avid Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest examines the people and events leading to America's involvement in Vietnam. He examines the
decisions that placed
American military forces in Vietnam and kept them there and profiles the key decision-makers, including Robert McNamara, Dean Rusk, and Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Halberstam describes the role of these individuals' power and success in America in the sixties and how it influenced the country.
ournalist Neil Sheehan's A Bright Shining Lie tells the story of the Vietnam War as experienced by U. S. Army Lt. Col. John Paul Vann. Vann first went to Vietnam as a soldier in 1962, fully supporting the U.S. war effort. He soon discovered
corruption in the military and the destruction resulting from American occupation. He spoke out against what he felt was a futile and vicious U.S. strategy, but his superiors did not listen to him. Vann left the army and returned to Vietnam in 1965 as a civilian working with the pacification program, and he remained there until 1972 when he was killed.