Road to disaster : a new history of America's descent into Vietnam / Brian VanDeMark.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 593-602) and index.

The Danger of Unquestioned Assumptions (January - April 1961) -- The Limits of Imagination (April 1961 - October 1962) -- The Failure of Anticipation (October 1962 - November 1963) -- The Peril of Short-Term Thinking (November 1963 - July 1965) -- The Hazard of Sunk Costs (August 1965 - May 1967) -- The Jeopardy of Conflicting Loyalties (May 1967 - February 1968) -- The Difficulty of Ending War (March 1968 - January 1969).

"The most thoughtful and judicious one-volume history of the war and the American political leaders who presided over the difficult and painful decisions that shaped this history. The book will stand for the foreseeable future as the best study of the tragic mistakes that led to so much suffering."--Robert Dallek. Many books have been written on the tragic decisions regarding Vietnam made by the young stars of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet despite millions of words of analysis and reflection, no historian has been able to explain why such decent, brilliant, and previously successful men stumbled so badly. That changes with Road to Disaster. Historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own interviews with many of those involved, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford, who served as Defense Secretaries for Kennedy and Johnson. Yet beyond that, Road to Disaster is also the first history of the war to look at the cataclysmic decisions of those in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations through the prism of recent research in cognitive science, psychology, and organizational theory to explain why the "Best and the Brightest" became trapped in situations that suffocated creative thinking and willingness to dissent, why they found change so hard, and why they were so blind to their own errors. An epic history of America's march to quagmire, Road to Disaster is a landmark in scholarship and a book of immense importance"-- Provided by publisher.

"A provocative reexamination of the "Best and the Brightest" and how and why they led us into the Vietnam War, drawing upon cutting edge research into decision making and unheard audio recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford"-- Provided by publisher.