Review

Embers of War is one of the greatest histories - indeed one of the greatest books - I have ever read. I learned so much from, and simply loved, this book. I rank it with Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest and Caro's Master of the Senate: high praise - well and richly deserved. I think many of us wonder how and why our great nation could have possibly made the same gigantic blunder as the French in stumbling into Vietnam. This book explains how and why it happened. Logevall's history reads like the most compelling novel - a story of misunderstandings, missed opportunities, and a sense of inevitability. History repeats itself and we seem powerless to change its course. Both Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro reached out to us early in their reigns; we simply and totally rebuffed them. To that end, the author makes the insightful argument that in the 1950s Russia - and especially the sheer word "communism" - caused near panic in America, and as a consequence, domestic politics controlled everything! The book paints a vivid and persuasive picture that we seemed repeatedly blind at the time, but now things seem so much clearer. By presenting the French and our own histories in such compelling detail, the reader must wonder if we had any real - or realistic - true choice other than to be led/dragged into that quagmire. To quote but one of the author's innumerable, penetrating insights, Logevall argues that: "Americans were dreaming different dreams than the French, but walking in the same footsteps." If you would like a better, deeper, more nuanced understanding of, and appreciation for, how we became mired in Vietnam, an overview of American history for about a quarter of the mid-20th century, and a simply wonderful reading experience, I urge you to read Embers of War. You will be very glad you did!

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