Less Than Victory

Steven J. Brady is Associate Professor of History and International Affairs at The George Washington University. He is the author of Chained to History: Slavery and US Foreign Relations to 1865 (2022) and Eisenhower and Adenauer: Alliance Maintenance under Pressure (2009).

• Introduction: 'evidence of loyalty'; 1. 'I am a Roman Catholic' 1950–1959; 2. 'We have a Catholic president, too' 1960–1963; 3. 'The right moral position' January, 1964–June, 1965; 4. 'It must be nice to be that sure' July, 1965–December, 1966; 5. 'We can and must debate' January 1967–April 1968; 6. 'Wearing a little thin' May 1968–March 1970; 7. 'Outweighed by the destruction': April 1970–December 1971; 8. 'It was not that kind of war' January 1972–February 1973; Epilogue: 'we speak as moral teachers'.

'Steven Brady's elegant study of American Catholics ranks among the most incisive social histories of the Vietnam era to be published in recent years. Less than Victory is a must-read for anyone interested in not only the history of the Catholic Church but also the broader question of how American religious communities have confronted war.' Mark A. Lawrence, author of The Vietnam War: A Concise International History