The book, Cold War Mandarin Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of the American War in Vietnam 1950-1963, by Seth Jacobs is a comprehensive retelling of the rise and fall of Ngo Dinh Diem's ​​government in South Vietnam. In that retelling Jacob focuses on the major events that occurred in Vietnam and shows how America supported a leader who did nothing to strengthen his nation and led America into one of the worst wars in its history. Diem's ​​regime was a corrupt and tyrannical government that used the United States' fears of communism to further its own goals which ultimately led to its own demise. Jacob saw the escalation of American involvement in Vietnam as follows: "The nine-year experiment that ended with Diem's ​​death was America's transition point from advice and support to active cobelligerence in a Vietnamese civil war." (8).The book is very critical of the actions taken by both the Americans and Diem in the creation of South Vietnam. As the title of the book suggests, the author claims that Diem and his actions led to America staying locked in a war that would last over a decade, Diem, who was not well known either in the United States or in his own country at the time the book begins in the early 1950s, was able to perpetuate himself in a position of power through the use of both his faith and to perpetuate generalized American fears. In the first chapter of his book, Jacobs examines Diem's ​​first rise to power under the French, where he served as minister of the Interior in Bao Dai's puppet government. Where Diem hated the French who had control over Vietnam both economically and politically, one thing he hated more was the Viet Minh. The Vi...... at the center of the paper...... Ngo Dinh Diem and his regime. Diem's ​​attempts to maintain a sense of national independence and ignore American advisors on how to run his nation put both him and America in a very bad situation. Jacob analyzed the reasons why Diem's ​​policies and decisions as head of state in Vietnam ultimately led to his demise, from his totalitarian policies and abuses of American funding/support. Jacobs does not place all the blame on Diem but also points out that, despite the intelligence gathered by American officials in Vietnam, the American government supported an unpopular and corrupt government. Jacob ultimately reinforces his claim that the United States and its “Diem experiment” pushed America into a shifting relationship with Vietnam that would ultimately lock the nation into a state involvement from which it could not back out..