Ghosts Of War In Vietnam

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Ghosts of War in Vietnam

Author : Heonik Kwon
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9781107659421
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (594 download)

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Book Synopsis Ghosts of War in Vietnam by : Heonik Kwon

Download or read book Ghosts of War in Vietnam written by Heonik Kwon and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-22 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a fascinating study of the Vietnamese experience and memory of the Vietnam War through the lens of popular imaginings about the wandering souls of the war dead. These ghosts of war play an important part in postwar Vietnamese historical narrative and imagination and Heonik Kwon explores the intimate ritual ties with these unsettled identities which still survive in Vietnam today as well as the actions of those who hope to liberate these hidden but vital historical presences from their uprooted social existence. Taking a unique approach to the cultural history of war, he introduces gripping stories about spirits claiming social justice and about his own efforts to wrestle with the physical and spiritual presence of ghosts. Although these actions are fantastical, this book shows how examining their stories can illuminate critical issues of war and collective memory in Vietnam and the modern world more generally.

Vietnam Shadows

Author : Arnold R. Isaacs
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780801863448
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (634 download)

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Book Synopsis Vietnam Shadows by : Arnold R. Isaacs

Download or read book Vietnam Shadows written by Arnold R. Isaacs and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2000-04-14 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Isaacs talks to the veterans unable to forget the war no one wanted to talk about. He explores the class divisions deepened by a conflict in which the privileged avoided service that an earlier generation had embraced as a duty. And he shows how the "Vietnam Syndrome" continues to affect nearly every major U.S. foreign policy decision, from the Persion Gulf to Somalia, Bosnia, and Haiti.

Ghosts and Shadows

Author : Phil Ball
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476624844
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

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Book Synopsis Ghosts and Shadows by : Phil Ball

Download or read book Ghosts and Shadows written by Phil Ball and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author arrived at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego ill-prepared for the training and abuse that awaited him in boot camp. At the time, he would have done anything to escape; only upon reflection years later did he realize that the self-confidence instilled in him by his drill instructors had probably saved his life in Vietnam. A few months after boot camp, Private Ball was shipped out to Vietnam, joining F Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, near Khe Sanh. As a grunt, in the vernacular of the Corps, Ball, like the other youths of F Company, did a difficult and deadly job in such places as the A Shau Valley, Leatherneck Square, the DMZ and other obscure but critical I Corps locales. His—their—fear of death mingled with homesickness. Little did they realize that the horrors of the Vietnam War—horrors that while in-country they often claimed did not even exist—would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Lost at Khe Sanh (Ghosts of War #2)

Author : Steve Watkins
Publisher : Scholastic Inc.
ISBN 13 : 0545665884
Total Pages : 138 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (456 download)

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Book Synopsis Lost at Khe Sanh (Ghosts of War #2) by : Steve Watkins

Download or read book Lost at Khe Sanh (Ghosts of War #2) written by Steve Watkins and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History comes alive -- with ghosts! Anderson finds himself drawn to the old trunk of military relics in the basement of his family's junk shop again. His friends Greg and Julie warn him to stay away from it, but he can't help himself. This time Anderson discovers an old grenade with a strange message scratched into it. But an old grenade is dangerous . . . especially when the ghost of a soldier appears, claiming that it's his lucky grenade from during his service in the Vietnam War. What does this ghost want from Anderson, Greg, and Julie? Is he here for their help - or for something more sinister? It's a race against time as the friends work to solve the mystery!

Grey Ghosts

Author : Deborah Challinor
Publisher : HarperCollins Australia
ISBN 13 : 0730443310
Total Pages : 374 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (34 download)

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Book Synopsis Grey Ghosts by : Deborah Challinor

Download or read book Grey Ghosts written by Deborah Challinor and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2010-02-01 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'We were known to the enemy as "grey ghosts". We could be here, and we could be there.' - 'Sniper' "We were known to the enemy as 'grey ghosts'. We could be here, and we could be there . . . " the Grey Ghosts were New Zealand's Vietnam veterans. their powerful story includes chilling accounts of death, injuries and emotional breakdown, along with the intense comradeship of soldiering, and a pervasive sense of humour that is uniquely our own. Acclaimed writer and historian Deborah Challinor interviewed 50 men who served in Vietnam, who speak out about 'fragging' (killing superior officers), the New Zealand Government's role in Agent Orange and chemical exposure, and their hostile reception when they returned. the result is compelling, reliving the Vietnam experience in vivid detail. First published in 1998, this updated edition includes new material on the subsequent handling of veterans' claims, and the reconciliation parade on Queen's Birthday weekend in 2008, when the men were finally welcomed home.

Ghosts in the Landscape

Author : Alison Devine Nordström
Publisher : Umbrage Editions
ISBN 13 : 1884167535
Total Pages : 120 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (841 download)

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Book Synopsis Ghosts in the Landscape by : Alison Devine Nordström

Download or read book Ghosts in the Landscape written by Alison Devine Nordström and published by Umbrage Editions. This book was released on 2006 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "After serving in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine, photographer Craig Barber returns twenty-eight years later to a country that he first saw through the eyes of combat. Haunted by the deaths he witnessed, Barber carries his memories of being eighteen with a taunting bull's-eye painted on his helmet, the smell of smoldering bombs, and the cries of the dying back to Vietnam in order to put his ghosts to rest. In the Vietnamese countryside, he captures the healing landscapes with bomb craters turned into fish-rearing ponds and watering reservoirs, metal sections from former airstrip runways transformed into window grates, and shell casings functioning as fence posts. An essay by Alison Devine Nordstrom, Curator of Photographs at the George Eastman House, Rochester, offers insight into photography's role in unlayering the past."--BOOK JACKET.

War and Shadows

Author : Mai Lan Gustafsson
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 0801457459
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis War and Shadows by : Mai Lan Gustafsson

Download or read book War and Shadows written by Mai Lan Gustafsson and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2010-12-15 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vietnamese culture and religious traditions place the utmost importance on dying well: in old age, body unblemished, with surviving children, and properly buried and mourned. More than five million people were killed in the Vietnam War, many of them young, many of them dying far from home. Another 300,000 are still missing. Having died badly, they are thought to have become angry ghosts, doomed to spend eternity in a kind of spirit hell. Decades after the war ended, many survivors believe that the spirits of those dead and missing have returned to haunt their loved ones. In War and Shadows, the anthropologist Mai Lan Gustafsson tells the story of the anger of these spirits and the torments of their kin. Gustafsson's rich ethnographic research allows her to bring readers into the world of spirit possession, focusing on the source of the pain, the physical and mental anguish the spirits bring, and various attempts to ameliorate their anger through ritual offerings and the intervention of mediums. Through a series of personal life histories, she chronicles the variety of ailments brought about by the spirits' wrath, from headaches and aching limbs (often the same limb lost by a loved one in battle) to self-mutilation. In Gustafsson's view, the Communist suppression of spirit-based religion after the fall of Saigon has intensified anxieties about the well-being of the spirit world. While shrines and mourning are still allowed, spirit mediums were outlawed and driven underground, along with many of the other practices that might have provided some comfort. Despite these restrictions, she finds, victims of these hauntings do as much as possible to try to lay their ghosts to rest.

Ghost Platoon

Author : Frank Walker
Publisher : Hachette Australia
ISBN 13 : 0733628001
Total Pages : 217 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (336 download)

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Book Synopsis Ghost Platoon by : Frank Walker

Download or read book Ghost Platoon written by Frank Walker and published by Hachette Australia. This book was released on 2013-06-25 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'thoroughly researched and compelling . . . a chilling account' - The Sun Herald An eye-opening account of Australian combat history, untold . . . until now. In 1969 a ragtag unit of 39 men were thrown together at Nui Dat, Vietnam. It was so slapdash a group it didn't even have an officer or sergeant in charge. A rugged ex-Royal Marine stepped forward to take the lead. Jim Riddle was only an acting corporal but he knew enough of war to keep these young diggers alive. When the platoon was involved in a high-risk ambush Riddle proved his leadership skills, bringing his men through unscathed and leaving the battlefield littered with enemy bodies. Despite their success, immediately afterwards the platoon was disbanded. According to the army they'd never existed ? theirs was a ghost platoon. Frank Walker details what happened at that ambush and why the army buried their existence, and the secrets that went with it. His findings are a shocking indictment of the long-term effects of war. The men of the platoon ? who'd fought so hard for their country ? had to fight again to reveal the truth. But the price they all paid was far too high. Ghost Platoon is a gripping story of the soldiers who should never be forgotten . . . or denied.

The Ghosts of Thua Thien

Author : John A. Nesser
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 9780786481347
Total Pages : 207 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (813 download)

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Book Synopsis The Ghosts of Thua Thien by : John A. Nesser

Download or read book The Ghosts of Thua Thien written by John A. Nesser and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-02-18 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drafted in October 1968, John A. Nesser left behind his wife and young son to fight in the controversial Vietnam War. Like many in his generation, he was deeply at odds with himself over the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, instilled with a strong sense of duty to his country but uncertain about its mission and his role in it. Nesser was deployed to the Ashau Valley, site of some of the war’s heaviest fighting, and served eight months as an infantry rifleman before transferring to become a door gunner for a Chinook helicopter. In this stirring memoir, he recalls in detail the exhausting missions in the mountainous jungle, the terror of walking into an ambush, the dull-edged anxiety that filled quiet days, and the steady fear of being shot out of the sky. The accounts are richly illustrated with Nesser’s own photographs of the military firebases and aircraft, the landscapes, and the people he encountered.

The Secret of Midway (Ghosts of War #1)

Author : Steve Watkins
Publisher : Scholastic Inc.
ISBN 13 : 0545665868
Total Pages : 150 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (456 download)

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Book Synopsis The Secret of Midway (Ghosts of War #1) by : Steve Watkins

Download or read book The Secret of Midway (Ghosts of War #1) written by Steve Watkins and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2014-12-30 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History comes alive -- with ghosts! In the basement of his family's junk shop, Anderson and his friends Greg and Julie discover a trunk full of old military stuff, including a battered navy peacoat from World War II with a mysterious letter in the pocket. Curious, Anderson takes both home. Only that's not all he brings home . . .Later that night, the owner of the coat and letter appears in Anderson's room - the ghost of a World War II sailor.But who is the ghost and why hasn't he crossed over? And what does he want with Anderson?Soon Anderson, Julie, and Greg are wrapped up in a mystery that's over seventy years old. Can the friends figure out what happened to the ghost before it's too late?

Vietnam in Iraq

Author : David Ryan
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134135289
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (341 download)

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Book Synopsis Vietnam in Iraq by : David Ryan

Download or read book Vietnam in Iraq written by David Ryan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-01-24 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than most post-1970 conflicts involving US forces, the conflict in Iraq has been fought out against a background of frequently invoked memories from the era of the Vietnam War. The essays in this book offer a series of perspectives on connections and parallels between the Vietnam War and the 2003 invasion of, and conflict in, Iraq. The contributors particularly examine the impact of the Vietnam analogy on the War in Iraq, assessing the military tactical lessons learned from the Vietnam War and exploring the influence and persistence of its legacy in US politics, culture and diplomacy. The volume holds up to original interrogation some commonly held assumptions about historical analogy, and several distinguished authorities on the Vietnam War era, in particular, offer their thoughts on the value and applicability of Vietnam-Iraq parallels. If most contributions point out some obvious dissimilarities between the two eras, notably the transformed post-Cold War international environment, the similarities, particularly those relating to the problems of cultural misunderstanding, are also apparent. Vietnam in Iraq will be of great interest for all students and researchers of the Iraq War, strategic studies, international relations and American politics.

The Ghost Army of World War II

Author : Rick Beyer
Publisher : Chronicle Books
ISBN 13 : 1797225308
Total Pages : 275 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (972 download)

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Book Synopsis The Ghost Army of World War II by : Rick Beyer

Download or read book The Ghost Army of World War II written by Rick Beyer and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2023-10-10 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A riveting tale told through personal accounts and sketches along the way—ultimately, a story of success against great odds. I enjoyed it enormously.” —Tom Brokaw The first book to tell the full story of how a traveling road show of artists wielding imagination, paint, and bravado saved thousands of American lives—now updated with new material. In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs—artists, designers, architects, and sound engineers, including such future luminaries as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey—landed in France to conduct a secret mission. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1,100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units. Every move they made was top secret, and their story was hushed up for decades after the war's end. Hundreds of color and black-and-white photographs, along with maps, official memos, and letters, accompany Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles’s meticulous research and interviews with many of the soldiers, weaving a compelling narrative of how an unlikely team carried out amazing battlefield deceptions that saved thousands of American lives and helped open the way for the final drive to Germany. The stunning art created between missions also offers a glimpse of life behind the lines during World War II. This updated edition includes: A new afterword by co-author Rick Beyer Never-before-seen additional images The successful campaign to have the unit awarded a Congressional Gold Medal History and WWII enthusiasts will find The Ghost Army of World War II an essential addition to their library.

The Frangipani Hotel

Author : Violet Kupersmith
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0812983475
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (129 download)

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Book Synopsis The Frangipani Hotel by : Violet Kupersmith

Download or read book The Frangipani Hotel written by Violet Kupersmith and published by Random House. This book was released on 2015-02-17 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extraordinarily compelling debut—ghost stories that grapple with the legacy of the Vietnam War A beautiful young woman appears fully dressed in an overflowing bathtub at the Frangipani Hotel in Hanoi. A jaded teenage girl in Houston befriends an older Vietnamese gentleman she discovers naked behind a dumpster. A trucker in Saigon is asked to drive a dying young man home to his village. A plump Vietnamese-American teenager is sent to her elderly grandmother in Ho Chi Minh City to lose weight, only to be lured out of the house by the wafting aroma of freshly baked bread. In these evocative and always surprising stories, the supernatural coexists with the mundane lives of characters who struggle against the burdens of the past. Based on traditional Vietnamese folk tales told to Kupersmith by her grandmother, these fantastical, chilling, and thoroughly contemporary stories are a boldly original exploration of Vietnamese culture, addressing both the immigrant experience and the lives of those who remained behind. Lurking in the background of them all is a larger ghost—that of the Vietnam War, whose legacy continues to haunt us. Violet Kupersmith’s voice is an exciting addition to the landscape of American fiction. With tremendous depth and range, her stories transcend their genre to make a wholly original statement about the postwar experience. Praise for The Frangipani Hotel “[A] subversively clever debut collection . . . These stories—playful, angry, at times legitimately scary—demonstrate a subtlety of purpose that belies [Kupersmith’s] youth.”—The New York Times Book Review “Magical, beautiful, modern stories, all based on traditional Vietnamese folktales, [The Frangipani Hotel] invokes the ghosts of the land that was left behind.”—San Francisco Chronicle “[A] sparkling debut . . . playful and wise, an astonishing feat for a young writer.”—Chicago Tribune “A series of short stories that are as fresh as they are mesmerizing, The Frangipani Hotel will haunt you long after the last words have drifted off the page.”—Lisa See “Auspicious . . . wildly energetic.”—Elle “Enthralling stories . . . teeming with detail and personality.”—Asian Review of Books “Chilling and lovely . . . Kupersmith has combined traditional storytelling with a post-modern sense of anxiety and darkness, and the result is captivating.”—Bookreporter “The stories shimmer with life. . . . Kupersmith [is] one to watch.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The Living Ghosts

Author : Weston Fisher
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781726775618
Total Pages : 108 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (756 download)

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Book Synopsis The Living Ghosts by : Weston Fisher

Download or read book The Living Ghosts written by Weston Fisher and published by . This book was released on 2018-10-05 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 50 years after the Vietnam War this soldier/father/hero is getting help with his PTSD through a modern invention. Explore seven years of recalled events from one of Vietnam's bloodiest battles at LZ Grant, horrific memories he now says are more manageable because of Social Media. Read the fascinating story today.The Living Ghosts as explained by Rick Griffith... "Social media is emerging as a mental medicine of sorts, a salve that soothes the soul; for many, it keeps the PTSD demons at bay. It's a new way of journaling, a tool the psychological community has long touted as a means of mental housekeeping. For some, it's a slick and easy way to chip away at the horrors of war so often locked up in the depths of one's brain.Think of your own family and friends who know the hideous nature of war firsthand. How often have you heard this phrase? "He can't talk about it." The old warriors know it as shell-shock. The younger ones call it PTSD. The brain is struggling to fit the multitude of hideous memories, sights, sounds, odors, pain, and suffering into some semblance of the old self. It has been 50 years since fun loving, ever smiling Del Mar beach boy Howard Fisher nearly bought the farm at LZ Grant (Vietnam). Not once in all that time did I ask him about his injuries or experiences in Viet Nam. Not once did I look AT his horribly disfigured face. One could not get past his eyes -- so brilliant, so full of life. His broad smile shone through as before albeit misshapen and without many teeth. Fisher once quipped to a film crew, "I always thought it would be sort of cool to have some sort of battle scar, just not there." Few people would be able to joke about losing their lower jaw. This speaks volumes of the man's spirit, his zest for life, his zeal to survive. Oddly, in all these years I was oblivious to his PTSD, and all that comes with it. I only learned of Fisher's psychological scars through his abundant, succinct social media postings."

Matterhorn

Author : Karl Marlantes
Publisher : Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 0802197167
Total Pages : 616 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (21 download)

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Book Synopsis Matterhorn by : Karl Marlantes

Download or read book Matterhorn written by Karl Marlantes and published by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intense, powerful, and compelling, Matterhorn is an epic war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead and James Jones’s The Thin Red Line. It is the timeless story of a young Marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: racial tension, competing ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company finds itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the Marines are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them forever. Written by a highly decorated Marine veteran over the course of thirty years, Matterhorn is a spellbinding and unforgettable novel that brings to life an entire world—both its horrors and its thrills—and seems destined to become a classic of combat literature.

The War That Never Ends

Author : David L. Anderson
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813145627
Total Pages : 376 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis The War That Never Ends by : David L. Anderson

Download or read book The War That Never Ends written by David L. Anderson and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-03-11 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than three decades after the final withdrawal of American troops from Southeast Asia, the legacy of the Vietnam War continues to influence political, military, and cultural discourse. Journalists, politicians, scholars, pundits, and others have used the conflict to analyze each of America's subsequent military engagements. Many Americans have observed that Vietnam-era terms such as "cut and run," "quagmire," and "hearts and minds" are ubiquitous once again as comparisons between U.S. involvement in Iraq and in Vietnam seem increasingly appropriate. Because of its persistent significance, the Vietnam War era continues to inspire vibrant historical inquiry. The eminent scholars featured in The War That Never Ends offer fresh and insightful perspectives on the continuing relevance of the Vietnam War, from the homefront to "humping in the boonies," and from the great halls of political authority to the gritty hotbeds of oppositional activism. The contributors assert that the Vietnam War is central to understanding the politics of the Cold War, the social movements of the late twentieth century, the lasting effects of colonialism, the current direction of American foreign policy, and the ongoing economic development in Southeast Asia. The seventeen essays break new ground on questions relating to gender, religion, ideology, strategy, and public opinion, and the book gives equal emphasis to Vietnamese and American perspectives on the grueling conflict. The contributors examine such phenomena as the role of women in revolutionary organizations, the peace movements inspired by Buddhism, and Ho Chi Minh's successful adaptation of Marxism to local cultures. The War That Never Ends explores both the antiwar movement and the experiences of infantrymen on the front lines of battle, as well as the media's controversial coverage of America's involvement in the war. The War That Never Ends sheds new light on the evolving historical meanings of the Vietnam War, its enduring influence, and its potential to influence future political and military decision-making, in times of peace as well as war.

Haunting Legacy

Author : Marvin Kalb
Publisher : Brookings Institution Press
ISBN 13 : 0815724403
Total Pages : 370 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (157 download)

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Book Synopsis Haunting Legacy by : Marvin Kalb

Download or read book Haunting Legacy written by Marvin Kalb and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2012-08-27 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States had never lost a war—that is, until 1975, when it was forced to flee Saigon in humiliation after losing to what Lyndon Johnson called a "raggedy-ass little fourth-rate country." The legacy of this first defeat has haunted every president since, especially on the decision of whether to put "boots on the ground" and commit troops to war. In Haunting Legacy, the father-daughter journalist team of Marvin Kalb and Deborah Kalb presents a compelling, accessible, and hugely important history of presidential decisionmaking on one crucial issue: in light of the Vietnam debacle, under what circumstances should the United States go to war? The sobering lesson of Vietnam is that the United States is not invincible—it can lose a war—and thus it must be more discriminating about the use of American power. Every president has faced the ghosts of Vietnam in his own way, though each has been wary of being sucked into another unpopular war. Ford (during the Mayaguez crisis) and both Bushes (Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan) deployed massive force, as if to say, "Vietnam, be damned." On the other hand, Carter, Clinton, and Reagan (to the surprise of many) acted with extreme caution, mindful of the Vietnam experience. Obama has also wrestled with the Vietnam legacy, using doses of American firepower in Libya while still engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan. The authors spent five years interviewing hundreds of officials from every post war administration and conducting extensive research in presidential libraries and archives, and they've produced insight and information never before published. Equal parts taut history, revealing biography, and cautionary tale, Haunting Legacy is must reading for anyone trying to understand the power of the past to influence war-and-peace decisions of the present, and of the future.