David Prentice splendidly advances an admirable historiographical trend by placing the American war in Vietnam into its proper Vietnamese context. Centering on two key characters—US Defense Secretary Melvin Laird and South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van Thieu—Prentice offers a bold new interpretation of how wartime allies approached the impending withdrawal of American troops from a long and brutal conflict. A stimulating, fresh approach to the war's final years.
~Gregory A. Daddis, USS Midway Chair in Modern US Military History, San Diego State University and author of Pulp Vietnam: War and Gender in Cold War Men's Adventure Magazines
In Unwilling to Quit, David Prentice has written a brilliant and thoroughly researched history of the Nixon administration's Vietnamization policy, skillfully demonstrating what the president hoped to achieve as "peace with honor," yet revealing the frustrations and failures the policy ultimately entailed. This book is a must-read for Americans trying to understand why the Vietnam War ended as tragically as it did.
~Thomas A. Schwartz, Distinguished Professor of History, Vanderbilt University, and author of Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography
Unwilling to Quit offers fresh and invaluable insights into the Vietnam War's de-Americanization. This is the first study of its kind to advance that the so-called process of Vietnamization underwritten by the Nixon administration to offset the phased withdrawal of U.S. combat forces was not only tolerated but actually embraced by South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu. In a field so marked by repetition of old, standard arguments, Prentice bravely and convincingly challenges the traditional consensus on a critical aspect of the Cold War's most consequential conflagration.
~Pierre Asselin, author of Vietnam's American War: A History
Written in accessible prose, Unwilling to Quit offers a laudatory thesis that effectively re-centers America's Vietnam War policies. It is one of the first books to examine how the Thieu Administration in South Vietnam understood America's strategy....(an) important and thoughtful book.
~The VVA Veteran
A splendid account of how the United States curtailed its long and bloody involvement in Vietnam. Understanding America's exit means grappling with the policy of Vietnamization and the domestic U.S. political context in which it was adopted, and Prentice does so with unprecedented power and insight. In the process, he brings needed attention to the vital role played by Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird.
~Fredrik Logevall, Professor of International Affairs and History, Harvard University
A singularly impressive work of commendably detailed scholarship....Exceptionally well written, organized and presented.
~Midwest Book Review
