Author : Michael Robert Dedrick
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813156149
Total Pages : 267 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)
Book Synopsis Southern Voices by : Michael Robert Dedrick
Download or read book Southern Voices written by Michael Robert Dedrick and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2022-06-28 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Southern Voices: Biet Dong and the National Liberation Front presents oral histories from former members of an elite squad of Viet Cong operatives, focusing on their experiences during what is known, in Vietnam, as the American War. Author Michael Robert Dedrick conducted interviews with eight former Biet Dong (the equivalent of Ranger or Special Forces divisions in the US military) and sheds new light on this clandestine group. Best known for their role in the 1968 Tet Offensive, the Biet Dong in the south were organized units hiding in plain sight. Members included farmers, tradespeople, agents, spies, monks, students, intellectuals, and journalists—both young and old, men and women. They were highly patriotic, politically motivated, and very secretive, operating in three-person cells under aliases. Their voices and experiences emerge in this bilingual volume. In recent years, historians have made greater use of Vietnamese primary sources and transformed the study of one of the twentieth century's most controversial conflicts. Ably curated by Dedrick—who also offers his own perspectives as a veteran and peace activist—the firsthand accounts in Southern Voices add a new layer to the history of the Vietnam War and its aftermath.