The Resource A great place to have a war : America in Laos and the birth of a military CIA, Joshua Kurlantzick
A great place to have a war : America in Laos and the birth of a military CIA, Joshua Kurlantzick
Resource Information
The item A great place to have a war : America in Laos and the birth of a military CIA, Joshua Kurlantzick represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in European University Institute.This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch.
Resource Information
The item A great place to have a war : America in Laos and the birth of a military CIA, Joshua Kurlantzick represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in European University Institute.
This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch.
- Summary
-
- 1960. President Eisenhower was focused on Laos, a tiny Southeast Asian nation. Washington feared the country would fall to communism, triggering a domino effect in the rest of Southeast Asia. In January 1961, Eisenhower approved the CIA's Operation Momentum, a plan to create a proxy army of ethnic Hmong to fight communist forces in Laos. Kurlantzick shows how the brutal war lasted nearly two decades, killed one-tenth of Laos's total population, and changed the nature of the CIA forever. --
- "Sometimes the most astonishing chapters of history are hidden in plain sight. January 1961: Laos, a tiny nation few Americans have heard of, is at risk of falling to communism and triggering a domino effect throughout Southeast Asia. This is what President Eisenhower believed when he approved the CIA's Operation Momentum, creating an army of ethnic Hmong to fight communist forces in Laos on America's behalf. Largely hidden from the American public--and most of Congress--Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States, a war that lasted through two decades, left the ground littered with thousands of unexploded bombs, and changed American foreign policy forever. In [this book, journalist] Joshua Kurlantzick provides the definitive account of the Laos war, focusing on the four key people who led the operation: the CIA operative whose idea it was, the Hmong general who led the proxy army in the field, the paramilitary specialist who trained the Hmong forces, and the State Department careerist who took control over the war as it grew. Using recently declassified records and extensive interviews, Kurlantzick shows for the first time how the CIA's clandestine adventures in one small, Southeast Asian country became the template for how the United States has conducted war ever since--all the way to today's war on terrorism."--
- Language
- eng
- Edition
- First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
- Extent
- 323 pages
- Contents
-
- Baci
- The CIA's first war
- Vang Pao, Bill Lair, Tony Poe, and Bill Sullivan
- Laos before the CIA, and the CIA before Laos
- The CIA meets Laos
- Operation Momentum begins
- Kennedy expands Momentum
- The not-so-secret secret: keeping a growing operation hidden
- Enter the bombers
- The wider war
- Massacre
- Going for broke
- The victory and the loss
- The secret war becomes public
- Defeat and retreat
- Skyline Ridge
- Final days
- Laos and the CIA: the legacy
- Aftermath
- Isbn
- 9781451667868
- Label
- A great place to have a war : America in Laos and the birth of a military CIA
- Title
- A great place to have a war
- Title remainder
- America in Laos and the birth of a military CIA
- Statement of responsibility
- Joshua Kurlantzick
- Title variation
- America in Laos and the birth of a military CIA
- Language
- eng
- Summary
-
- 1960. President Eisenhower was focused on Laos, a tiny Southeast Asian nation. Washington feared the country would fall to communism, triggering a domino effect in the rest of Southeast Asia. In January 1961, Eisenhower approved the CIA's Operation Momentum, a plan to create a proxy army of ethnic Hmong to fight communist forces in Laos. Kurlantzick shows how the brutal war lasted nearly two decades, killed one-tenth of Laos's total population, and changed the nature of the CIA forever. --
- "Sometimes the most astonishing chapters of history are hidden in plain sight. January 1961: Laos, a tiny nation few Americans have heard of, is at risk of falling to communism and triggering a domino effect throughout Southeast Asia. This is what President Eisenhower believed when he approved the CIA's Operation Momentum, creating an army of ethnic Hmong to fight communist forces in Laos on America's behalf. Largely hidden from the American public--and most of Congress--Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States, a war that lasted through two decades, left the ground littered with thousands of unexploded bombs, and changed American foreign policy forever. In [this book, journalist] Joshua Kurlantzick provides the definitive account of the Laos war, focusing on the four key people who led the operation: the CIA operative whose idea it was, the Hmong general who led the proxy army in the field, the paramilitary specialist who trained the Hmong forces, and the State Department careerist who took control over the war as it grew. Using recently declassified records and extensive interviews, Kurlantzick shows for the first time how the CIA's clandestine adventures in one small, Southeast Asian country became the template for how the United States has conducted war ever since--all the way to today's war on terrorism."--
- Assigning source
-
- Provided by publisher
- Provided by publisher
- Cataloging source
- DLC
- http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
- 1976-
- http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
- Kurlantzick, Joshua
- Index
- index present
- Literary form
- non fiction
- Nature of contents
- bibliography
- http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
-
- United States
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975
- Label
- A great place to have a war : America in Laos and the birth of a military CIA, Joshua Kurlantzick
- Bibliography note
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Contents
- Baci -- The CIA's first war -- Vang Pao, Bill Lair, Tony Poe, and Bill Sullivan -- Laos before the CIA, and the CIA before Laos -- The CIA meets Laos -- Operation Momentum begins -- Kennedy expands Momentum -- The not-so-secret secret: keeping a growing operation hidden -- Enter the bombers -- The wider war -- Massacre -- Going for broke -- The victory and the loss -- The secret war becomes public -- Defeat and retreat -- Skyline Ridge -- Final days -- Laos and the CIA: the legacy -- Aftermath
- Control code
- ocn948748112
- Dimensions
- 24 cm
- Edition
- First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
- Extent
- 323 pages
- Isbn
- 9781451667868
- Isbn Type
- (hardcover)
- Lccn
- 2016005352
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- System control number
- (OCoLC)948748112
- Label
- A great place to have a war : America in Laos and the birth of a military CIA, Joshua Kurlantzick
- Bibliography note
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Contents
- Baci -- The CIA's first war -- Vang Pao, Bill Lair, Tony Poe, and Bill Sullivan -- Laos before the CIA, and the CIA before Laos -- The CIA meets Laos -- Operation Momentum begins -- Kennedy expands Momentum -- The not-so-secret secret: keeping a growing operation hidden -- Enter the bombers -- The wider war -- Massacre -- Going for broke -- The victory and the loss -- The secret war becomes public -- Defeat and retreat -- Skyline Ridge -- Final days -- Laos and the CIA: the legacy -- Aftermath
- Control code
- ocn948748112
- Dimensions
- 24 cm
- Edition
- First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
- Extent
- 323 pages
- Isbn
- 9781451667868
- Isbn Type
- (hardcover)
- Lccn
- 2016005352
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- System control number
- (OCoLC)948748112
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<div class="citation" vocab="http://schema.org/"><i class="fa fa-external-link-square fa-fw"></i> Data from <span resource="http://link.library.eui.eu/portal/A-great-place-to-have-a-war--America-in-Laos-and/hmqxbtAn2p4/" typeof="Book http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/Item"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a href="http://link.library.eui.eu/portal/A-great-place-to-have-a-war--America-in-Laos-and/hmqxbtAn2p4/">A great place to have a war : America in Laos and the birth of a military CIA, Joshua Kurlantzick</a></span> - <span property="potentialAction" typeOf="OrganizeAction"><span property="agent" typeof="LibrarySystem http://library.link/vocab/LibrarySystem" resource="http://link.library.eui.eu/"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a property="url" href="http://link.library.eui.eu/">European University Institute</a></span></span></span></span></div>