Facing the Phoenix: The CIA and the Political Defeat of the United States in Vietnam
The author of Over the Beach ( LJ 11/1/86) and Survivors ( LJ 2/1/86), former Vietnam War correspondent and Army officer Grant turns his attention to pacification efforts in Vietnam, including the CIA's controversial Phoenix program. Based on his own experience and extensive interviews with recognized key players, Grant's study begins with post-World War II Hanoi and hopscotches from Saigon to Washington to California, covering 30 years in an attempt to explain the personal actions and motives of Vietnamese and American officials. For a basic sketch of Phoenix and the CIA involvement in Vietnam, standard histories of the war suffice--e.g., Stanley Karnow's Vietnam ( LJ 10/1/83), John Ranelagh's The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA ( LJ 6/1/86), Cecil B. Currey's Edward Lansdale: The Unquiet American (Houghton, 1989). Unique is the story of Tran Ngoc Chau, noted Vietnamese general and government official, who advocated a political rather than military solution to the war. Although the excess of personal and peripheral detail is distracting, Grant's energetic style and his analysis of little-publicized political controversies will hold the attention of casual or scholarly readers. For comprehensive collections on the CIA and Vietnam-era politics and most academic libraries. Notes, index, and photographs not seen.- Pamela J. Peters, SUNY at Oneonta Lib., N.Y.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.