Death in November

This is an outstanding book from a very well-informed writer on the terribly mismanaged policy that culminated in Ngo Dinh Diem's assassination. Since its publication in the late 1980's, there has been a devastating avalanche of declassified information confirming key elements of Hammer's account on the depth of U.S. complicity in the Diem coup. Readers should pay attention to this understudied topic, for many historians draw a direct link between Diem's overthrow and ever deeper U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in the mid-1960's. One caveat, however, should be added. This book tells a great part of its account from the Vietnamese perspective, and is a little bit fuzzy on some of the furious debates that took place behind the scenes between Kennedy's advisors about the coup. This is not Hammer's fault because much of the information on this issue was still classified at the time. A more complete account of the American perspective can be found in Fisher, Turner, & Moore's To Oppose Any Foe.

Highly recommend. Should be required reading for students studying this period in history.