The War Within a War

“…[A] clarifying and richly insightful Vietnam-era history. . . . Civil rights histories typically treat Vietnam as an external matter that came to the fore domestically when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. condemned it on moral grounds in 1967. But “The War Within a War” conceives of Vietnam as a foreign theater of the rights struggle, in which concerns about inequality were magnified by the fact that Black soldiers were being asked to die for a country that discriminated against them in housing, employment and education. . . . Haygood’s earlier books, including biographies of Sammy Davis Jr. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr., earned him a reputation as a temperate and perceptive social historian. He maintains his characteristic low-key tone as he explains why the full picture of Black Vietnam went unseen by most Americans: The white press corps was uninterested in questions of how race and racism were shaping the Blackest war in our national history.” —Brent Staples, The New York Times Book Review

“’A white man’s war, a Black man’s fight’: the eye-opening story of Black soldiers in Vietnam. . . . At a time when Black military history is being rewritten under Trump officials, new book The War Within a War provides a vital reminder.” —Martin Pengelly, The Guardian

“Haygood, a celebrated writer whose many accolades include the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award from the Dayton Peace Prize Foundation . . . tells the dramatic stories of Black men and women who excelled in their chosen fields against all odds and valiantly served their country. Haygood vividly conveys the nuances of personalities, circumstances, and events within a richly rendered social, cultural, and political context. He concludes with the Trump administration’s firing of Black military leaders and “the website purge that erased the history of Black and women achievements in the military.” Haygood’s vibrant, astute, and moving look at one front in the ongoing struggle to live up to our nation’s founding declarations reverberates with particular significance as we approach America’s 250th anniversary.” —Booklist (starred review)

“This immersive history from bestselling biographer Haygood (The Butler) explores the unique experiences of African Americans drawn into the Vietnam War as the civil rights battle raged on the home front. . . . In particular, the book vividly portrays the growing anger among African American troops about fighting “a white man’s war,” culminating in a “racial riot” at the Long Binh Jail near Saigon in August 1968 following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. The result is a highly original window into a turbulent historical moment.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Haygood was born to be a writer but, what is more, he was born to be one of poets laureate of the Black experience in America. . . . It is, in its way, another biography, this time a biography of a time that changed America, American Blacks, and American whites in ways that are being recognized only now.” —David Shribman, Columnist for the Globe and Mail in Canada; syndicated columnist in the US.

“A compelling book, the deep, moving story of how men and women of color experienced the war in Vietnam. With this book, Wil Haygood has become the preeminent chronicler of the Black experience in America.” —Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Laureate for The Making of the Atomic Bomb

“In The War Within A War, Wil Haygood brings his signature blend of investigative rigor and narrative grace to the story of Black soldiers who fought courageously on two fronts – in the jungles of Vietnam and in a divided America. This is history written with heart, precision, and unflinching honesty. In these masterful pages, Haygood reframes both the Vietnam War and the United States’ unfinished struggle for equality.” —Mitchell Zuckoff, New York Times bestselling author of 13 Hours and Lost in Shangri-La

“Wil Haygood writes with empathy and moral clarity, illuminating the lives of Black Americans whose experiences in Vietnam revealed the unfinished struggle for equality at home. The War Within a War is both history and reckoning, told with uncommon grace.” —Gilbert King, author of the Pulitzer prize-winning, Devil in the Grove

“A searing history of the Black experience in Vietnam.” —Kirkus Reviews