Analogies at War : Korea, Munich, Dien Bien Phu, and the Vietnam Decisions of 1965 - Yuen Foong Khong

Analogies at War

Korea, Munich, Dien Bien Phu, and the Vietnam Decisions of 1965

By: Yuen Foong Khong

Paperback | 13 July 1992

At a Glance

Paperback


RRP $89.99

$61.90

31%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $15.47 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 5 to 10 business days

When will this arrive by?
Enter delivery postcode to estimate

From World War 1 to Operation Desert Storm, American policymakers have repeatedly invoked the "lessons of history" as they contemplated taking their nation to war. Do these historical analogies actually shape policy, or are they primarily tools of political justification? Yuen Foong Khong argues that leaders use analogies not merely to justify policies but also to perform specific cognitive and information-processing tasks essential to political decision-making. Khong identifies what these tasks are and shows how they can be used to explain the U.S. decision to intervene in Vietnam. Relying on interviews with senior officials and on recently declassified documents, the author demonstrates with a precision not attained by previous studies that the three most important analogies of the Vietnam era - Korea, Munich and Dien Bien Phu - can account for America's Vietnam choices. A special contribution is the author's use of cognitive social psychology to support his argument about how humans analogize and to explain why policymakers often use analogies poorly.

Industry Reviews
One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1993 "Khong's interviews and newly declassified documents make a compelling case the American decision-makers in 1965 used historical analogies not only to justify decisions but to make them, most notably in the process of rejecting options."--Foreign Affairs

More in Memorials & Rolls of Honour

For Valour : Australians Awarded the Victoria Cross - Aaron Pegram
HMS Hood : Pride of the Royal Navy - Daniel Knowles

RRP $96.99

$69.25

29%
OFF
Sailors Behind the Medals : Waging Wars at Sea 1939-1945 - Chris Bilham
The Last Post - Emma Campbell

Hardcover

RRP $29.99

$29.25

Terracotta Warriors : History, Mystery and the Latest Discoveries - Edward Burman
For Valour : The Complete History of the Victoria Cross - Michael Charles Robson
Uncommon Valour : Story of the Victoria Cross - Granville Allen Mawer

RRP $69.99

$47.40

32%
OFF
Liverpool VCs - James Murphy

Paperback

RRP $36.99

$33.25

10%
OFF
The U-Boat Commanders : Knight's Cross Holders 1939-1945 - Jeremy Dixon