Details the secret history of the CIA's involvement in Vietnam, starting in 1954 that was designed to suppress hard-core insurgents and win the loyalty of the peasants. The author draws from field experience, CIA documents, and eyewitness accounts to provide an analysis of the agency's attempt to exert political influence in South Vietnamese communities. Offering fresh perspective on the communist victory in Vietnam, the author examines the organizational culture of the CIA and other US agencies engaged in counterinsurgency and exposes the fatal weakness of the South Vietnamese government and the results of the CIA's failure to comprehend the political dynamics that defined the struggle between the Viet Cong and the Saigon government.

The effort must be made -- Get them before they get us -- Counterinsurgency in the Central Highlands -- Sea swallows and strategic hamlets -- Operation Switchback -- Experiments in the lowlands -- The Kien Hoa incubator -- The People's Action Team -- Another chance in the countryside -- Growing pains -- CORDS -- Phoenix -- The 1968 Tet Offensive and accelerated pacification -- Disengagement -- A matter of running city hall.