A Shau Crucible of the Vietnam War

Drawing upon an impressive array of archival materials, this deeply researched book offers the first comprehensive account of operations and battles that transpired there during the war, coupled with a trenchant analysis of the American failure to wrest control of the Valley despite years of commitment of troops and resources, and how that failure contributed to the final outcome of the war. In so doing, it not only sheds light on where military tactics and strategy devised by American leaders went awry, but also traces the extraordinary acts of heroism on the part of American soldiers, many of whom lost their lives fighting the North Vietnamese in this hostile, forbidding terrain.