The Art of Insurgency: American Military Policy and the Failure of Strategy in Southeast Asia
(Hardback)
Publishing Details
The Art of Insurgency: American Military Policy and the Failure of Strategy in Southeast Asia
By (Author) Donald W. Hamilton
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Praeger Publishers Inc
26th January 1998
United States
Classifications
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
Asian history
History of the Americas
355.033573
Physical Properties
Hardback
216
Description
In his analysis of insurgency war, Donald Hamilton first attempts to provide insight into a strategic concept he believes is little understood today, and to explain its complicated relationship to American policy failures in Southeast Asia during the post-1945 era of containment. The study develops a working model of insurgency, explaining it as both a unique method and type of war-making. Significant findings include the inability of policymakers to perceive a potential insurgency in Vietnam as early as 1946, subsequent American involvement in not one, but three Asian insurgencies during the 1950s, and the ultimate failure of the U.S. military to meet the insurgency challenge in South Vietnam. This inability to eliminate the insurgency led not only to the complete breakdown of the South Vietnamese government, but was the primary reason why further U.S. military action after 1965 would prove ineffectual. This historical narrative also follows the involvement of several key players, including the personalities of Edward Lansdale, Sir Robert Thompson, Archimedes Patti, and Vo Nguyen Giap, who through their life experiences and writings, provide a keen profundity into why insurgencies occur, why they fail, and why they succeed.
Reviews
"In noteworthy fashion, Hamilton discusses insurgency as a "method" and as a "type" of warfare. His analysis is clearly superior to anything yet written. I have been studying the Viet Nam conflict for 22 years. Without any reservations, I believe this to be the best book I have yet seen on this subject, and I have read most of them."-from the Foreword by Cecil B. Currey, University of South Florida and award-winning author of Victory at Any Cost
A well-researched look into why insurgencies occur, why they sometimes fail, and why more often seem to succeed.-Sea Power
"A well-researched look into why insurgencies occur, why they sometimes fail, and why more often seem to succeed."-Sea Power
Author Bio
DONALD W. HAMILTON is Professor of History at Mesa College and serves as a reserve officer in the U.S. military.
