Revisiting Vietnam

This book explores the memorializing practices of American veterans of the Vietnam War at several of the most significant contemporary sites of memory in the United States and Vietnam. These sites include veterans' memoirs, museum exhibits, replicas of the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and tourism to Vietnam. Because war memorializing has, since the late 1960s, shifted focus from national soul searching to personal identity and recovery, I emphasize how contemporary narratives of the war, shaped more by memory than by history, often are detached from the specific history of the war and its political controversies. Drawing on trauma and cultural memory scholarship, as well as empirical data gathered during field research in the U.S. and Vietnam, the author examines how veterans' memorializing practices have become increasingly individualized, commodified, and conservative since the early 1980s.

A collection of essays on the legal aspects of the Vietnam War by one of its most respected commentators.

Since the 1980s, thousands of American and Australian veterans have returned to Việt Nam. This oral history tells their story.

Over three decades have passed since the first wave of Indochinese refugees left their homelands. These refugees, mainly the Vietnamese, fled from war and strife in search of a better life elsewhere. By investigating the Vietnamese diaspora in Asia, this book sheds new light on the Asian refugee era (1975-1991), refugee settlement and different patterns of host-guest interactions that will have implications for refugee studies elsewhere. The book provides: a clearer historical understanding of the group dynamics among refugees - the ethnic Chinese ‘Vietnamese refugees’ from both the North and South as well as the northern ‘Vietnamese refugees’ an examination of different aspects of migration including: planning for migration, choices of migration route, and reasons for migration an analysis of the ethnic and refugee politics during the refugee era, the settlement and subsequent resettlement. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of globalization, migration, ethnicities, refugee histories and politics.

More than thirty years later, the Vietnam War still stands as one of the most controversial events in the history of the United States, and historians have so far failed to come up with a definitive narrative of the wartime experience. With competing viewpoints already in play, Mark Moyar’s recent revisionist approach in Triumph Forsaken has created heated debate over who "owns" the history of America’s war in Vietnam. Triumph Revisited: Historians Battle for the Vietnam War collects critiques of Triumph Forsaken from both sides of this debate, written by an array of Vietnam scholars, cataloguing arguments about how the war should be remembered, how history may be reconstructed, and by whom. A lively introduction and conclusion by editors Andrew Wiest and Michael Doidge provide context and balance to the essays, as well as Moyar’s responses, giving students and scholars of the Vietnam era a glimpse into how history is constructed and reconstructed.

From the Colonial War with France in the 1940s and 50s, through to the final evacuation of Saigon and beyond, each chapter of Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land: The Vietnam War Revisited, focuses on a different aspect of the Vietnam War. _x000B__x000B_The 15 chapters are written by a diverse set of expert authors including participants in the war, journalists and historians who give startling and, in some cases exclusive, insights into one of the most controversial conflicts of the 20th century. Officers from both the NVA and ARVN take a first-hand look at the strategy and tactics of both sides and give critical assessments of where the war went wrong; Le Ly Hayslip, a Vietnamese civilian trapped between the Viet Cong and Southern authorities provides a harrowing account of life for the typical South Vietnamese civilian caught up in the war; and acclaimed historians and journalists, such as Bernard Edelman and Arnold Isaacs, take a critical look at the many aspects of the war from the river war and the air war through to the strategy and doctrine used by the USA forces. _x000B__x000B_Illustrated with contemporary colour photography that evocatively complements the text, this book will show the Vietnam War in a whole new light even for those who have 'read it all' before. TOC: Contributors /Chronology /Introduction: An American War? /The French Indochina War /Fight for the Long Haul /The South Road /The War Outside Vietnam /A View from the Other Side of the Story /Caught in the Crossfire /Diggers and Kiwis /The Conduct of War /On the Ground /"Swatting Flies with a Sledgehammer" /Battle for Mekong /Tactics in a Different War /The Living Room War /The Final Act - And After /Endnotes /Bibliography /Glossary /Index

James S. Robbins provides an antidote to the flawed Tet mythology still shaping the perceptions of American military conflicts against unconventional enemies and haunting our troops in combat. In his re-examination of the Tet Offensive, Robbins analyzes the Tet battles and their impact through the themes of terrorism, war crimes, intelligence failure, troop surges, leadership breakdown, and media bias.

The famed political critic “analyzes the issue most prominently posed in Oliver Stone’s film JFK . . . strong arguments against Kennedy mythologists” (Publishers Weekly). Rethinking Camelot is a thorough analysis of John F. Kennedy’s role in the US invasion of Vietnam and a probing reflection on the elite political culture that allowed and encouraged the Cold War. In it, Chomsky dismisses efforts to resurrect Camelot—an attractive American myth portraying JFK as a shining knight promising peace, foiled only by assassins bent on stopping this lone hero who would have unilaterally withdrawn from Vietnam had he lived. Chomsky argues that US institutions and political culture, not individual presidents, are the key to understanding US behavior during Vietnam. Rethinking Camelot is “an interesting work not only for the history it explores, but also as a study of how various individuals and groups write and interpret history” (Choice). Praise for Noam Chomsky “Chomsky is a global phenomenon . . . perhaps the most widely read voice on foreign policy on the planet.” —The New York Times Book Review “The conscience of the American people.” —New Statesman “Reading Chomsky is like standing in a wind tunnel. With relentless logic, Chomsky bids us to listen closely to what our leaders tell us—and to discern what they are leaving out . . . The questions Chomsky raises will eventually have to be answered. Agree with him or not, we lose out by not listening.” —Business Week “One of the radical heroes of our age . . . a towering intellect . . . powerful, always provocative.” —The Guardian