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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Library | 959.7 SHE | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Lyons Public Library | 959.704 SHE (VN) | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | 959.704 SHEEHAN | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Newberg Public Library | 959.704 SHEEHAN | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Salem Main Library | 921 Vann, John | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Willamina Public Library | 959.7 SHEEHAN | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Fourteen years in the making, this story of a man and a war is so mesmerizing and monumentalze winner, is scheduled to appear on Good Morning America this fall. The New Yorker will feature this book in three installments this summer. 16 pages of photos, maps.
Author Notes
American journalist Cornelius Mahoney "Neil" Sheehan was born on October 27, 1936 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1958 he received a B.A. from Harvard University. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1959 to 1962, Sheehan began working for the United Press International. Following a stint in the Tokyo bureau he worked as a bureau chief covering the Vietnam War for two years. Sheehan joined The New York Times in 1964 and reported from Indonesia and again Vietnam before becoming the Pentagon correspondent in 1966. He began reporting on the White House in 1968.
In 1971 Sheehan published in The New York Times controversial details from the classified Pentagon Papers regarding the war in Vietnam. The government lost the resulting case, New York Times Co. v. United States, in which it had tried to halt these actions.
Sheehan has written several bestselling books. He won a non-fiction Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for A Bright Shining Lie, considered to be one of the best books ever written about the Vietnam War. It also won the 1988 National Book Award for Nonfiction. He has also published The Arnheiter Affair, After the War Was Over, and A Fiery Peace in a Cold War.
Neil Sheehan died in Washington, D. C. on January 7, 2021 at the age of 84.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Killed in a helicopter crash in Vietnam in 1972, controversial Lt. Col. John Paul Vann was perhaps the most outspoken army field adviser to criticize the way the war was being waged. Appalled by the South Vietnamese troops' unwillingness to fight and their random slaughter of civilians, he flouted his supervisors and leaked his sharply pessimistic (and, as it turned out, accurate) assessments to the U.S. press corps in Saigon. Among them was Sheehan, a reporter for UPI and later the New York Times (for whom he obtained the Pentagon Papers). Sixteen years in the making, writing and re search, this compelling 768-page biography is an extraordinary feat of reportage: an eloquent, disturbing portrait of a man who in many ways personified the U.S. war effort. Blunt, idealistic, patronizing to the Vietnamese, Vann firmly believed the U.S. could win; as Sheehan limns him, he was ultimately caught up in his own illusions. The author weaves into one unified chronicle an account of the Korean War (in which Vann also fought), the story of U.S. support for French colonialism, descriptions of military battles, a critique of our foreign policy and a history of this all-American boy's secret personal liehe was illegitimate, his mother a ``white trash'' prostitutethat led him to recklessly gamble away his career. 100,000 first printing; first serial to the New Yorker; BOMC main selection ; a uthor tour. (October) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Using the life of one man as his framework, Sheehan (The Arnheiter Affair, 1971) has written the best book on America's involvement in Vietnam since Frances Fitzgerald's Fire in the Lake. John Paul Vann was a visionary as well as a gung-ho army officer. Arriving in Saigon in 1962 as a Lt. Colonel, Vann soon perceived something amiss in the US approach to the blossoming war. The American-backed ruling family, the Ngo Dinhs, were considered foreigners by most of the population; the ARVN existed primarily to protect them and generate graft; and American-supplied weapons were going almost directly to the Vier Cong. Vann was quick to realize that until the US took the loyalties and traditions of the population into account, it would be pouring lives and money into the quagmire to no avail. Vann was to retire and return to Vietnam as a civilian in the Foreign Service before he was listened to; eventually, he was regarded as one of the best minds in the field, and his ideas were adopted (too late to change the outcome) at the highest levels; he died there in a helicopter accident in 1972. Sheehan, a friend of Vann's and one of the many newsmen whose understanding of the war was shaped by him (changing the press's relationship with the military), conducted close to 400 interviews and did exhaustive research to put together this brutal, honest, exciting, often funny book. His canvas is broad, filled with neatly integrated historical information, sharply observed portraits (from policy level on down), tactical and logistic detail, and insightful political analysis, along with the biography of a fascinating and uniquely American character. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
While John Paul Vann's name isn't as well known as Patton's or MacArthur's, this comprehensive biography might alter that. It depicts a strong-willed, capable man who vocally objected to the inefficient and inept handling of the Vietnam War by Saigon and Washington and, in addition, cultivated good relationships with the media. Lieutenant Colonel Vann diligently opposed General Westmoreland's war of attrition. The saturation bombing and heavy loss of civilian life did not fit into his picture of how a war should be fought and won. Though weak on the later years of Vann's life, Sheehan's biography is an engrossing account of a public and private man as well as an informative history of the U.S. presence in Vietnam. Bibliography, notes; to be indexed. BAS.
Choice Review
Sheehan, a Vietnam War correspondent for United Press International and The New York Times, spent 16 years writing this book, and the final product clearly justifies the effort and wait. A Bright and Shining Lie is quite simply the best single book on the war in Vietnam, period. Sheehan brilliantly interweaves three fundamental strands: a readable and compelling history of the war; the crucial role of Lt. John Paul Vann as advisor, strategist, and "lobbyist" for American efforts in Vietnam; and a fascinating account of Vann's personal life. Vann's views of the war mirrored America's, as he moved from commitment to disillusionment with strategy and tactics, to blind faith in his ability to turn the war around. Beautifully written and filled with fascinating detail (including some superb descriptions of actual combat), this monumental work stands as a testament both to Sheehan and to Vann--who realized that the war was indeed a lie but was nonetheless drawn to it. Absolutely recommended for all libraries. -A. O. Edmonds, Ball State University
Library Journal Review
Vann was a figure of legends, first as a military advisor and later as a civilian official, renowned for his bravery and special insight into and openness about the developing failure in Vietnam. He appeared to sacrifice his military career in 1963, demonstrating uncommon integrity, and died in 1972 after leading the successful defense of Kontum. Sheehan, the New York Times reporter who obtained the Pentagon Papers from Daniel Ellsberg, reveals a flawed herocapable of deceit in furthering his reputation and his cause and of insatiable sexual exploits that had already ended hopes of promotionbut still a remarkable man. More importantly, Vann serves as the anchor of a detailed, well-researched, very respectable, and readable attempt to explain the Vietnam experience. Excerpted in The New Yorker. Highly recommended. BMOC main selection.Kenneth W. Berger, Duke Univ. Lib., Durham, N.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.