A Bright Shining Lie

Description for A BRIGHT SHINING LIE: JOHN PAUL VANN AND AMERICA IN VIETNAM by Neil Sheehan: A BRIGHT SHINING LIE---sixteen years in the making---is a monumental account of Vietnam by a prizewinning journalist who was there. A BRIGHT SHINING LIE melds biography and history in a masterly way to tell the story of Lt. Col. John Paul Vann, a soldier cast in the American hero mold, the closest of the Untied States came in Vietnam to a Lawrence of Arabia. And, like Lawrence, he was a complicated man with a dark secret that haunted his career. Outspoken professionally and fearless, Vann went to Vietnam in 1962, full of confidence in America's might and right to prevail. When he was killed there in 1972, he was mourned at Arlington by renowned figures across the political spectrum, from Daniel Ellsberg To General William Westmoreland. A BRIGHT SHINING LIE reveals the truth of the war in Vietnam as it unfolded before the eyes of John Paul Vann: the arrogance and professional