert operative so roguish that he was said to be the model for Graham Greene's The Quiet American, remains one of the most fascinating yet deeply misunderstood figures of post-1945 American foreign policy. Skeptics have belittled him as a con man ignorant of Asian realities, but a few have hailed him as a prophetic military genius whose yin-yang strategy of hunting down guerrillas while employing a 'hearts and minds' approach to win local support provided a lasting template for U.S. foreign policy. Examining these interpretations but also providing a veritable trove of new facts unearthed from previously classified documents, hidden letters, and interviews, [this book] fundamentally recasts both our vision of Lansdale and America's entire involvement in Vietnam. Max Boot positions Lansdale against the American twentieth century and evocatively charts Lansdale's itinerant upbringing and his transition from unorthodox California ad man to army and OSS officer. Leaving behind his wife and two young sons, Lansdale was sent to Manila in 1945. While becoming embroiled in a passionate love affair with the woman who would become his longtime mistress and later wife, he charted a way for the Filipinos to defend themselves against Communist insurgents by promoting Ramon Magsaysay, a charismatic figure who went from being a lowly congressman to the country's greatest president. Lansdale's singular success convinced the Eisenhower administration to send him to South Vietnam after the ignominious French rout at Dien Bien Phu. Assigned the impossible task of protecting the South from Communist encroachment, Lansdale was initially successful, cultivating the friendship of Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnam's new president. Then, increasingly sidelined by elitist generals and blue-blood diplomats, Lansdale watched helplessly as Diem was murdered in an American-supported coup just before Kennedy's own assassination. By 1965, the "hearts and minds" approach to counterinsurgency that Lansdale had so passionately advocated was no longer viable as the United States began a massive Vietnamese buildup. Never a team player, Lansdale became marginalized, watching the humiliating 1975 evacuation of Saigon at a painful remove and dying eleven years later, regarded as a "dirty tricks" specialist of a bygone era. Bringing a tragic complexity to this so-called Ugly American, [this] biography suggests that Vietnam, a conflict whose bitter legacy still haunts American foreign policy, might have been different if only Lansdale's advice had been heeded. With reverberations that continue to play out in Iraq and Afghanistan, The Road Not Taken is a biography of profound historical consequence."--Jacket
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
First Edition.
Extent
l, 717 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates
Contents
  • Prologue: The day of the dead: Saigon, November 1-2, 1963
  • Introduction: The misunderstood man
  • Ad man (1908-1945). In terrific flux ; Enfant terrible ; An institution run by its inmates
  • Colonel Landslide (1945-1954). The time of his life ; In love and war ; The knights templar ; "A most difficult and delicate problem" ; "All-out force or all-out friendship" ; The power broker ; "A real vindication"
  • National builder (1954-1956). La guerre sans fronts ; A fortress falls ; "I am Ngo Dinh Diem" ; The chopstick torture ; Pacification ; The viper's nest ; "Stop calling me papa!"
  • Washington warrior (1957-1963). Heartbreak hotel ; Guerrilla guru ; A new war begins ; The ambassador who never was ; "The X factor" ; "Worms of the world unite" ; "Washington at its nuttiest"
  • Bastard child (1964-1968). "A hell of a mess" ; "Concept for victory" ; Escalation ; The impossible missions force ; Waging peace in a time of war ; To stay or to go? ; Waiting for the second coming ; The long goodbye
  • The beaten man (1968-1987). The war at home ; A defeat in disguise ; The abandoned ally ; The family jewels ; The end of the road
  • Afterword: Lansdalism in the twenty-first century
Isbn
9780871409416
Instance
Label
The road not taken : Edward Lansdale and the American tragedy in Vietnam
Title
The road not taken
Title remainder
Edward Lansdale and the American tragedy in Vietnam
Statement of responsibility
Max Boot
Title variation
Edward Lansdale and the American tragedy in Vietnam
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
  • A biography of Edward Lansdale, the CIA operative. Boot chronicles his rise and fall as a proponent of a visionary "hearts and minds" diplomacy in Vietnam who was ultimately overruled by the American military bureaucracy, which favored bombs and troop build-ups over winning the people's trust
  • "The legendary Edward Lansdale (1908-1987), a covert operative so roguish that he was said to be the model for Graham Greene's The Quiet American, remains one of the most fascinating yet deeply misunderstood figures of post-1945 American foreign policy. Skeptics have belittled him as a con man ignorant of Asian realities, but a few have hailed him as a prophetic military genius whose yin-yang strategy of hunting down guerrillas while employing a 'hearts and minds' approach to win local support provided a lasting template for U.S. foreign policy. Examining these interpretations but also providing a veritable trove of new facts unearthed from previously classified documents, hidden letters, and interviews, [this book] fundamentally recasts both our vision of Lansdale and America's entire involvement in Vietnam. Max Boot positions Lansdale against the American twentieth century and evocatively charts Lansdale's itinerant upbringing and his transition from unorthodox California ad man to army and OSS officer. Leaving behind his wife and two young sons, Lansdale was sent to Manila in 1945. While becoming embroiled in a passionate love affair with the woman who would become his longtime mistress and later wife, he charted a way for the Filipinos to defend themselves against Communist insurgents by promoting Ramon Magsaysay, a charismatic figure who went from being a lowly congressman to the country's greatest president. Lansdale's singular success convinced the Eisenhower administration to send him to South Vietnam after the ignominious French rout at Dien Bien Phu. Assigned the impossible task of protecting the South from Communist encroachment, Lansdale was initially successful, cultivating the friendship of Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnam's new president. Then, increasingly sidelined by elitist generals and blue-blood diplomats, Lansdale watched helplessly as Diem was murdered in an American-supported coup just before Kennedy's own assassination. By 1965, the "hearts and minds" approach to counterinsurgency that Lansdale had so passionately advocated was no longer viable as the United States began a massive Vietnamese buildup. Never a team player, Lansdale became marginalized, watching the humiliating 1975 evacuation of Saigon at a painful remove and dying eleven years later, regarded as a "dirty tricks" specialist of a bygone era. Bringing a tragic complexity to this so-called Ugly American, [this] biography suggests that Vietnam, a conflict whose bitter legacy still haunts American foreign policy, might have been different if only Lansdale's advice had been heeded. With reverberations that continue to play out in Iraq and Afghanistan, The Road Not Taken is a biography of profound historical consequence."--Jacket
Summary
In chronicling the adventurous life of legendary CIA operative Edward Lansdale, the author aims to reframe readers' understanding of the Vietnam War
Tone
Writing style
Biography type
individual biography
http://library.link/vocab/ext/novelist/bookUI
10616368
Cataloging source
YDX
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1968-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Boot, Max
Dewey number
  • 959.704/3092
  • B
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • maps
  • plates
Index
index present
LC call number
E840.5.L36
LC item number
B66 2018
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/resourcePreferred
True
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Lansdale, Edward Geary
  • United States
  • United States
  • United States
  • Lansdale, Edward Geary
  • United States
  • United States
  • Vietnam War (1961-1975)
  • Intelligence officers
  • Generals
  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975
  • BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY
  • HISTORY
  • Employees
  • Generals
  • Intelligence officers
  • United States
Target audience
adult
http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/titleRemainder
Edward Lansdale and the American tragedy in Vietnam
Label
The road not taken : Edward Lansdale and the American tragedy in Vietnam, Max Boot
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 611-675) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
  • text
  • still image
Content type code
  • txt
  • sti
Content type MARC source
  • rdacontent
  • rdacontent
Contents
Prologue: The day of the dead: Saigon, November 1-2, 1963 -- Introduction: The misunderstood man -- Ad man (1908-1945). In terrific flux ; Enfant terrible ; An institution run by its inmates -- Colonel Landslide (1945-1954). The time of his life ; In love and war ; The knights templar ; "A most difficult and delicate problem" ; "All-out force or all-out friendship" ; The power broker ; "A real vindication" -- National builder (1954-1956). La guerre sans fronts ; A fortress falls ; "I am Ngo Dinh Diem" ; The chopstick torture ; Pacification ; The viper's nest ; "Stop calling me papa!" -- Washington warrior (1957-1963). Heartbreak hotel ; Guerrilla guru ; A new war begins ; The ambassador who never was ; "The X factor" ; "Worms of the world unite" ; "Washington at its nuttiest" -- Bastard child (1964-1968). "A hell of a mess" ; "Concept for victory" ; Escalation ; The impossible missions force ; Waging peace in a time of war ; To stay or to go? ; Waiting for the second coming ; The long goodbye -- The beaten man (1968-1987). The war at home ; A defeat in disguise ; The abandoned ally ; The family jewels ; The end of the road -- Afterword: Lansdalism in the twenty-first century
Control code
21279499
Dimensions
25 cm
Edition
First Edition.
Extent
l, 717 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates
Isbn
9780871409416
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
n
Other physical details
illustrations, maps
System control number
(OCoLC)988278087
Label
The road not taken : Edward Lansdale and the American tragedy in Vietnam, Max Boot
Publication
Copyright
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 611-675) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
  • text
  • still image
Content type code
  • txt
  • sti
Content type MARC source
  • rdacontent
  • rdacontent
Contents
Prologue: The day of the dead: Saigon, November 1-2, 1963 -- Introduction: The misunderstood man -- Ad man (1908-1945). In terrific flux ; Enfant terrible ; An institution run by its inmates -- Colonel Landslide (1945-1954). The time of his life ; In love and war ; The knights templar ; "A most difficult and delicate problem" ; "All-out force or all-out friendship" ; The power broker ; "A real vindication" -- National builder (1954-1956). La guerre sans fronts ; A fortress falls ; "I am Ngo Dinh Diem" ; The chopstick torture ; Pacification ; The viper's nest ; "Stop calling me papa!" -- Washington warrior (1957-1963). Heartbreak hotel ; Guerrilla guru ; A new war begins ; The ambassador who never was ; "The X factor" ; "Worms of the world unite" ; "Washington at its nuttiest" -- Bastard child (1964-1968). "A hell of a mess" ; "Concept for victory" ; Escalation ; The impossible missions force ; Waging peace in a time of war ; To stay or to go? ; Waiting for the second coming ; The long goodbye -- The beaten man (1968-1987). The war at home ; A defeat in disguise ; The abandoned ally ; The family jewels ; The end of the road -- Afterword: Lansdalism in the twenty-first century
Control code
21279499
Dimensions
25 cm
Edition
First Edition.
Extent
l, 717 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates
Isbn
9780871409416
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
n
Other physical details
illustrations, maps
System control number
(OCoLC)988278087

Subject

Genre

Library Locations

    • Culver-Union Township Public LibraryBorrow it
      107 N. Main St., Culver, IN, 46511, US
      41.216814 -86.42382

Library Links

Zepheira Logo
Structured data from the Bibframe namespace is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Culver-Union Township Public Library. Additional terms may apply to data associated with third party namespaces.
Novelist Logo
Processing Feedback ...