On Thanksgving Day (of all times), my twenty-two year old nephew made a passing reference to the Tet offensive (of all topics). It was, he asserted, an American defeat, of course.

Not being a historian or a political pundit, and increasingly loath to enter into disputation, I let the comment pass. (Fuller disclosure: perhaps it was that my interest was fixated on the soon-to-be-served pumpkin pie.)

However, his remark came back to me as I read the op-ed piece in today's New York Times.

In what strikes me as a rather nuanced article, one of the authors' contentions is the following: "The Tet offensive was an unmitigated disaster for the communists ... The United States had clearly won this round of the war."

Now that pumpkin pie season is thankfully behind us, I'd be interested to know the reaction to the article of historians, pundits, and assorted readers of dotCom.