Review by New York Times Review
ABOUT 70 PAGES into his gripping new history for young readers, "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War," Steve Sheinkin seems to switch genres, describing a scene that could have been taken from "The Walking Dead": a trailer full of corpses, its floor "streaked with blood and brains." Arms and legs were falling off the rotting trunks, which made it difficult to count how many bodies were in the trailer. The stench was unbearable. So the bodies were hosed down and the trailer tipped to its side, letting, as one witness put it, a "rivulet of blood-colored water" flow outside. A delegation of American military officers passed by, stepping over the blood "to avoid ruining the shine on their boots." "Most Dangerous," a finalist for a 2015 National Book Award, isn't, of course, science fiction, but it's a good reminder that today's obsession with zombies dates back to America's war in Southeast Asia. "The zombie carnage," wrote one critic about the 1968 horror classic "Night of the Living Dead," "seemed a grotesque echo of the conflict then raging in Vietnam." The gruesome scene above took place in Da Nang in 1965; the bodies were being warehoused to show a visiting general that Marines were achieving their assigned "kill ratio." Unable to hold hostile territory, the Pentagon had decided to measure progress by counting the dead: If American or South Vietnamese troops could kill 2.5 North Vietnamese or Vietcong enemies for every fatality they suffered, the United States might win. But then Sheinkin reveals that it was impossible to know whether the Vietnamese dead were allies or adversaries, so the rule was to always count them as Vietcong. No figure associated with the Vietnam War better captures the tension between the precision of numbers and the messiness of battlefield gore than Daniel Ellsberg. Ellsberg had a doctorate in economics from Harvard and helped pioneer game theory, which sought to reduce the diversity of social experience to a simple mathematical formula, then use that to set public policy, including military strategy. At first Ellsberg was as certain about the justness of America's actions in Southeast Asia as he was about a proved theorem. But after being sent as a State Department staff member to Vietnam, where he accompanied infantrymen into combat, that certainty vanished. Ellsberg witnessed the flesh of children seared by napalm and other chemicals the Americans used as weapons, and quietly came to rethink America's involvement. Having returned to the United States to work for a defense industry think tank, Ellsberg became best known for leaking the Pentagon Papers - a 47-volume secret history of the war commissioned by the Department of Defense - to the news media in 1971. Henry Kissinger called him "the most dangerous man in America" who "must be stopped at all costs." President Richard M. Nixon tried, ordering a series of illegal actions that led to the Watergate scandal and his downfall. Sheinkin's book is a remarkably effective synthesis not just of Ellsberg's life but of America's long history in Vietnam. The author has a perfect ear for what might hold the attention of young readers, while at the same time gently educating them about war and governance. "Most Dangerous" balances drama, human interest (including Ellsberg's romance with the radio journalist Patricia Marx) and analysis; it's fast-paced, starting with a prologue in which Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy break into Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office in search of discrediting information. Sheinkin reveals how officials lied to justify military intervention, and how intervention turned into a juggernaut leading to more war and illegal efforts to silence dissent, including a plan by Nixon's men to assault Ellsberg as he made an antiwar speech. "Most Dangerous" is also a civics lesson, showing the debates within newsrooms about whether editors had the right to publish Ellsberg's leaked information (they did), and concluding with an epilogue on how the Ellsberg case relates to the more recent leaks by Edward Snowden. Young people in the United States are growing up in a vastly changed world, one where endless war and all-pervasive surveillance is a matter of course. "Most Dangerous" will help them understand how it has become so. GREG GRANDIN'S most recent book is "Kissinger's Shadow."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 11, 2015]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Sheinkin Newbery Honor winner for Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon (2012) tackles the tangled narrative of the Vietnam War in his latest book. Focusing on the life of Daniel Ellsberg, Sheinkin offers a fascinating portrait of a brilliant, idealistic man and his decision to leak the Pentagon Papers, revealing unsavory government secrets about America's involvement in Vietnam. A product of the Cold War, Ellsberg was intrigued by questions of risk and crisis decision making, leading to his career as a think-tank analyst and eventual role as government whistle-blower. To create a broader backdrop for the narrative, Sheinkin includes stories of prisoners of war and White House machinations, though the POWs fall away by the end of the book as the secrets spiral beyond everyone's control, even Ellsberg's. Readers will not have much empathy for the government leaders as portrayed in this book, although Sheinkin does reveal a softer side to the otherwise ruthless Richard Nixon. Ellsberg's time spent with patrols in Vietnam is particularly well written, relaying the palpable atmosphere of hopeless ambiguity that strongly influenced Ellsberg's decisions. Sheinkin's extensive research includes black-and-white period photographs and author interviews with Ellsberg and his wife. Most Dangerous is thorough and challenging, and readers are left to determine whether Ellsberg and whistle-blowers in general is a hero or a traitor. Powerful and thought-provoking.--Dean, Kara Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Sheinkin (The Port Chicago 50) has done again what he does so well: condense mountains of research into a concise, accessible, and riveting account of history. This time he focuses on the turbulent Vietnam War era, using as his lens Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the Pentagon Papers. Divided into three sections, the book's short chapters detail Ellsberg's transformation from U.S. Marine, government analyst, and "cold warrior" to antiwar activist and whistle-blower. Initial pages list nearly 100 characters central to the Ellsberg-Vietnam story, including politicians, reporters, military personnel, and Vietnamese officials. Each appears chronologically in the expansive narrative, which also traces how several U.S. presidents and their often-secretive policies led to the prolonged conflict in Southeast Asia. Chapters dealing with Ellsberg's clandestine leak of a top-secret government study of the war, as well as the Nixon White House's response, read like the stuff of spy novels and will keep readers racing forward. On the 40th anniversary of the evacuation of Saigon, the book's themes still resonate, as the epilogue about whistle-blower Edward Snowden points out. Ages 10-14. Agent: Susan Cohen, Writers House. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-In this thoroughly researched, thoughtfully produced, and beautifully written book, Sheinkin delves into the life of Daniel Ellsberg, former Pentagon consultant and a self-described "cold warrior," who gradually made an about-face with regard to America's presence in Vietnam. Ellsberg famously leaked the Pentagon Papers, a lengthy document written by military insiders about the Vietnam War, to various members of the press in 1971. He was quickly labeled an enemy of the state and a traitor to his country, aka the most dangerous man in America. With access to many of the key players in this real-life drama, as well as mountains of source material, Sheinkin builds a narrative that is at once accessible and suspenseful, with revelations and details coming at just the right moments. In Sheinkin's careful hands, Ellsberg and others, including Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and Robert McNamara, are fully realized characters with strengths, flaws, and motivations that grow ever more clear as the story unfolds. Direct quotes, primary source documents, and archival photographs are peppered throughout, supplementing and complementing the text. Meticulous source notes indicate the level of research and time that the author has put into this particular work. With the news filled with stories about Edward Snowden and the NSA, Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and privacy rights and government overreach, this brilliant work about an extraordinary whistle-blower taking a stand should be on everyone's reading list. VERDICT A timely and extraordinary addition to every library.-Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Without a wasted word or scene, and with the timing and prowess of a writer of thrillers, Sheinkin takes on a spectacularly complex storyand makes it comprehensible to teen readers: how Daniel Ellsberg evolved from a committed cold warrior to an antiwar activist, and why and how he leaked the Pentagon Papersseven thousand pages of documentary evidence of lying, by four presidents and their administrations over twenty-three yearswhich led to the Watergate Scandal, the fall of the Nixon administration, and, finally, the end of the Vietnam War. From the very beginning of his account, Sheinkin demonstrates the human drama unfolding behind the scenes; the secrecy surrounding White House and Pentagon decisions; the disconnect between the public and private statements of our nations leaders. Throughout, readers will find themselves confronted by large, timely questions, all of which emerge organically from the books events: Can we trust our government? How do we know? How much secrecy is too much? The enormous amount of incorporated primary-source documentation (from interviews with Daniel Ellsberg himself to White House recordings) means not only that readers know much more than ordinary U.S. citizens did at the time but that every conversation and re-enacted scene feels immediate and compelling. Sheinkin (Bomb, rev. 11/12; The Port Chicago 50, rev. 3/14) has an unparalleled gift for synthesizing story and bringing American history to life; here, hes outdone even himself. Meticulous scholarship includes a full thirty- six pages of bibliography and source notes; judiciously placed archival photographs add to the sense of time and place. martha v. parravano(c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Following his award-winning World War II-era volumes Bomb (2012) and The Port Chicago 50 (2014), Sheinkin tells the sweeping saga of the Vietnam War and the man who blew the whistle on the government's "secret war."From 1964 to 1971, Daniel Ellsberg went from nerdy analyst for the Rand Corp. to "the most dangerous man in America." Initially a supporter of Cold War politics and the Vietnam War, he became disenchanted with the war and the lies presidents told to cover up the United States' deepening involvement in the war. He helped to amass the Pentagon Papers"seven thousand pages of documentary evidence of lying, by four presidents and their administrations over twenty-three years"and then leaked them to the press, fueling public dissatisfaction with American foreign policy. Sheinkin ably juggles the complex war narrative with Ellsberg's personal story, pointing out the deceits of presidents and tracing Ellsberg's rise to action. It's a challenging read but necessarily so given the scope of the study. As always, Sheinkin knows how to put the "story" in history with lively, detailed prose rooted in a tremendous amount of research, fully documented. An epilogue demonstrates how history repeats itself in the form of Edward Snowden.Easily the best study of the Vietnam War available for teen readers. (bibliography, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
