{"product_id":"road-to-disaster-brian-vandemark-9780062449757","title":"Road to Disaster: A New History of America's Descent Into Vietnam","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"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\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMany 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat changes with \u003cem\u003eRoad to Disaster\u003c\/em\u003e. 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, \u003cem\u003eRoad to Disaster\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn epic history of America's march to quagmire, \u003cem\u003eRoad to Disaster\u003c\/em\u003e is a landmark in scholarship and a book of immense importance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Brian Vandemark\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0062449753\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780062449757\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Mariner Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/17\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 656\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.40w x 1.10d","brand":"Brian Vandemark","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43995485241599,"sku":"9780062449757","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_d57b7125-3a88-4d5f-86d7-ddd3fdfa6c2e.jpg?v=1683336082","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/road-to-disaster-brian-vandemark-9780062449757","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}