After Vietnam : legacies of a lost war / edited by Charles E. Neu.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Neu, Charles E.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Vietnam War, 1961-1975--United States.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Influence.

United States--History--1969-.

United States.

History.

Vietnam--History--1975-.

Vietnam.

Physical Description:

xix, 166 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

Baltimore : John Hopkins University Press, 2000.

Summary:

Efforts to understand the impact of the Vietnam War on America began soon after it ended, and they continue to the present day. In After Vietnam four distinguished scholars focus on different elements of the war's legacy, while one of the major architects of the conflict, former defense secretary Robert S. McNamara, contributes a final chapter pondering foreign policy issues of the twenty-first century.

In the book's opening chapter, Charles E. Neu explains how the Vietnam War changed Americans' sense of themselves: challenging widely held national myths, the war brought frustration, disillusionment, and a weakening of Americans' sense of their past and vision for the future. Brian Balogh argues that Vietnam became such o powerful metaphor for turmoil and decline that it obscured other forces that brought about fundamental changes in government and society. George C. Herring examines the postwar American military, which became nearly obsessed with preventing "another Vietnam." Robert K. Brigham explores the effects of the war on the Vietnamese, as aging revolutionary leaders relied on appeals to "revolutionary heroism" to justify the Communist Party's monopoly on political power. Finally, Robert S. McNamara, aware of the magnitude of his errors and burdened by the war's destructiveness, draws lessons from his experience with the aim of preventing wars in the future.

Contents:

The Vietnam War and the Transformation of America / Charles E. Neu 1

From Metaphor to Quagmire: The Domestic Legacy of the Vietnam War / Brian Balogh 24

Preparing Not to Refight the Last War: The Impact of the Vietnam War on the U.S. Military / George C. Herring 56

Revolutionary Heroism and Politics in Postwar Vietnam / Robert K. Brigham 85

Reflections on War in the Twenty-first Century / Robert S. McNamara 105.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 131-158) and index.

ISBN:

0801863279

0801863325

OCLC:

42682595