Pongo, I'm glad you wish to learn. Most of my best references on such a topic are actually with my father. As an aside to explain that I'm not copping out, his best friend the past couple years was a Captain in the SVN Army and who actually spent some really bad years in prison when the North conquered the South. Same with a few of his brothers. Anyway, this guy is my father's tennis partner and what is funny is my father has picked up on some of the Vietnamese language so that when they play doubles, they can communicate and give instructions to each other about what they should do while the ball is in play and the opposing team has no clue what they are talking about. That cracks me up...to hear my dad speaking Vietnamese. And, they may take a visit to Vietnam and I'm invited to go.
My father's interest has really increased recently and he knows the subject has always been of interest to me and borrowed a bunch of my books that discuss such matters, the history of the country and path to the war. I actually study more the war as in place, and mostly Rolling Thunder and the air-war. The actual origins of the war I find to be so complex and convoluted that it boggles my mind. But simplified down a bit, I do think I have a pretty good understanding of how it all fell into place. Anyway, back to the books. I'd personally suggest not to read about "Air War" subject but those books that concentrate on the history from WW2 to Rolling Thunder. Yeah, they are more boring than reading about the bombing. Stanly Karnow's book is probably still available and widely popular, though there are a few errors in it that really bug me. I really like "The United States Navy And The Vietnam Conflict, Pt I and II" as published by the Naval Historical Center, but you cannot buy them anymore. Part II, 1959-1965 is more interesting to me. These get into specifics and you may be able to find them in a university somewhere. I have a lot of stuff on microfilm and electronic records and a lot of stuff from the National Archives. I'm looking at my bookshelf and am realizing that I think most books out there pretty much provide the same history and thus the same conclusion that I draw. McNamara's book is pretty interesting, but you'll probably "poo-poo" that one. Anyway, what conclusion do you draw from your readings? Why was the USA in Vietnam? You do know our involvement goes way back, and Roosevelt wanted Vietnam's independence but when Truman took over, he didn't want to alienate France and Britain over it and backed off on that subject. And things mount from there. Again, what do your books say to you, I'm not sure you've stated this yet.
I'm editing to add: Please list a few sources that support your point of view. I will look into them.
