Really and truly, this happy Corner must have the best-informed readers on the face of the planet. Late last night, I posted a question about good books on Vietnam, and when I checked my inbox at lunchtime today I found more than sixty replies. (Not to mention, of course, the postings below by Andrew Suttaford, Mac Owens, and Ramesh Ponnuru.)
Now, I confess that I haven’t had time to read all sixty of those emails (the more so since the server here at Hoover seems to be acting up today, making the reading of email move very, very, very slowly), but I have hopped from one to another, getting a feel for the traffic. One book came up again and again: America in Vietnam, by Gunther Lewy. Lewy’s book was recommended by a reader who teaches at a military academy; received high praise from Kirby Wilbur, the genial, witty, and widely-read host of the conservative talk radio show in Seattle; and was the object of this encomium from historian (and frequent NRO contributor) Steve Hayward: “By far and away the best Vietnam book, and I have read probably two dozen or more.”
Other books our readers recommend:
Vietnam, the Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of America’s Most Disastrous Military Conflict by Michael Lind
A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last War in Vietnam by Lewis Sorley
A Grand Delusion: America’s Descent into Vietnam by Robert Mann
The 25-Year War: America’s Military Role in Vietnam by Bruce Palmer
The Corner: If our readers can’t answer it, the question ain’t worth asking.