Year-of-the-Hawk-BOOK-COVER-BACKGROUND-Winter-VIEP-23

Year of the Hawk: America’s Descent into Vietnam, 1965 book cover. Troopers in the 173rd Airborne Brigade carry men wounded in a battle at a Viet Cong stronghold about 40 miles north of Saigon in early November 1965. That year was one of the war’s most consequential, with the first major combat against enemy forces. — Year of the Hawk: America’s Descent into Vietnam, 1965 book cover. Troopers in the 173rd Airborne Brigade carry men wounded in a battle at a Viet Cong stronghold about 40 miles north of Saigon in early November 1965. That year was one of the war’s most consequential, with the first major combat against enemy forces. (Bettmann/Getty Images)

Year of the Hawk: America’s Descent into Vietnam, 1965 book cover. Troopers in the 173rd Airborne Brigade carry men wounded in a battle at a Viet Cong stronghold about 40 miles north of Saigon in early November 1965. That year was one of the war’s most consequential, with the first major combat against enemy forces.