Widely regarded as a classic on the Vietnam War, Decent Interval provides a scathing critique of the CIA's role in and final departure from that conflict. Still the most detailed and respected account of America’s final days in Vietnam, the book was written at great risk and ultimately at great sacrifice by an author who believed in the CIA’s cause but was disillusioned by the agency’s treacherous withdrawal, leaving thousands of Vietnamese allies to the mercy of an angry enemy. A quarter-century later, it remains a riveting and powerful testament to one of the darkest episodes in American history.
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9780700612130
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Publication Date: 11-13-2002
Pages: 616
Product Dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.40(d)
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Foreword, Gloria Emerson
Preface to the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Principle Cast of Characters
Part 1: First Rites
Homecoming
A Great Day
In Good Faith
Leaves from a Pocket Notebook
Son of Cease-Fire
Martin’s Embassy
Nibblers and Anti-Nibblers
Fiscal Whores
Part 2: The Unraveling
Improvisatory Offensive
A Thousand Cuts
Hail-Fellow
Pyrrhic Victories
Blossoming Lotus
Light at the Top
Glass Mountain
Black Box
Cannonball to Papa Lima
Ides of March
Piece of My Tongue
Part 3: Collapse
Primary Responsibility
Limp Little Rags
The Bombing
Spotlighting
Eagle Pull
Discarded Luxury
Worst Case
Controlled Conditions
Panic Button
A Bargain Whose Day Has Passed
Secret Caller
Polarized Thinking
High-Class Chauffeur
Our Turn
They’re in the Halls
Morning
Afternoon
Evening
Postscript: Internal Hemorrhaging
CIA’s Official Recommendation for Honor and Merit Award for Frank Snepp