A Bright Shining Lie

[Colin Rush]

The full title is A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam. This expose was written by John Sheehan and published in 1988. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for Non-Fiction.

Lieutenant Colonel Vann was perhaps the most outspoken army field adviser to criticize the way the war was being waged. Appalled by the South Vietnamese troops' unwillingness to fight and their random slaughter of civilians, he flouted his supervisors and leaked his sharply pessimistic (and, as it turned out, accurate) assessments to the U.S. press corps in Saigon. Among them was Sheehan, a reporter for UPI and later the New York Times (for whom he obtained the Pentagon Papers). Blunt, idealistic, patronizing to the Vietnamese, Vann firmly believed the U.S. could win; as Sheehan limns him, he was ultimately caught up in his own illusions. The author weaves into one unified chronicle an account of the Korean War (in which Vann also fought), the story of U.S. support for French colonialism, descriptions of military battles, a critique of our foreign policy and a history of this all-American boy's secret personal life. Sixteen years in the making, writing, and research, this compelling biography is an extraordinary feat of reportage: an eloquent, disturbing portrait of a man who in many ways personified the U.S. war effort.

Of particular interest to IHC aficionados is his recounting of how he used to regularly drive alone in Vietcong-controlled territory in an IH pickup or Scout.

There are several editions of this book.

There was a First Edition 861-page hardbound book. The ISBN-10 is 0394484479, and the ISBN-13 is 978-0394484471. This was published by Random House.

There was also a First Edition softbound book. The ISBN-10 is 0679724141, and the ISBN-13 is 978-0679724148. This was published by Vintage Books USA.

A Second Edition was published in 2009. This is a 896-page hardback book. The ISBN-10 is 0679643613, and the ISBN-13 is 978-0679643616. This was published by Modern Library.