373 pp, large 8vo (9 1/2" H). B&w photographs, map. "The time, January-November 1963. The place: Saigon. The circumstances: a fledgling nation being subverted from inside and out, and a set of treacherous Vietnamese generals and arrogant, blundering high officials of the Kennedy administration. The result: the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu in a military coup that turned the Vietnam War in to an American war and set in motion an ever-widening tragedy. This riveting inside chronicle of a single year is not only an awesome task of research but a cautionary tale for all Americans. Dr. Hammer, who visited the embattled nation many time s during the period and interviewed key characters in the drama, cuts away layer after layer of double-talk to expose the cancer of incomprehension and mistrust that killed all hopes of preserving the independence of South Vietnam. Without ever calling names or placing blame the author is everywhere, probing, digging, uncovering - letting history render its own verdict. When November 1963 was over, both the Vietnamese and American presidents had died at the hands of assassins. No one but ( the author) could have summoned up the ghost of Ngo Dinh Diem with such power or demonstrated so poignantly its significance for our larger involvement in Vietnam." Minor edge wear, minor rubbing, date in ink on free front endpaper. Dust jacket has been price-clipped, has minor edge wrinkling, very light rubbing.

Bao Dai, Buddhism, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, China, Communism, Lucien Conein, Diem regime, Duong Van Minh, Ho Chi Minh, Coups, Paul Harkins, Roger Hilsman, Hue, Laos, John F. Kennedy, Henry Cabot Lodge, Robert McNamara, Ngo Dinh Diem, Nhu, N