The Vietnamese War: Revolution and Social Change in the Mekong Delta, 1930-1975

by Elliott,David

• ISBN13: 9780765606020
• ISBN10: 076560602X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-12-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

A monumental work of research and analysis, this is a history of the Vietnam War in a single province of the Mekong Delta over the period 1930-1975. More precisely, it is a study of the Vietnamese dimension of the "Vietnam War, " focusing on the revolutionary movement that became popularly known as the "Viet Cong." There are several distinctive features to this study: (1) it provides an explanation for the paradox of why the revolutionary movement was so successful during the war, but unable to meet the challenges of postwar developments; (2) it challenges the dominant theme of contemporary political analysis which assumes that people are "rational" actors responding to events with careful calculations of self-interest; (3) it closely examines province-level documentation that casts light on a number of important historical controversies about the war. No other history of the Vietnam War has drawn on such a depth of documentation, especially firsthand accounts that allow the Vietnamese participants to spea directly to us.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
A Reader's Guide to The Vietnamese War	xvii
The Vietnamese War: Introduction	3	(8)
Postlude	11	(7)
Prelude	18	(47)
Revolution	65	(50)
Resistance	115	(48)
The Six Years of Peace: 1954--59	163	(49)
The Tiger Wakes	212	(69)
Forged by the Hammer of the Party	281	(69)
The Strong-Armed Fist: Military Expansion, 1961--63	350	(87)
``Sharing Rice and Clothing'': Land and Class	437	(87)
Pressed into the Mold: Organizing the Villages	524	(86)
Going for Broke	610	(41)
The Two Main Links in the Revolutionary Chain: Taxes and Conscription	651	(85)
Year of the Big Change: 1965	736	(61)
The Uncounted Enemy	797	(55)
Winning Hearts and Minds	852	(56)
Battle for the Villages	908	(62)
Stalemate	970	(66)
Tet: the Untold Story of the ``General Offensive and General Uprising''	1036	(90)
Tragic Farewell	1126	(85)
Holding On	1211	(80)
Civil War	1291	(62)
The Final Chapter	1353	(34)
Appendix A. The Human Cost	1387	(1)
Appendix B. Reflections	1388	(11)
Appendix C. The Rand Interview Sample	1399	(2)
Appendix D. Interview List	1401	(13)
Appendix E. Rice Price and Currency Values	1414	(3)
Appendix F. Village Population Map of Dinh Tuong Province	1417	(3)
Appendix G. Hamlet Locator and Guide to HES	1420	(49)
HES Data, 1967--1972	1425	(44)
Appendix H. Partial List of Revolutionaries Mentioned in This Book	1469	(3)
Appendix I. Maps	1472	(15)
Hamlet HES Identification Numbers, Dinh Tuong Province	1474	(2)
Revolutionary Assessment of Dinh Tuong Province Security Situation in 1964	1476	(1)
Area Control Map of Dinh Tuong Province as of October 31, 1967	1477	(1)
Dinh Tuong Province Security Situation February 1967	1478	(1)
Dinh Tuong Province Security Situation July 1969	1479	(1)
Dinh Tuong Province Security Situation June 1971	1480	(1)
Dinh Tuong Province Security Situation June 1972	1481	(1)
U.S. Government Village Level HES Map of Dinh Tuong, 1971	1482	(1)
Changes in Hamlet Location 1967 to 1971, Dinh Tuong Province	1483	(1)
Changes in HES Scores Favoring GVN, January to December 1973	1484	(1)
Revolutionary Bases and Saigon Posts, 1966	1485	(1)
Revolutionary Bases and Saigon Posts, 1971	1486	(1)
Glossary	1487	(32)
Bibliography	1519	(10)
Index	1529