This collection of essays focuses upon American involvement in the Vietnamese War.

Christina Schwenkel's absorbing study explores how the "American War" is remembered and commemorated in Vietnam today -- in official and unofficial histories and in everyday life. Schwenkel analyzes visual representations found in monuments and martyrs' cemeteries, museums, photography and art exhibits, battlefield tours, and related sites of "trauma tourism." In these transnational spaces, American and Vietnamese memories of the war intersect in ways profoundly shaped by global economic liberalization and the return of American citizens as tourists, pilgrims, and philanthropists.

On May 25, 2012, President Obama announced that the United States would spend the next thirteen years commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War and the "more than 58,000 patriots" who died there. The fact that 3 million Vietnamese--soldiers, parents, grandparents, children--also died will be largely unknown and entirely un-commemorated. U.S. history barely stops to record the millions of Vietnamese who lived on after being displaced, tortured, maimed, raped, or born with birth defects, the result of devastating chemicals wreaked on the land by the U.S. military. The reason for this disconnect lies in an unremitting public relations campaign waged by top American politicians, military leaders, business people, and scholars who have spent the last sixty years justifying the U.S. presence in Vietnam. The American War in Vietnam challenges all of us to stop the ongoing U.S. war on actual history. Marciano reveals the grandiose flag-waving that stems from the "Noble cause principle," the notion that America is "chosen by God" to bring democracy to the world. The result is critical writing and teaching at its best. This book will provide students everywhere with insights that can prepare them to change the world. --Cover.

An overview of the Vietnam War, with an emphasis on its military campaigns and political issues.

As suggested by the title, this collection of essays focuses upon American involvement in the Vietnamese War. These essays were originally written for a symposium in 1988 in which (for the first time since 1975) scholars from both the U.S. and Vietnam met to discuss and debate the war and its impact on their respective nations. Thus, these works (by American authors) though alternately probing and guarded, are always thought-provoking. They display the mind at work in its search for answers, explanations, and meaning. Questions of politics and history (diplomacy, the Tet offensive, Chinese involvement, U.S. war veterans) are considered and reconsidered by such authors as Allen Whiting, Jayne Werner, Nyo Vinh Long, and Paul Comacho.

Cover -- The American War in Vietnam -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: The Commemoration Story -- 1. The Noble Cause Principle and the Actual History -- 2. French Colonialism and the Origins of the American War in Vietnam -- 3. The Diem Regime and President John F. Kennedy -- 4. President Johnson and Escalation of the War -- 5. President Nixon, "Vietnamization," and the End of the War -- 6. Some Lessons and Myths of the American War in Vietnam -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

The lessons, legacies, and implications for future conflicts are the purpose of this collection of work on The American War in Vietnam. This is an assemblage of ten superb papers which outline why America failed in Vietnam. . . . Military readers will find the section on How the War Was Fought especially interesting in that the authors suggest that had we pursued a more exhaustive air campaign against the North early in the war, then it could have been won. . . . This book is for serious students of the Vietnam War, for historians looking for a complete picture, it has a superb bibliography, and the authors have outstanding credentials. Armor The essays in this collection were assembled to provide answers to the question of why the United States lost the war in Vietnam. They examine four major factors that affected U.S. policy: how the war was perceived, how it was fought, the possible effect of alternative strategies, and the war's legacy for future warfare. The contributors include both military officers and scholars, all but one of whom participated in the Vietnam War. All the authors reflect the more tempered nature of current Vietnam War scholarship. Although their appraisals differ, the overall effect is to offer insight and clarification into the failure of U.S. and South Vietnamese policy, backed by the Grinter's and Dunn's first-hand experiences.