Dereliction of Duty
Johnson, Mcnamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff
HarperCollins · Print & ebook · March 1, 2011
"The war in Vietnam was not lost in the field, nor was it lost on the front pages of the New York Times or the college campuses.
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- Who it’s for
- A tight, unsparing look at how policy, command, and performance collided.
- Genres
- Vietnam War History, 20th-Century America, The Presidency & Executive
- Published
- HarperCollins, March 1, 2011
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Start with this bookAbout this book
"The war in Vietnam was not lost in the field, nor was it lost on the front pages of the New York Times or the college campuses. It was lost in Washington, D.C." —H. R. McMaster (from the Conclusion) Dereliction Of Duty is a stunning analysis of how and why the United States became involved in an all-out and disastrous war in Southeast Asia.
Continue reading
Fully and convincingly researched, based on transcripts and personal accounts of crucial meetings, confrontations and decisions, it is the only book that fully re-creates what happened and why. McMaster pinpoints the policies and decisions that got the United States into the morass and reveals who made these decisions and the motives behind them, disproving the published theories of other historians and excuses of the participants. A page-turning narrative, Dereliction Of Duty focuses on a fascinating cast of characters: President Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, General Maxwell Taylor, McGeorge Bundy and other top aides who deliberately deceived the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the U.S. Congress and the American public. McMaster’s only book, Dereliction of Duty is an explosive and authoritative new look at the controversy concerning the United States involvement in Vietnam.
Inside the Room
A tight, unsparing look at how policy, command, and performance collided.
Come here for
- civil-military friction, rendered plainly
- staff-room pressure and strategic failure
Expect
- clear institutional blame
- history with courtroom-adjacent intensity
Where it sits
| Vietnam War History | 100% |
|---|---|
| 20th-Century America | 37% |
| The Presidency & Executive | 27% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- History
- Middle Eastern History
- Iraq History
- Military Strategy
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Vietnam War History
- U.S. Military History
- Iraq War (2003-2011)
- 20th-Century America
- Authors
- H. R. McMaster, Harper
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- March 1, 2011
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- History