After Tet - The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam

In the wake of the TET offensive in March, 1968, Lyndon Johnson announced the cessation of bombing against North Vietnam and his decision not to run for president. Now, in time for the 25th anniversary of the TET offensive, Ronald Spector has written a narrative account of that bloodiest year of the war, a year that largely determined the course and outcome of the war. The battles of 1968 were costly and inconclusive, leading to a diplomatic deadlock that, in the long run, frustrated Americans and worked to the advantage of their patient enemies. Yet, by failing to break the political and military deadlock, these indecisive operations condemned the belligerents to five more years of war. Drawing upon recently declassified military records and personal documents, this book describes the desperate struggle in the jungles, mountains and rice paddies of Vietnam, as both sides mounted increasingly expensive and predictable offensives. Caught between an American government which could never make up its mind and a North Vietnamese government which refused ever to change its mind, thousands of brave men and women gave up their lives to an undefinable end.