Voices from the vietnam war and millions of other books are available for amazon. List of books and articles about vietnam antiwar movement. Vietnam war, 19611975 engineering and construction base development in south vietnam, 19651970 1991, by carroll h. While the list of books about this conflict includes hundreds of enlightening works, we pick ten of the best texts offering illuminating perspectives on the war, its context and the effects it had on vietnam. The vietnam war is a timely account of the 6,000day conflict in southeast asia. The top 30 vietnam war books to read this winter historynet. I will be marking the fiftieth anniversary of those marines going ashore at da nang by posting my favorite vietnam war.
In this book, sandra scanlon shifts attention to those americans who supported the war and explores the wars impact on the burgeoning conservative political movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. Winner of the 2016 pulitzer prize for fiction, this debut novel could fit into half a dozen genres of vietnam war books from war narrative to immigrant story, from mystery to political, from metafiction to historical and even dark comedy. The vietnam war this is a wikipedia book, a collection of wikipedia articles that can be easily saved, imported by an external electronic rendering service, and ordered as. More than a decade later, he returned to his former battlegrounds and recorded his journey in goodbye vietnam. To shed new light on such a complicated and unsettled time in our history, to struggle to comprehend the special dissonance that is the vietnam war, we needed to look beyond the familiar stories. A slew of war memoirs stand with the best writing of that genre. Oct 08, 2015 perhaps the only decent thing to emerge from the vietnam war is a body of literature unsurpassed by the writing thats come out of any other war. Although the bulk of the fighting took place in vietnam, the war also spilled over into neighboring laos and cambodia in the early 1970s. Organized chaos, seemed like a contradiction in terms, but after a few weeks in vietnam, it seemed plausible. During the four years following passage of the tonkin gulf resolution aug. Kennedy adlai stevenson ii eugene mccarthy lyndon b. An impressive piece of work that gives a good overview of the vietnam war and the wider issues that surrounded the conflict. While those books all provide excellent analyses of the war, another way to u.
Aug 04, 2017 vietnam remained australias longest war until afghanistan. Either about the nva, nlf or the communist side as a whole. Mar 02, 2015 the best histories of the vietnam war. Tom hayden and the battle of good and evil in the streets of. Its extraordinarily wellreported and written, and filled with memorable photographs and illustrationsa reminder that the war was, perhaps for. From the awardwinning historian and filmmakers of the civil war, baseball, the war, the roosevelts, and others. Vietnam remained australias longest war until afghanistan. This movement informed and helped shape the vigorous and polarizing debate, primarily in the united states, during the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s on. This authoritative book separates the facts of the war from the polemics that engulfed them, and takes a fascinating look at the people, places, events, and ideasboth on the battlefield and the home front of this.
Delli carpini the vietnam war was and is a potent political symbol, a montage of dis crete, contradictory, and arresting images seared into our individual and col lective psyches. Thriftbooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices. The news then reflected communism and the cold war. Nov 08, 2012 our books experts recommends 10 authors to read on the conflict. United states news media and the vietnam war wikipedia. Conflict raged for soldiers, both within the boundaries of war and within the nations boundaries, in the vietnam war era. Discover book depositorys huge selection of vietnam war books online.
Complete organized chaos for the new guys would begin as we landed in vietnam. Time magazine named dispatches one of the one hundred best nonfiction books of all time. The list includes fiction and nonfiction, and books for children and younger. In asking how the united states got into vietnam, attention must be paid to the enormous strength of the cold war consensus in the early 1960s shared by journalists and policymakers alike and due to the great power of the administration to control the agenda and the framing of foreign affairs reporting. The first australian battalion was inserted into an. He served with the 1st marines in i corps from the triple canopies in the annamese cordillera to the sunbleached savannahs that stretched and. Among the most positive is an abundance of topnotch books, many written by veterans of the conflict. Fall an account of the french war in vietnam, laos, and cambodia from 1946 which claimed the lives of over 90,000 french soldiers, and which should have been an apt tutorial for the us policy makers who instead ignored the lessons already hard learned by their french counterparts about the ways and wiles of the viet cong. Johnson malcolm x supported the vietnam war but didnt want to. An inside account of the vietnam war and its aftermath tang. The necessary war, michael lind if you only read one book on the vietnam war, this is it. In the vast literature on the vietnam war, much has been written about the antiwar movement and its influence on u. This is a hilarious tale of an air force combat fighter pilot in vietnam who goes out on patrol with a special forces team he has supported many times from the air.
Military forces tactical zones in south vietnam, 1968 96. This book that complements the tv series is just epic and deserves its place along with stanley karnow vietnam and neil sheehan a bright shining lie. A rumor of war, philip caputo to call it the best book about vietnam is to trivialise it. The vietnam war was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of vietnam under a communist government and. Since then i have gathered up quite a collection of books and dvds on the vietnam war or as the vietnamese say the american war. Philip caputo was a marine who later became a very wellknown journalist. Tell me about the first book on your list, a rumor of war 1977.
Before he penned the screenplays for jarhead and castaway, a young william broyles enlisted to serve in the vietnam war. Beyond that, on the fiction front, we quickly traipse into forgettable territory. Discover the best vietnam war history in best sellers. Apr 08, 2015 the prowar protest held on wednesday april 8, 1970, norpell recalls, was neither the largest prowar rally nor one that represented the majority of americans who supported the war. Opposition to united states involvement in the vietnam war. Fred rosenblum went to vietnam in 1968 as a nineteenyearold marine. We personally assess every book s quality and offer rare, outofprint treasures.
However, despite the high profile of anti war protesters and media coverage, the majority supported the government over the vietnam war, support for the war was far from overwhelming. Seeing the pilot is having a hard time keeping up, one of the chinese mercenaries called nungs, says to the team leader, lets kill the dai uy. How did the supporters react to united states withdrawal from vietnam. This authoritative book separates the facts of the war from the polemics that engulfed them, and takes a fascinating look at the people, places, events, and ideasboth on the battlefield and the home frontof this. Detailing both the identifiable costs and the economic benefits, campagna examines the increasing influence the war.
The novel explores the war from the perspective of a former north vietnamese soldier, kien, and is a nonlinear telling of how the conflict transformed himself. In this work, anthony campagna focuses on one aspect of the wars consequences. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers. In this latest work, nonfiction author freedman accomplishes the difficult task of. Heres an admittedly subjective list, posted on the military history now website, put together by mark masse, a ball state university literary journalism professor. Hey all, ive read many books, watched numerous documentaries on the war, all of which primarily cover the american experience of it. Yesterday, i posted my picks for the best histories of the vietnam war. When i think back to reading either book for the first time, and other vietnam war books, the memories that come to me are of the owl coffee mug i. The best vietnam war books five books expert recommendations. With the release of ken burns documentary series the vietnam war, whyy news is examining how the united states, four decades later, is still processing the war. The vietnam war by chris mcnab, andrew wiest nook book. The prowar movement university of massachusetts press.
National guardsmen and police killed 6 students kent state and jackson state. For a completely different take on the vietnam war e. The majority of americans pretended the war had never happened. Excellent study of the vietnam war looking at a far wider range of topics than in most books on this war, and with contributions from american, north vietnamese and south vietnamese authors and participants in the war. Feel how this story takes you back in time during carsons experiences. Some, like the ken burns documentary delve a bit into the north vietnamesevc experience. In this work, anthony campagna focuses on one aspect of the war s consequences. The best histories of the vietnam war council on foreign. Time magazine named dispatches one of the one hundred best nonfiction books of alltime. The prowar protest held on wednesday april 8, 1970, norpell recalls, was neither the largest prowar rally nor one that represented the majority of americans who supported the war. Peter clarks year in vietnam began in july 1966, when he was shipped out with hundreds of other young recruits as a replacement in the 1st infantry. Supporters and and objectors to the war australias involvement in the vietnam war and the issue of conscription split the nationin the early 1960s and 1970s.
These 10 books, in addition to the ones below, were recommended multiple times. In my mind its one of the first really wellwritten books that describe the moral ambiguities and difficulties faced by a young marine officer in this particular war. An essential book for anyone writing nonrevisionist history of our most. Supporters and objectors to the war explaining the impacts. Vietnam war poetry book vietnam veterans of america. More than forty years after it ended, the vietnam war continues to haunt our country. We would be organized militarily, but we would have to break the bad habit, of trying to fight a conventional war in a guerrilla warfare environment. The companion volume to burns vietnam war documentary series on pbs, the book stands alone as a powerful summary of the whole conflict. The ten best memoirs of the vietnam war council on foreign.
Relations between american and australian military leaders were not always smooth. Readers weighed in on the best books about the vietnam war. The vietnam war this is a wikipedia book, a collection of wikipedia articles that can be easily saved, imported by an external electronic rendering service, and ordered as a printed book. Three are novels, two of which were written by vietnam war veterans. Feb 05, 2008 a rumor of war, philip caputo to call it the best book about vietnam is to trivialise it.
The vietnam war was americas longest conflict, outlasting u. These include winners of national book awards and pulitzer prizes, both fiction and nonfiction. All our physical stores and our online store are temporarily closed. Not all of these books have a direct connection to any particular antiwar movement. In this great and necessary addition to the canon of vietnam war memoirs the author is a thoroughly human virgil guiding us through the hell of combat new york journal of books.
The vietnam war has scarred, transformed and inspired countless writers and art practitioners. Our books experts recommends 10 authors to read on the conflict. Booktopia buy vietnam war books online from australias leading online bookstore. There is catch22, and slaughterhouse five, and these are classics to be sure. Turner, a vietnam veteran and hoover institution fellow who later obtained a non tenured position at the university of virginia law school, disputed the portrayal of the vietnamese communists as devoted nationalists in his book vietnamese communism. Books with antiwar themes have explicit antiwar messages or have been described as having significant antiwar themes or sentiments. It tells the story of the war from every conceivable angle, including that of the young vietnamese fighters. William shawcross, front page, washington post book world.
I will be marking the fiftieth anniversary of those marines going ashore at da nang by posting my favorite vietnam war books, memoirs, novels, movies. Five great books about the vietnam war for middle readers. This intervention would become one of the most divisive decisions in u. Opposition to united states involvement in the vietnam war began with demonstrations in 1964 against the escalating role of the united states in the vietnam war and grew into a broad social movement over the ensuing several years. It is only now, fifteen years after its end, that the full impact of the vietnam war on the united states can begin to be measured. Burns is a known leftist revisionist historian, and now he. Supporters and objectors to the war explaining the. About cfr think tank support cfr for media careers.
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