Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965

Drawing on a wealth of new evidence from all sides, Triumph Forsaken overturns most of the historical orthodoxy on the Vietnam War. Through the analysis of international perceptions and power, it shows that South Vietnam was a vital interest of the United States. The book provides many new insights into the overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963 and demonstrates that the coup negated the South Vietnamese government's tremendous, and hitherto unappreciated, military and political gains between 1954 and 1963. After Diem's assassination, President Lyndon Johnson had at his disposal several aggressive policy options that could have enabled South Vietnam to continue the war without a massive US troop infusion, but he ruled out these options because of faulty assumptions and inadequate intelligence, making such an infusion the only means of saving the country.

Author: Mark Moyar
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 08/28/2006
Pages: 552
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.06lbs
Size: 9.44h x 6.16w x 1.53d
ISBN: 9780521869119


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/17/2006 pg. 149
Booklist 07/01/2006 pg. 25
Library Journal 09/01/2006 pg. 160
Foreword 11/01/2006 pg. 43

About the Author
Moyar, Mark: - Dr Mark Moyar is the Kim T. Adamson Chair of Insurgency and Terrorism at the US Marine Corps University. He holds a B.A. summa cum laude in history from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in history from Cambridge University. A frequent commentator on historical and current events, his articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and many other publications. He is also the author of Phoenix and the Birds of Prey: Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism in Vietnam.