Afterthought: As a former CORDS guy, I think I ought to mention the one book that is thoroughly dedicated to providing a balanced account of CORDS, Pacification, by Richard A. Hunt. Reads like a decent after action report, is detailed, and IMO objective.

By contrast, Sheehan's biography about Vann strangely doesn't devote much time to CORDS at all (I concur in Ken's assessment), and CORDS boss Bill Colby's two autobiographies present a sadly rose colored view of "pacification." (I mean, for one example, how can you be seized--as was Colby-- with the idea that PSDF, village militia composed of males too old or too young to be drafted, organized by top-down gov't decree, in which membership was compulsory, rpt. compulsory, would evolve into a grass-roots, mass political movement--[think "The Awakening"]?)

Cheers,
Mike