Dereliction of Duty

"Lately [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General] Shelton has been closely reading a book called Dereliction of Duty. Its thesis: that the Joint Chiefs of Staff lost the Vietnam War by failing to stand up to civilian leadership."-- "Newsweek"Four star generals do not normally consult the writings of junior field grade officers for advice about career decisions. But it was widely reported that when Air Force Chief of Staff General Ronald Fogelman decided to resign in 1997, he did so at least in part on the basis of a careful reading of H.R. McMaster's "Dereliction of Duty...."McMaster has written a scathing indictment of America's civilian and military leadership during the early phases of the Vietnam war, and he speaks...with unique moral authority....McMaster earned his moral authority under fire....By virtue of his actions [in the Gulf War], McMaster became a hero.... "[McMaster] speaks with unusual authority as a symbol of the confident young veterans of the Gulf. His call to his leaders to hold themselves to high standards of professional integrity is, therefore, an important one. No wonder, then, that General Fogelman, himself an acute student of history, would pay close attention to work that on nearly every page excoriates his predecessors for their unwillingness to speak and act as their positions required.... "Recently, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Henry Shelton, invited Major McMaster to lecture to the most senior generals in the American military about his book." -- Eliot Cohen, Professor of StrategicStudies of The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, "National Interest Magazine, Spring '98"A stunning book: eloquent and highly effective. The word noble would not be going too far." -- Paul Fussell, author of "The Great War & Modern Memory"What gives "Dereliction of Duty its special value is...McMaster's comprehensive, balanced and relentless exploration of the specific role of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...a devastating indictment of Johnson and his principal civilian and military advisers." -- Ronald Spector, "New York Times Book Review"Well-written and full of enlightening new details, "Dereliction of Duty adds significantly to the historical record of a great national failure." -- Arnold R. Isaacs, "Washington Post Book World"Carefully researched and vividly narrated, H.R. McMaster's book adds a new and disturbing dimension to an understanding of the decisions that propelled us into the Vietnam war. It should be read by anyone interested in the origins of one of the great tragedies in American history."-- Stanley Karnow, Pulitzer Prize-Winning author of "Vietnam: A History "A book to boggle your mind with new revelations of ineptness, duplicity, and arrogance amongst the senior-most officials of theUnited States....McMaster pastes all the puzzle pieces together to reveal a plot Shakespearean in its proportions ...McMaster's scholarship and presentation is exemplary in "Dereliction of Duty...The author's arguments are coherent and convincing and important to the historical record."-- Peter Arnett, "The Washington Monthly"An outstanding example of historical research, interpretation, scholarship, and fair-minded analysis."-- Donald Kagan, Bass Professor of History, Classics, and Western Civilization, Yale University, and author of "On the Origins of War"Superbly researched, play-by-play, riveting inside story of the genesis of the American War in Vietnam. Assorted firepower explodes on every page."-- Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore. United States Army, (Retired), " New York Times bestselling coauthor of "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young"Here's everything you didn't read in Robert S. McNamara's book. Vietnam did not simply happen; it was not an accidental Cold War collision that killed 58,000 Am

H. R. McMaster is National Security Adviser and a 1984 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and taught numerous command and staff positions in armored and cavalry units. He has served as Director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, and Deputy Commanding General, Futures, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, in addition to previous postings as Commanding General, Ft. Benning Maneuver Center of Excellence, and Director of the Combined Joint Interagency Task Force-Shafafiyat at the International Security Assistance Force headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan. During the Gulf War, he commanded Eagle Troop, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, in combat against Iraq's Republican Guard.