Unreconstructed: Vietnam to Iraq Review
This book reviews America's journey from Vietnam to the War on Terror. Bitner assesses the myths of Vietnam and Iraq, the impact of the "Reagan Doctrine" on the end of the Cold War, and surveys America's wars of the 1990's.
The Tragedy of Vietnam, Again Review
Retold at a time when history eerily repeats itself, in The Tragedy of Vietnam, Again, Christopher Noble shares a pitch-perfect and prophetic memoir of his experience in Vietnam. As sincere as it is alarming, in a rush of intense action, the author provides a bold narrative in which to stake a claim that Americans must begin to question their president and the media to set the record straight once and for all. Critical until the bitter end, his is a dark and at times comic recollection of his twelve months serving in Vietnam as a lieutenant in the Army Medical Service Corps. With the certain air of bitter irony, Noble sees the cruel landscape repainted from the Far East to the canvas of the Middle East and is bold in his conclusion to compare the Vietnam War with the present day War in Iraq. He poignantly demonstrates how in both instances naïve and patriotic American youth head off to war for a government who misled the country and the American press who fuels half-truths and lies.
America in Vietnam: A Documentary Review
The Third Indochina War: Conflict between China, Vietnam and Cambodia, 1972-79 (Cold War History) Review
This new collection explores the origins and key issues of the Third Indochina War, which began in 1979.
Drawing on unique documentation from all sides, leading contributors reinterpret and demystify the long-term and immediate causes of the Vietnamese-Cambodian and Sino-Vietnamese conflicts. They closely examine how both the links between policies and policy assumptions in the countries involved, and the dynamics - national, regional and international - drove them towards war. Rather than explaining the conflicts as determined by age-old resentments and suspicions or seeing war between the former allies as the necessary outcome of the conflicts of the 1970s, the contributors to this volume look at the concrete causes for the breakdown in cooperation and the road to war.
This volume includes even-handed assessments of the roles of the major players, including a look at the beginnings of Thai-Chinese military cooperation in support of the Khmer Rouge. The subjects covered remain highly relevant to inter-state relations in South East Asia, where border issues are still a cause of tension. An updated chronology of events leading to the outbreak of hostilities is also included.
This book will be of immense interest to all students of the Third Indochina War, Southeast Asian history and of international relations and war studies in general.
The Easter Offensive: The Last American Advisors, Vietnam, 1972 (Blue Jacket Books) Review
This thoroughly documented chronology of the April 1972 invasion of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese Army, called the Easter Offensive, serves both as a historical lesson and a remarkable war memoir. On the Marine Corps Commandant s professional list for years, it is told with authority and compassion by a crucial player, an American Marine who was a senior advisor to the Vietnamese Marines. When first published in hardcover in 1984, it was a selection of the Military Book Club.
Prodigals: A Vietnam Story Review
During his first tour in Vietnam - 1967-68 - Dick Taylor was a well trained and highly motivated amateur assigned to advise a hard-bitten ARVN infantry battalion working in the mud and streams of IV Corps. He became savvy in a hurry and found that he was both brave and resourceful. He barely survived Tet 1968, then served on an advisory team staff.
For the next two years, Taylor earned a Ranger tab, served on a division staff, and schooled on. He met his wife, and married her days before he returned to Vietnam.Taylor's second tour - 1970-71 - was altogether different. He immediately assumed command of Bravo Company, 1/7 Cav, and excelled as a commander and a leader. He was aggressive in the field, confident in his command, and assertive with his superiors. He fought a good war, a successful war, and when he was forced to take a staff job it was as his battalion's intelligence officer. But the war was winding down, its purpose lost. Taylor's spirit's flagged, but not his fidelity.This well-written combat memoir is heartfelt, earnest, honest and just a little melancholy. REVIEWS "...excellent...very well written and at times difficult to put down..."Military Modelcraft International (UK) 09/2011
The Battle of Ap Bac, Vietnam: They Did Everything but Learn from It (Contributions in Military Studies) Review
Toczek provides the first description of the entire battle of Ap Bac and places it in the larger context of the Vietnam War. The study thoroughly examines the January 1963 battle, complete with detailed supporting maps. Ironically, Ap Bac's great importance lies in American policymakers' perception of the battle as unimportant; for all their intelligence and drive, senior American government officials missed the early warning signs of a flawed policy in Southeast Asia by ignoring the lessons of the defeat of the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) on 2 January 1963. The outcome of Ap Bac was a direct reflection of how the U.S. Army organized, equipped, and trained the ARVN. With all the ARVN officer corps's shortcomings, the South Vietnamese Army could not successfully conduct an American combined arms operations against a smaller, less well-equipped enemy. American leadership, both military and civilian, failed to draw any connection between ARVN's dismal performance and American policies toward South Vietnam. Although certain tactical changes resulted from the battle, the larger issue of American policy remained unchanged, including the structure of the advisory system.
Vietnam the Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of America's Most Disastrous Military Conflict Review
One of America's leading intellectuals presents a startling and controversial thesis: that Vietnam was the right war at the right time, with the wrong military strategy. He also argues that the Cold War was the Third World War, with Korea, Indochina and Afghanistan among its major campaigns.
Legacy of Discord : Voices of the Vietnam War Era Review
Twenty-eight years have passed since the fall of Saigon. We still seek answers to the era's pressing issues. And those who were responsible for planning the Vietnam War, those who fought in it, those who fought against it, and those who reported it have had ample time to reflect on its meaning and on their personal involvement. In Legacy of Discord, skilled interviewer Gil Dorland discusses serious, unresolved issues with Peter Arnett, Mike Davison, Daniel Ellsberg, Gloria Emerson, Alexander Haig, David Halberstam, Tom Hayden, Le Ly Hayslip, Roger Hilsman, John Kerry, Henry Kissinger, Cau Le, Barry McCaffrey, John McCain, H. R. McMaster, Tom Polgar, Norman Schwarzkopf, Jim Webb, and William C. Westmoreland. For the many veterans, students, and others still seeking to understand this great national tragedy, Legacy of Discord will be a book of historic importance.
Britain in Vietnam: Prelude to Disaster, 1945-46 (Routledge Series: Military History and Policy) Review
This book is a study of the circumstances leading to British intervention in Vietnam in 1945, and the course and consequences of this intervention.
The first part of the work links French colonialism with the native communist insurgency, while examining British and Foreign Office attitudes towards French Indochina. The study then looks at the key Anglo-American wartime relationship concerning Indochina and its impact. The second half of the book focuses on the local problems faced by the British in Southern Indochina, and whether commanding general Douglas Gracey was guilty (as critics have suggested) of collusion with French colonialism. It also examines the wider problems linked to available military resources, and the controversial issues of the role of the OSS and the use of Japanese troops to preserve law and order. Finally, the book makes a groundbreaking link between British intervention and the outbreak of the French-Vietminh war in 1946.
Britain in Vietnam will be of interest to students of British foreign policy, military history and South-East Asian history in general.
