The War Within a War.jpg
The War Within a War.jpg

The War Within a War by Wil Haygood

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Hardcover:

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR • Award-winning author and journalist Wil Haygood explores how the Vietnam War became a mirror for the struggle of Black Americans—fighting for freedom abroad while demanding equality at home—and a powerful lens through which to understand the racial and political divides that continue to shape American life.

"With this book, Wil Haygood has become the preeminent chronicler of the Black experience in America.” —Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Laureate for The Making of the Atomic Bomb

"In these masterful pages, Haygood reframes both the Vietnam War and the United States’ unfinished struggle for equality."—Mitchell Zuckoff, New York Times bestselling author of 13 Hours and Lost in Shangri-La

Wil Haygood traces how the Vietnam War became a mirror for the struggle of Black Americans — fighting for freedom abroad while demanding equality at home during one of the most turbulent decades in American history.

He tells this history through the people who lived it: Air Force pilot Fred Cherry, the first Black officer captured by the North Vietnamese; Capt. Leroy Pitts, awarded the Medal of Honor; and civilians like journalist Wallace Terry and government investigator Maude DeVictor.

Around them, Haygood weaves the cultural and political forces of the era — Martin Luther King Jr., Marvin Gaye, Lyndon Johnson — into a single account of two battles fought at once.

The War Within a War is sweeping history built from intimate detail, connecting a decade of struggle to the racial and political divides still shaping American life today.

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR • Award-winning author and journalist Wil Haygood explores how the Vietnam War became a mirror for the struggle of Black Americans—fighting for freedom abroad while demanding equality at home—and a powerful lens through which to understand the racial and political divides that continue to shape American life.

"With this book, Wil Haygood has become the preeminent chronicler of the Black experience in America.” —Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Laureate for The Making of the Atomic Bomb

"In these masterful pages, Haygood reframes both the Vietnam War and the United States’ unfinished struggle for equality."—Mitchell Zuckoff, New York Times bestselling author of 13 Hours and Lost in Shangri-La

Wil Haygood traces how the Vietnam War became a mirror for the struggle of Black Americans — fighting for freedom abroad while demanding equality at home during one of the most turbulent decades in American history.

He tells this history through the people who lived it: Air Force pilot Fred Cherry, the first Black officer captured by the North Vietnamese; Capt. Leroy Pitts, awarded the Medal of Honor; and civilians like journalist Wallace Terry and government investigator Maude DeVictor.

Around them, Haygood weaves the cultural and political forces of the era — Martin Luther King Jr., Marvin Gaye, Lyndon Johnson — into a single account of two battles fought at once.

The War Within a War is sweeping history built from intimate detail, connecting a decade of struggle to the racial and political divides still shaping American life today.

  • Publisher: Knopf (Penguin Random House)

    Title: The War Within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home

    Author: Wil Haygood

    On Sale Date: February 10, 2026

    ISBN 13: 9780593537695

    Format: Hardcover

    Retail Price: $35.00

    Page Count: 384

  • Wil Haygood is the author of ten nonfiction books, including The Butler, which was made into a film directed by Lee Daniels. He has been a correspondent for The Washington Post and The Boston Globe, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and is a Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow.

  • Critics and fellow bestselling authors are calling it masterful, resounding, immersive:

    • “With this book, Wil Haygood has become the preeminent chronicler of the Black experience in America.” —Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Laureate

    • “In these masterful pages, Haygood reframes both the Vietnam War and the United States’ unfinished struggle for equality.” —Mitchell Zuckoff

    • “This immersive history…explores the unique experiences of African Americans drawn into the Vietnam War.” —Publishers Weekly

    • Named a New York Times Best Book of the Year So Far.

This book is for you if

  • You want narrative history that follows real individuals through a defining decade.

  • You’re interested in the intersection of the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement.

  • You appreciate sweeping histories grounded in specific, well-researched lives.

  • You’re drawn to the work of journalist-historians who blend reporting with narrative craft.

  • You want to understand how this era’s divides still echo in American life today.

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