This book is not a history of the fighting, but an account of the political events, primarily in Paris and how the fragile coalitions of the early years of the Fourth Republic affected the conduct of the war. It is well researched with copious references to each chapter. It shows how the war was allowed to spiral out of control of the French politicians as they struggled to reconcile the weakened state of post -war France with the ideas of rebuilding a French Union based on the colonies, which would give France a strong position in the World. Ultimately, the policy failed because they were unable to fund a strong military response and became dependant on the US; which came to eclipse them as the main influence on events in Vietnam. At the same time, their attempts to create a pro-France independant Vietnam was compromised by their desire to bind in the colony to the nascent French Union, thus failing to satisfy the rising demand for independance in the colony. Although the book is fairly short, it covers the events and main characters very well, demonstrating how the Fourth Republic was weak from its inception and how the seeds of its downfall in the subsequent Algerian war were sown at this time.
