In the 600-page book’s 14 chapters, Prados covers various aspects of the war in Vietnam and pieces together events and moments form the end of World War II until the US quit Vietnam in 1975.

The book suggests the war was unwinnable due to opportunities lost, missed, ignored or refused.

He claims American administrations under Presidents from Truman through to Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon consistently ignored or misunderstood the realities in Southeast Asia and passed up every opportunity to avoid becoming more deeply involved after it started.

In the preface, Prados says American’s involvement in Vietnam remains controversial and that he considers the war a mistake and unwinnable. His research and wide analysis help support his claim.

During the book’s launch at the George Washington University where he works the author said he first wrote about the war in the mid 60s.

For his book, he researched many documents, in particular those written during Richard Nixon’s presidency. He interviewed people closely associated with the war and those in the anti-war movement.

He said that during the last decade no books were published about the war despite the declassification of several documents and other information becoming available.

Most American students at the ceremony said the book, released last month by the University Press of Kansas, gave them a better understanding of the war.

Prados, a senior fellow of the university’s National’s Security Archive, has also penned The blood road: The Ho Chi Minh trail and the Vietnam War, the hidden history of the Vietnam War and Safe for democracy: The secret wars of the CIA.