Beyond the quagmire : new interpretations of the Vietnam War / edited by Geoffrey W. Jensen and Matthew M. Stith.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Jensen, Geoffrey W., 1975- editor.

Stith, Matthew M., editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Causes.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Diplomatic history.

Politics and war--United States--History--20th century.

Politics and war.

Vietnam--Politics and government--1945-1975.

Vietnam.

United States--Politics and government--1969-1974.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (440 pages)

Place of Publication:

Denton, Texas : University of North Texas Press, [2019]

Summary:

In Beyond the Quagmire, thirteen scholars from across disciplines provide a series of provocative, important, and timely essays on the politics, combatants, and memory of the Vietnam War. Americans believed that they were supposed to win in Vietnam. As veteran and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Philip Caputo observed in A Rumor of War, "we carried, along with our packs and rifles, the implicit convictions that the Viet Cong would be quickly beaten and that we were doing something altogether noble and good." By 1968, though, Vietnam looked less like World War II's triumphant march and more like the brutal and costly stalemate in Korea. During that year, the United States paid dearly as nearly 17,000 perished fighting in a foreign land against an enemy that continued to frustrate them. Indeed, as Caputo noted, "We kept the packs and rifles; the convictions, we lost." It was a time of deep introspection as questions over the legality of American involvement, political dishonesty, civil rights, counter-cultural ideas, and American overreach during the Cold War congealed in one place: Vietnam. Just as Americans fifty years ago struggled to understand the nation's connection to Vietnam, scholars today, across disciplines, are working to come to terms with the long and bloody war--its politics, combatants, and how we remember it. The essays in Beyond the Quagmire pose new questions, offer new answers, and establish important lines of debate regarding social, political, military, and memory studies. The book is organized in three parts. Part 1 contains four chapters by scholars who explore the politics of war in the Vietnam era. In Part 2, five contributors offer chapters on Vietnam combatants with analyses of race, gender, environment, and Chinese intervention. Part 3 provides four innovative and timely essays on Vietnam in history and memory. In sum, Beyond the Quagmire pushes the interpretive boundaries of America's involvement in Vietnam on the battlefield and off, and it will play a significant role in reshaping and reinvigorating Vietnam War historiography.

Contents:

Introduction / Geoffrey W. Jensen and Matthew M. Stith

The politics of war

Rural development and revolution in Ngo Dinh Diem's Vietnam / Geoffrey C. Stewart

Peace at last?: Hmong, Americans, and the secret wars in Laos / Nengher N. Vang

Leopard spots, patchworks, and crazy quilts: a geography of Nixon's Vietnam War / Martin G. Clemis

Vietnam, the student movement, and the south: the war and regional identity / Jeffrey A. Turner

The combatants and their war

A parable of persisting failure: project 100,000 / Geoffrey W. Jensen

Women, gender, and the war / Heather Marie Stur

China's intervention and the end of the communist alliance in Vietnam / Xiaobing Li

The role of the military advisor in Vietnam / Ron Milam

The natural environment and the American military experience in Vietnam / Matthew M. Stith

Remembering Vietnam

The 'Nam comics: remember the American war in Viet Nam / Susan L. Eastman

Claiming the flag: patriotism and the Nixon White House / Sarah Thelen

Provisional healing: Vietnam memorials and the limits of memory / William Thomas Allison

They got out of that place: understanding the Vietnam War through the music-based memories of Vietnam veterans / Doug Bradley.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-57441-758-4