![Book Review: Number One Realist: Bernard Fall and Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare Author: Nathaniel L. Moir Reviewed by John A. Nagl, professor of warfighting studies, US Army War College Book Review: Number One Realist: Bernard Fall and Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare Author: Nathaniel L. Moir Reviewed by John A. Nagl, professor of warfighting studies, US Army War College](/Portals/121/Images/USAWC Press/Covers/Book Reviews/231220-A-JQ161-0002.png?ver=8Vl9YdLDOkjaPfmhOxOGjg%3d%3d)
Author: Nathaniel L. Moir
| Reviewed by John A. Nagl, professor of warfighting studies, US Army War College |
Counterinsurgency expert John A. Nagl reviews the “long-overdue” biography of the American political scientist Bernard Fall who, as Nagl writes, was “always a couple years ahead of informed US public opinion” about the Vietnam War. Author Nathaniel L. Moir’s experience as an Afghanistan War veteran informs this examination of one of the most “contentious” topics in American history, and the intersection here of Dr. Nagl’s, Moir’s, and Fall’s expertise provides powerful insights about the persistent question of how best to approach counterinsurgency.
Keywords: Vietnam War, counterinsurgency, France, J. William Fulbright, Afghanistan