Focusing on the decade from Dien Bien Phu to Diem's assassination in 1963, Catton examines the Vietnamese leader's nation-building and reform efforts - particularly his Strategic Hamlet Program, which sought to separate guerrilla insurgents from the peasantry and build grassroots support for his regime. Catton's evaluation of the collapse of that program offers fresh insights into both Diem's limitations as a leader and the ideological and organizational weaknesses of his government, while his assessment of the evolution of Washington's relations with Saigon provides new insight into America's growing involvement in the Vietnamese civil war -- from publisher.

A shotgun wedding -- The Ngos, nationalism, and nation building -- Land reform, land development, and agrovilles -- Origins of the strategic hamlet program -- Photo gallery -- Theory and practice -- Competitive cooperation -- Binh Duong Province : case study of a program in trouble -- The reckoning.