Summary of A Bright and Shining Lie

A Bright and Shining Lie is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Neil Sheehan which tells the story of Lt. Colonel John Paul Vann, a complex and controversial American hero of the Vietnam War. The novel follows Vann’s life from an impoverished childhood in rural Virginia, to his death in Vietnam at age 48. Through Vann’s story, Sheehan paints a vivid picture of the war itself from 1956 to 1967, including the backgrounds and motivations of the American and Vietnamese participants, and the degree of accuracy with which the American military was able to identify their goals and objectives. The book is both a riveting portrait of a man, and a detailed analysis of the horrors of the Vietnam War.