Reddit reviews Analogies at War: Korea, Munich, Dien Bien Phu, and the Vietnam Decisions of 1965

Analogies at War by Khong is the best book I've read on this topic. The thesis is this: American decisionmakers saw the war through the prism of the historical analogies they assigned to it. These men had lived through World War II and many literally saw withdrawal from Vietnam as equivalent to Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler at Munich. A few saw it through the prism of the French military defeat at the hands of the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. This group wanted to withdraw - while the Munich group saw withdrawal as Munich-like appeasement leading to a wider war. Khong makes a compelling case that these deeply world-views were the principal drivers for American policy debates and decision-making in Vietnam.