基本説明
New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 2002.
Full Description
More than a quarter of a century after the last Marine Corps Huey left the American embassy in Saigon, the lessons and legacies of the most divisive war in twentieth-century American history are as hotly debated as ever. Why did successive administrations choose little-known Vietnam as the "test case" of American commitment in the fight against communism? Why were the "best and brightest" apparently blind to the illegitimacy of the state of South Vietnam? Would Kennedy have pulled out had he lived? And what lessons regarding American foreign policy emerged from the war? The Columbia Guide to the Vietnam War helps readers understand this tragic and complex conflict. The book contains both interpretive information and a wealth of facts in easy-to-find form. Part I provides a lucid narrative overview of contested issues and interpretations in Vietnam scholarship. Part II is a mini-encyclopedia with descriptions and analysis of individuals, events, groups, and military operations. Arranged alphabetically, this section enables readers to look up isolated facts and specialized terms. Part III is a chronology of key events.
Part IV is an annotated guide to resources, including films, documentaries, CD-ROMs, and reliable Web sites. Part V contains excerpts from historical documents and statistical data.
Contents
Introduction List of Abbreviations Part I: Historical Narrative 1. Studying the Vietnam War 2. Vietnam: Historical Background Roots of the Vietnamese Culture and State The Impact of French Colonialism The Rise of Vietnamese Nationalism The Origins of Vietnamese Communism 3. United States: Historical Background Idealism and Realism in U.S. Foreign Relations The United States and the Open Door in Asia The World Wars: The Legacies of Wilson and Munich The Origins of the Cold War 4. The French War in Vietnam The August Revolution Outbreak of the Franco-Vietminh War U.S. Support of France Dienbienphu and the Geneva Conference 5. The Diem Years: Eisenhower The Decision to Back Ngo Dinh Diem The Non-election of 1956 The Illusion of Nation Building NLF: Rise of the Southern Insurgency 6. The Diem Years: Kennedy Counterinsurgency Warfare The Buddhist Crisis The Diem Assassination What if Kennedy Had Lived? 7. The American War in Vietnam: Escalation The Gulf of Tonkin Incident Rolling Thunder Johnson Decides on a Land War in Asia Theories of Causation 8. The American War in Vietnam: Strategy The Draft Attrition Strategy and Body Count Humpin' It: The American Soldier The Air War Diplomacy The Resilient Enemy 9. The American War in Vietnam: The Limits of Power The Tet offensive The Antiwar Movement and the Media Johnson's Decision to Stop Escalation The Presidential Election of 1968 10. The American War in Vietnam: De-escalation Vietnamization and More Bombing Cambodia and Kent State Negotiations and the Paris Peace Accords DRV Victory in 1975 11. The War What Will Not Go Away The Postwar Wars in Southeast Asia American Vietnam Veterans Films, Fiction, and Poetry Postmortems Part II: The Vietnam War from A to Z Part III: Chronology Part IV: Resource Guide 1. General Works 2. History of Southeast Asia and U.S. Foreign Relations 3. The Diem Years 4. North Vietnam and the Vietcong 5. Escalation of the American War 6. The American Way of War 7. The Limits of American Power 8. The End of the American War 9. The Legacy of the Vietnam War 10. Films and Documentaries 11. Electronic Resources Part V: Appendices Appendix 1. Documents Appendix 2. Statistics Index
