Vietnam

by Moss, George Donelson

• ISBN13: 9780130600332
• ISBN10: 0130600334
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Summary

For a variety of undergraduate-level history courses covering recent U.S. history and the U.S. experience in Vietnam, including courses in military history, modern U.S. diplomatic history, and courses on the Cold War and on Southeast Asia. This text provides a comprehensive narrative history of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia, from 1942 to 1975with a concluding section that traces U.S.-Vietnam relations from the end of the war in 1975 to the present. Unlike most general histories of U.S. involvement in Vietnamwhich are either conventional diplomatic or military historiesthis text synthesizes the perspectives to explore both dimensions of the struggle in greater depth, elucidating more of the complexities of the U.S.-Vietnam entanglement. It explains why Americans tried so hard for so long to stop the spread of Communism in Indochina, and why they ultimately failed.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
Vietnam: A Place and a People	1	(33)
The Land	1	(3)
The Forge of History	4	(6)
The French Colonial Era	10	(5)
The Rise of Vietnamese Nationalism	15	(4)
The Japanese Occupation	19	(4)
The Roots of American Involvement	23	(2)
The August Revolution	25	(9)
The Elephant and the Tiger	34	(45)
The French Return	34	(7)
The Franco-Vietminh War	41	(5)
The Franco-American Partnership	46	(9)
The Road to Dien Bien Phu	55	(7)
To the Brink of War	62	(3)
The Geneva Solution	65	(5)
Lessons	70	(9)
An Experiment in Nation Building	79	(39)
Ngo Dinh Diem Takes Charge	79	(10)
Social Revolution	89	(5)
Building a Nation	94	(8)
The Roots of Revolution	102	(7)
The Land of a Million Elephants	109	(2)
A Failed Experiment	111	(7)
Raising the Stakes	118	(38)
Cold War Crises	118	(8)
A Limited Partnership	126	(3)
Social Revolution in the South	129	(8)
The Decline and Fall of Ngo Dinh Diem	137	(9)
A Failed Partnership	146	(10)
America Goes to War	156	(49)
The Same Only More	156	(4)
Coup Season	160	(5)
In Dubious Battles	165	(9)
The Election of 1964	174	(2)
Rolling Thunder	176	(9)
Dahlias and Gladioli	185	(8)
Decisions to Wage an American War	193	(12)
The Chain of Thunders	205	(68)
The Concept of Limited War	205	(4)
War of Attrition	209	(4)
Search and Destroy	213	(2)
The Battle That Changed the War	215	(4)
A Wider War	219	(11)
Thunder from the Air	230	(7)
Aerial Attrition Warfare	237	(4)
The Other War	241	(8)
Diplomatic Charades	249	(4)
War at Home	253	(20)
The Year of the Monkey	273	(60)
Surprise Attack!	273	(12)
Political Crisis	285	(7)
Johnson Agonistes	292	(13)
The Televised War	305	(4)
Talking and Fighting	309	(10)
The Election of 1968	319	(14)
A War to End a War	333	(77)
Nixon and Kissinger	333	(4)
Vietnamization	337	(16)
An Army in Decline	353	(4)
Widening the War: Cambodia	357	(12)
Widening the War: Laos	369	(4)
War Weariness	373	(5)
The Nguyen Hue Offensive	378	(12)
Neither Peace Nor Honor	390	(20)
The End of the Tunnel	410	(48)
Indecent Interval	410	(2)
Homecoming	412	(3)
The Postwar War	415	(6)
Endgame	421	(14)
After the Fall	435	(5)
The Wounds Within	440	(4)
The Spectre of Vietnam	444	(3)
The Endless War	447	(2)
Uneasy Relations	449	(9)
A Pronunciation Guide for Vietnamese Words	458	(2)
Tables	460	(3)
Glossary	463	(5)
Chronology of U.S. Involvement in Vietnam, 1942-1975	468	(17)
Bibliography	485	(36)
Books	485	(25)
Articles	510	(6)
Documents	516	(1)
Archival and Unpublished Sources	517	(1)
Literature: Poetry, Novels, Novelistic Memoirs, Novelistic Journalism	518	(1)
Television Documentaries and Television Programs	518	(1)
Films	519	(1)
Vietnam Websites	519	(2)
Index	521