A Bright Shining Lie

This book is a passionate and epic account of the Vietnam War, focusing on Lt Col John Paul Vann. His story exposes America's failures and disillusionment in Southeast Asia. As a field adviser to the army when US involvement was just beginning, Vann became appalled by the corruption of the South Vietnamese regime and their incompetence in fighting the Communists. Finding his superiors too blinded by political lies to understand the truth of the war, he secretly briefed reporters such as Neil Sheehan. This book won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction.