Vietnam : an epic tragedy, 1945-1975 / Max Hastings.
Vietnam became the Western world's most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the 1968 Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and also much less familiar miniatures such as the bloodbath at Daido, where a US Marine battalion was almost wiped out, together with extraordinary recollections of Ho Chi Minh's warriors. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people. Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it as overwhelmingly that of the Vietnamese people, of whom forty died for every American. US blunders and atrocities were matched by those committed by their enemies. While all the world has seen the image of a screaming, naked girl seared by napalm, it forgets countless eviscerations, beheadings, and murders carried out by the communists. The people of both former Vietnams paid a bitter price for the Northerners' victory in privation and oppression. Here is testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bargirls, and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, and Huey pilots from Arkansas. No past volume has blended a political and military narrative of the entire conflict with heart-stopping personal experiences, in the fashion that Max Hastings' readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle with so many lessons for the twenty-first century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. He marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780062405661
- ISBN: 0062405667
- Physical Description: xxxiii, 857 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm
- Edition: First edition
- Publisher: New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2018]
- Copyright: ©2018
Content descriptions
- Bibliography, etc. Note:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 811-825) and index.
- Formatted Contents Note:
- Beauty and many beasts -- The "dirty war" -- The fortress that never was -- Bloody footprints -- The twin tyrannies -- Some of the way with JFK -- 1963: coffins for two presidents -- The maze -- Into the Gulf -- "We are puzzled about how to proceed" -- The escalator -- "Trying to grab smoke" -- Graft and peppermint oil -- Rolling thunder -- Taking the pain -- "Waist deep in the Big Muddy" -- Our guys, their guys: the Vietnamese war -- Tet -- The giant reels -- Continuous replays -- Nixon's inheritance -- Losing by installments -- Collateral damage -- The biggest battle -- Big ugly fat fellers -- A kiss before dying -- The last act -- Afterward.
Search for related items by subject
- Subject:
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975.
Vietnam > History > 1945-1975.
Available copies
- 35 of 37 copies available at NC Cardinal. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at McDowell County Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 37 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marion Library | 959.7043 HAS (Text) | 37810435742183 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
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| 250 | . | ‡aFirst edition | |
| 264 | 1. | ‡aNew York, NY : ‡bHarper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, ‡c[2018] | |
| 264 | 4. | ‡c©2018 | |
| 300 | . | ‡axxxiii, 857 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : ‡billustrations (some color), maps ; ‡c24 cm | |
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| 337 | . | ‡aunmediated ‡bn ‡2rdamedia | |
| 338 | . | ‡avolume ‡bnc ‡2rdacarrier | |
| 504 | . | ‡aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 811-825) and index. | |
| 505 | 0 | . | ‡aBeauty and many beasts -- The "dirty war" -- The fortress that never was -- Bloody footprints -- The twin tyrannies -- Some of the way with JFK -- 1963: coffins for two presidents -- The maze -- Into the Gulf -- "We are puzzled about how to proceed" -- The escalator -- "Trying to grab smoke" -- Graft and peppermint oil -- Rolling thunder -- Taking the pain -- "Waist deep in the Big Muddy" -- Our guys, their guys: the Vietnamese war -- Tet -- The giant reels -- Continuous replays -- Nixon's inheritance -- Losing by installments -- Collateral damage -- The biggest battle -- Big ugly fat fellers -- A kiss before dying -- The last act -- Afterward. |
| 520 | . | ‡aVietnam became the Western world's most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the 1968 Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and also much less familiar miniatures such as the bloodbath at Daido, where a US Marine battalion was almost wiped out, together with extraordinary recollections of Ho Chi Minh's warriors. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people. Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it as overwhelmingly that of the Vietnamese people, of whom forty died for every American. US blunders and atrocities were matched by those committed by their enemies. While all the world has seen the image of a screaming, naked girl seared by napalm, it forgets countless eviscerations, beheadings, and murders carried out by the communists. The people of both former Vietnams paid a bitter price for the Northerners' victory in privation and oppression. Here is testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bargirls, and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, and Huey pilots from Arkansas. No past volume has blended a political and military narrative of the entire conflict with heart-stopping personal experiences, in the fashion that Max Hastings' readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle with so many lessons for the twenty-first century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. He marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record. | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aVietnam War, 1961-1975. ‡0(CARDINAL)257530 | |
| 651 | 0. | ‡aVietnam ‡xHistory ‡y1945-1975. ‡0(CARDINAL)257523 | |
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