In The Hidden History of the Vietnam War, Mr. Prados revisits the conflict by taking the reader behind conventional histories. Drawing from a broad range of sources and using new evidence, he focuses on key strategies, events, and personalities in the struggle. In narratives and vignettes that display his impressive command of facts and analysis, he sheds new light on the issues and punctures the popular mythologies of the war.

The book explores the mysteries of the Tonkin Gulf, evaluates the quality of intelligence before Tet, profiles the influence of the Buddhists in the politics of South Vietnam, investigates the war of numbers over body counts, analyzes the failure of large-unit war, assesses the performance of air power - in short, Mr. Prados deals with virtually every major issue of the war, bringing to the discussion a fresh perspective.

But he also breaks new ground in telling the story of the first American prisoners-of-war in Vietnam; reinterprets the role of Lyndon Johnson; furnishes the best account to date of communications intelligence in the war; describes the social characteristics of the South Vietnamese military in a way not seen before; and defines the religious and political conflicts that hindered the Vietnamese military effort.

He provides the first detailed accounts of the 1972 crisis over the mining of Haiphong Harbor and of the Nixon administration's effort to destroy American veterans groups that opposed the war.