Three leading experts on the Vietnam War and U.S. foreign policy offer separate evaluations of Bernd Greiner's book War without Fronts: The USA in Vietnam . The book presents a harsh and controversial appraisal of the conduct of U.S. troops in Vietnam, depicting the My Lai massacre not as an aberration but as one of a long series of atrocities committed by U.S. personnel. The three commentators diverge in their assessments of the book. Andrew Bacevich and Edwin Moïse sharply criticize the book, which they see as one-sided and often tendentious, selective, and inaccurate in its use of evidence. Bacevich argues that the book is intended in part, if only subconsciously, to bolster revisionist German claims about the conduct of Germany during the Second World War, and Moïse casts doubt on Greiner's use of key sources. Mark Lawrence, by contrast, praises the book and believes that it will help to refocus study of U.S. conduct in Vietnam. The forum concludes with a reply by Greiner to the three commentaries.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson sharply escalated the U.S. military effort in Vietnam and prepared for further escalation in 1966. He and his aides, notably Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, did their best to forestall a public debate about the potential costs of the war. They concealed their plans for increased military expenditures and expanded commitments of American troops. Not until the United States was deeply embroiled in Vietnam did a full-fledged public debate finally emerge, along with protests and demonstrations at American universities. If the administration had been more candid about its plans from the outset, U.S. policy might have gone in a different direction, and the domestic and international costs of the war might not have been as onerous.