Reviews
"Jones presents a work of outstanding scholarship, on which he spent 15years researching recently declassified State Department records and acomprehensive array of other primary and secondary documents, to arrive at apersuasively affirmative response....This scholarly appraisal ranks with FredrikLogevall's Choosing War and David Kaiser's American Tragedy as one of the mostimportant current investigations of the diplomacy of the early war."--LibraryJournal, "Jones presents a work of outstanding scholarship, on which he spent 15 years researching recently declassified State Department records and a comprehensive array of other primary and secondary documents, to arrive at a persuasively affirmative response....This scholarly appraisal ranks withFredrik Logevall's Choosing War and David Kaiser's American Tragedy as one of the most important current investigations of the diplomacy of the early war."--Library Journal, "Superb analysis of the 1963 Buddhist crisis."-- Reviews in American History "The account of the events leading up to the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is particularly good, and the assessment of its dire effect on the nature of the U.S. commitment to South Vietnam, convincing."-- Foreign Affairs "Jones...argues that the instability of Diem's government, followed by the assassinations of Diem and JFK, combined to create an environment where escalation of American involvement in Vietnam became inevitable, thus triggering what Jones terms 'the death of a generation."....Jones goes deeper into the existing evidence supporting this thesis than have most other writers, and does so in a highly readable manner."-- Publishers Weekly "This is a 'what if' book, and lay historians may wonder whether such a book has a place in history. The answer in this case is a strong affirmative."-- Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Superb analysis of the 1963 Buddhist crisis."--Reviews in American History "The account of the events leading up to the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is particularly good, and the assessment of its dire effect on the nature of the U.S. commitment to South Vietnam, convincing."--Foreign Affairs "Jones...argues that the instability of Diem's government, followed by the assassinations of Diem and JFK, combined to create an environment where escalation of American involvement in Vietnam became inevitable, thus triggering what Jones terms 'the death of a generation."....Jones goes deeper into the existing evidence supporting this thesis than have most other writers, and does so in a highly readable manner."--Publishers Weekly "This is a 'what if' book, and lay historians may wonder whether such a book has a place in history. The answer in this case is a strong affirmative."--Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Jones...argues that the instability of Diem's government, followed by theassassinations of Diem and JFK, combined to create an environment whereescalation of American involvement in Vietnam became inevitable, thus triggeringwhat Jones terms 'the death of a generation."....Jones goes deeper into theexisting evidence supporting this thesis than have most other writers, and doesso in a highly readable manner."--Publishers Weekly, "In Death of a Generation, historian Howard Jones advances the theory that President John F. Kennedy, had he lived, would have pursued his withdrawal plan from Vietnam. This is a 'what if' book, and lay historians may wonder whether such a book has a place in history. The answer in this caseis a strong affirmative. 'What if' histories make a useful contribution when they treat events that clearly bear on decisions of the present."--Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Argues quite convincingly that had the coup not been bungled and Johnsonnot propelled to leadership, Vietnam may have ended quite differently--almostcertainly not in the deaths of 58,000 Americans and untold hundreds of thousandsof Vietnamese. Solid history marked by memorable moments (including a glimpse ofDavid Halberstam looting Saigon's presidential palace) and the highly effectiveuse of hitherto classified documents."--Kirkus Reviews, "Argues quite convincingly that had the coup not been bungled and Johnson not propelled to leadership, Vietnam may have ended quite differently--almost certainly not in the deaths of 58,000 Americans and untold hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. Solid history marked by memorable moments(including a glimpse of David Halberstam looting Saigon's presidential palace) and the highly effective use of hitherto classified documents."--Kirkus Reviews, "Superb analysis of the 1963 Buddhist crisis."--Reviews in American History"Jones...argues that the instability of Diem's government, followed by the assassinations of Diem and JFK, combined to create an environment where escalation of American involvement in Vietnam became inevitable, thus triggering what Jones terms 'the death of a generation"...Jones goes deeper into the existing evidence supporting this thesis than have most other writers, and does so in a highly readable manner."--Publishers Weekly"This is a 'what if' book, and lay historians may wonder whether such a book has a place in history. The answer in this case is a strong affirmative."--Richmond Times-Dispatch"A major piece of scholarship...The account of the events leading up to the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is particularly good, and the assessment of its dire effect on the nature of the U.S. commitment to South Vietnam, convincing."--Foreign Affairs"Jones's new work [is] the most comprehensive and credible yet"--Toronto Globe and Mail"Argues quite convincingly that had the coup not been bungled and Johnson not propelled to leadership, Vietnam may have ended quite differently--almost certainly not in the deaths of 58,000 Americans and untold hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. Solid history marked by memorable moments (including a glimpse of David Halberstam looting Saigon's presidential palace) and the highly effective use of hitherto classified documents."--Kirkus Reviews"Jones presents a work of outstanding scholarship, on which he spent 15 years researching recently declassified State Department records and a comprehensive array of other primary and secondary documents, to arrive at a persuasively affirmative response...This scholarly appraisal ranks with Fredrik Logevall's Choosing War and David Kaiser's American Tragedy as one of the most important current investigations of the diplomacy of the earlywar."--Library Journal, "A major piece of scholarship.... The account of the events leading up to the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is particularly good, and the assessment of its dire effect on the nature of the U.S. commitment to South Vietnam, convincing."--Foreign Affairs, "Superb analysis of the 1963 Buddhist crisis."--Reviews in American History "Jones...argues that the instability of Diem's government, followed by the assassinations of Diem and JFK, combined to create an environment where escalation of American involvement in Vietnam became inevitable, thus triggering what Jones terms 'the death of a generation"...Jones goes deeper into the existing evidence supporting this thesis than have most other writers, and does so in a highly readable manner."--Publishers Weekly "This is a 'what if' book, and lay historians may wonder whether such a book has a place in history. The answer in this case is a strong affirmative."--Richmond Times-Dispatch "A major piece of scholarship...The account of the events leading up to the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is particularly good, and the assessment of its dire effect on the nature of the U.S. commitment to South Vietnam, convincing."--Foreign Affairs "Jones's new work [is] the most comprehensive and credible yet"--Toronto Globe and Mail "Argues quite convincingly that had the coup not been bungled and Johnson not propelled to leadership, Vietnam may have ended quite differently--almost certainly not in the deaths of 58,000 Americans and untold hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. Solid history marked by memorable moments (including a glimpse of David Halberstam looting Saigon's presidential palace) and the highly effective use of hitherto classified documents."--Kirkus Reviews "Jones presents a work of outstanding scholarship, on which he spent 15 years researching recently declassified State Department records and a comprehensive array of other primary and secondary documents, to arrive at a persuasively affirmative response...This scholarly appraisal ranks with Fredrik Logevall's Choosing War and David Kaiser's American Tragedy as one of the most important current investigations of the diplomacy of the early war."--Library Journal, "A major piece of scholarship.... The account of the events leading up tothe assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is particularlygood, and the assessment of its dire effect on the nature of the U.S. commitmentto South Vietnam, convincing."--Foreign Affairs, "Jones...argues that the instability of Diem's government, followed by the assassinations of Diem and JFK, combined to create an environment where escalation of American involvement in Vietnam became inevitable, thus triggering what Jones terms 'the death of a generation."....Jones goes deeperinto the existing evidence supporting this thesis than have most other writers, and does so in a highly readable manner."--Publishers Weekly, "Superb analysis of the 1963 Buddhist crisis."--Reviews in American History"Jones...argues that the instability of Diem's government, followed by the assassinations of Diem and JFK, combined to create an environment where escalation of American involvement in Vietnam became inevitable, thus triggering what Jones terms 'the death of a generation"...Jones goes deeper into the existing evidence supporting this thesis than have most other writers, and does so in a highly readable manner."--Publishers Weekly"This is a 'what if' book, and lay historians may wonder whether such a book has a place in history. The answer in this case is a strong affirmative."--Richmond Times-Dispatch"A major piece of scholarship...The account of the events leading up to the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is particularly good, and the assessment of its dire effect on the nature of the U.S. commitment to South Vietnam, convincing."--Foreign Affairs"Jones's new work [is] the most comprehensive and credible yet"--Toronto Globe and Mail"Argues quite convincingly that had the coup not been bungled and Johnson not propelled to leadership, Vietnam may have ended quite differently--almost certainly not in the deaths of 58,000 Americans and untold hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. Solid history marked by memorable moments (including a glimpse of David Halberstam looting Saigon's presidential palace) and the highly effective use of hitherto classified documents."--Kirkus Reviews"Jones presents a work of outstanding scholarship, on which he spent 15 years researching recently declassified State Department records and a comprehensive array of other primary and secondary documents, to arrive at a persuasively affirmative response...This scholarly appraisal ranks with Fredrik Logevall's Choosing War and David Kaiser's American Tragedy as one of the most important current investigations of the diplomacy of the early war."--Library Journal
