The dilemma of defeat --
The twain meet: Two-and-a-half cultures ; Court and countryside ; A political still life ; Hanoi begins the war --
Self-inflicted wound: A Mandarin and his critics ; Roads to strategic hamlets ; Conflict in the capitals ; Major missteps ; The coup that "succeeded" --
The search for a strategy: Chaos and confusion ; The military answer ; Different countries, different answers ; Turning point --
Strategy found: Tet 1968 ; Rebound ; Pacification on the offensive ; "Security to the people" --
Victory won: Tet 1971, a ride in the countryside ; The delta and Hue, rural peace ; The test passed, spring 1972 --
Victory lost: "America out of Vietnam!" ; Double defeat --
A better way --
Afterword --
Appendix A: Key dates --
Appendix B: Pacification programs in Vietnam --
Appendix C: Glossary --
Appendix D: Hamlet evaluation system results.

"For sixteen years, from the time he was assigned Chief of Station for the CIA in Saigon to his appointment as CIA Director, William Colby was deeply involved in America's role in Vietnam. During five presidential administrations -- Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford -- Colby moved from meetings in the Oval Office to the sweltering jungles of Vietnam as the war escalated from Vietcong guerilla terrorism to a massive U.S. military engagement. Lost Victory is his personal account of those years, an insider's view of America's first major military defeat told from a vantage point matched by few other officials."--Book cover, p. [4].

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