The best histories of the vietnam war council on foreign relations. The vietnam war was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of north vietnam against south vietnam and its principal ally, the united states. The new york times bestseller the book of the landmark documentary, the vietnam war, by ken burns and lynn novick the. This intervention would become one of the most divisive decisions in u. In my mind its one of the first really wellwritten books that describe the moral ambiguities and difficulties faced by a young marine officer in this particular war. Despite how one may feel about the war, the universal themes bourke exposes re. Online shopping for vietnam war history books in the books store. The final book on your list of books about the vietnam war is 365 days. It was part of a larger regional conflict as well as a manifestation of the cold war.
The best and the brightest 1972 is an account by journalist david halberstam of the origins of the vietnam war published by random house. The best vietnam war books five books expert recommendations. Vietnam war books 191 books meet your next favorite book. Beyond that, on the fiction front, we quickly traipse into forgettable territory. Some forty years after american withdrawal from vietnam, the u. More than a decade later, he returned to his former battlegrounds and recorded his journey in goodbye vietnam. A slew of war memoirs stand with the best writing of that genre. The focus of the book is on the foreign policy crafted by academics and intellectuals who were in john f.
The ultimate 2020 list of best vietnam books to read. From the awardwinning historian and filmmakers of the civil war. A photographic history by the associated press is a beautiful oversized, hard covered book with 300 stunning mainly blackandwhite and many fullpage photographs. One of my favourites from this list is the beauty of humanity movement, it might be an oldie but it is a great book that tells an interesting story about key characters and their lives in old vietnam. After supplies and weapons were found in a viet cong tunnel network, a soldier burns a nearby hut used for rice storage by the viet cong. These include winners of national book awards and pulitzer prizes, both fiction and nonfiction. An epic tragedy, 19451975 by max hastings is published by william collins. The companion volume to burns vietnam war documentary series on pbs, the book stands alone as a powerful summary of the whole conflict. Choose from used and new textbooks or get instant access with etextbooks and digital materials. This was a book i read before i went to vietnam and it was written by an army doctor who wasnt even there.
At the beginning of every month we will post the 5 best suggestions and give you. First published in 1977, dispatches was one of the first pieces of american literature that portrayed the experiences of soldiers in the vietnam war for american readers. Shortlisted for canadas prestigious giller prize, this profoundly humane novel vancouver sun, wrings suspense and humor out of the everyday choices we make, revealing the delicate balance between sacrifice and selfinterest, doing good and being good. It strikes me that this is the way our memories work. Michael herrs frontline reporting of the vietnam war is collected in dispatches, one of the first books to capture the unique feel of life on the vietnam battlefront. Publishers weekly the companion volume to burns vietnam war documentary series on pbs, the book stands alone as a powerful summary of the whole conflict. Oct 25, 2017 the anti vietnam war movement in 39 photos. Among the most positive is an abundance of topnotch books, many written by veterans of the conflict.
In the short history of vietnam war literature, publishers would hardly touch a book on the war until the late 1970s and early 1980sa part of the selfinduced. Our books experts recommends 10 authors to read on the conflict. When i think back to reading either book for the first time, and other vietnam war books, the. Air force to start bombing south vietnam, using planes with south vietnamese markings.
In the fiction section, you will find the best books on vietnam war, other vietnam bestseller novels as well as novels set in vietnam. The ten best memoirs of the vietnam war council on. Before he penned the screenplays for jarhead and castaway, a young william broyles enlisted to serve in the vietnam war. Vietnam war 195475, conflict that pitted the communist government of north vietnam and its allies in south vietnam, the viet cong, against south vietnam and its principal ally, the united states. All series air vanguard aircraft of the aces aviation elite units battle orders campaign combat combat aircraft command duel elite essential histories essential histories specials fortress general aviation general military graphic history men at arms new vanguard raid warrior weapon xplanes anatomy of the. From his encounters with exvietnamese soldiers to interviews with victims of his own violence, broyles memoir is a reminder of how the brotherhood of man can. The making of postcolonial vietnam, 19191950, and coediting credit for making sense of the vietnam war. Us soldiers, communist leaders, saigon loyalists, vietnamese peasants and even nixon himself. Vietnam war, 19611975 engineering and construction base development in south vietnam, 19651970 1991, by carroll h. Dog soldiers won the 1975 national book award for fiction, the first vietnam war novel to do so.
The greatest battle of the vietnam air war the air combat trilogy book 2 jeffrey ethell. Perhaps more targeted at the scholarly minded, this book collects official documents and private letters from a sea of sources. There is catch22, and slaughterhouse five, and these are classics to be sure. Sep 20, 2018 an absorbing and definitive modern history of the vietnam war from the acclaimed new york times bestselling author of the secret war. Perhaps the only decent thing to emerge from the vietnam war is a body of literature unsurpassed by the writing thats come out of any other war. To shed new light on such a complicated and unsettled time in our history, to struggle to comprehend the special dissonance that is the vietnam war, we needed to look beyond the familiar stories.
The ten best memoirs of the vietnam war council on foreign. Winner of the 2016 pulitzer prize for fiction, this debut novel could fit into half a dozen genres of vietnam war books from war narrative to immigrant story, from mystery to political, from metafiction to historical and even dark comedy. Vietnam war books list of books about the vietnam war. Jun 14, 2018 covering world war i, world war ii, and the vietnam war, this book does an exceptional job illuminating the psychological aspects of wartime on those who do the killing. The untold story of spies, saboteurs, and covert warriors in north vietnam by richard h. Marine corps lieutenant who landed on the beach near da nang on march 8.
The top 30 vietnam war books to read this winter historynet. It tells the story of the war from every conceivable angle, including that of the young vietnamese fighters. It tells the story of the war from every conceivable angle. From the awardwinning historian and filmmakers of the civil war, baseball, the war, the roosevelts, and others.
Kennedys administration, and the consequences of those policies in vietnam. Nevertheless, anyone looking for an expansive overview of the vietnam war will find much to admire here. Vietnam became the western worlds most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for france in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the united states in 1975. The book chronicles his enlistment, flight training, deployment to and experiences in vietnam, and his experiences after returning from the war. Chickenhawk is robert mason s narrative of his experiences as a huey uh1 iroquois helicopter pilot during the vietnam war. Kennedy became involved in 1961, the situation was out of control. Today, americans look back nostalgically at the 1950s, an era when television and rock and roll revolutionized popular culture, and vietnam, race riots, drug abuse, and protest movements were still in. Hunts a vietnam war reader is a very different text to onans. Quanah parker and the rise and fall of the comanches, the most powerful indian tribe in american history. Philip caputo was a marine who later became a very wellknown journalist. Mar 03, 2015 here are my picks for the ten best memoirs of the vietnam war.
The definitive collection of fiction and nonfiction on the war 1998 by stewart onan. The book is organized chronologically starting in the 1950s with the first american boots on the ground and finishing with the dramatic fall of saigon in. Tell us about a book you would like to see published by osprey. His streamofconscious descriptions are chaotic, choppy, dark, and intense, giving the reader an honest sense of war from the perspective of a soldier. Two viet cong prisoners are led to an arvn command outpost at ha tien. Readers weighed in on the best books about the vietnam war. All this week, i will be marking the fiftieth anniversary of those marines going ashore at da nang by posting my favorite vietnam war books. Nov 08, 2012 our books experts recommends 10 authors to read on the conflict.
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