A Bright Shining Lie (Magill Book Reviews)

The book dwells on Vann’s background and the various “hidden secrets” of his life: his illegitimacy, his abusive and disreputable mother, his sexual infidelity, and so on. Even more interesting, though, is Sheehan’s analysis of the development of the personal qualities that made Vann such a good leader and strategist: He was fearless but had a good understanding of the weaknesses of those around him, and was thus personally reckless but responsible as a commander; he was a tireless worker, able to function well on only a few hours sleep, and could thus complete far more tasks than most of his peers; and he was a shrewd outsider rather than a complacent insider in the military establishment, able to maintain an independent perspective on what was happening around him.

It was this clear-headed independence of Vann’s that was perhaps his most admirable quality and that, predictably, got him into trouble. Sheehan’s book serves as a much-needed, ironic reminder that one of the most severe critics of the war was a dedicated military man who was by no means against war in general or the Vietnam War in particular. Vann is used as a touchstone to measure the almost criminal “arrogance, lack of imagination, and moral and intellectual insensitivity” that characterized the ranking armed-forces leaders at the time. His criticisms and suggestions to his superiors went unheeded, largely because they were so unpalatable: He came to believe, for example, that the best strategy would be to “harness the revolution” preached by the Communists to the American cause. Cut off from substantively influencing the direction of the war, Vann angrily leaked more and more stories to newswriters, became increasingly discouraged about his career, and finally capitulated to some of the forces he had criticized so strongly early in his career.

Sheehan’s book is demanding and will likely disturb all of its readers: Some will take issue with Vann’s premise that what was needed was a skillfully conducted war rather than no war at all; others will bridle at the wholesale indictment of a shabby political and military leadership that was unprepared to initiate a war and yet continued to prosecute it, largely to save face. As troubling as it is, however, Sheehan’s book is a necessity: Americans are still close enough to that era of “bright shining lies” to need a tale that burns like the truth and recalls the smell of napalm.

Sources for Further Study

The New Republic. CXCIX, October 24, 1988, p. 32.

The New York Times Book Review. XCIII, September 25, 1988, p. 1.

Newsweek. CXII, October 10, 1988, p. 72.

Time. CXXXII, October 17, 1988, p. 80.