The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam

By Max Boot

Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, History

The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam (2018) is a biography by Max Boot. Boot follows CIA and Air Force officer Edward Lansdale, who pushed hearts-and-minds counterinsurgency in the Philippines and South Vietnam. The book asks how different the war might have been if Washington had preferred Lansdale's political approach to conventional firepower and body counts.

Recommended by 1 person

• Fareed Zakaria: “My book of the week is Max Boot's, "The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam." In every American war over the last half century, military success has always foundered on political failure. And the central question has become how to win hearts and minds. Max Boot answers this question through a brilliant, beautifully written biography of a forgotten man who worked for the United States government as it battled insurgencies in the Philippines and then Vietnam. It's a big, long book but it is well worth the effort.”