Book examines vietnam war from viet congs point of view pbs. Accounts of the vietnam war from the perspective of vietnamese are often overlooked, and books by south vietnamese soldiers in particular are relatively rare. Browse the amazon editors picks for the best books of 2019, featuring our favorite. My journalistic perspective in the beginning was normal.
Incorrect book the list contains an incorrect book please specify the title of the book. Opinion how vietnam changed journalism the new york times. Summarizing mostly from pilger again, the political background to the buildup of the vietnam war is worth highlighting here. The book is based on over a decade of research sparked by turses discovery of the. Ten vietnam war novels to read council on foreign relations. Vietnam became the western worlds most divisive modern conflict. American journalism 19691975, along with its companion volume, captures the bravery, fear, cruelty, suffering, anger, and sorrow of a tragic conflict.
But what he did was he interviewed the people he was treating and it was one of the great examples of breaking through the statistics. Buoyed by its new american weapons and encouraged by its aggressive and confident american advisers, the south vietnamese army took the offensive against the viet cong. While those who disliked what journalists wrote about the vietnam war have not. Capote, george plimpton and other american new journalists, vietnamese. Resurfacing a tabloid from the vietnam war stanford news. How the north vietnamese remember the conflict 40 years after the fall of saigon.
A slew of war memoirs stand with the best writing of that genre. After we posted this article, times readers weighed in with their favorite books on the vietnam war. The novel explores the war from the perspective of a former north vietnamese soldier, kien, and is a nonlinear telling of how the conflict transformed himself, his country and those around him. Accounts of the vietnam war from the perspective of vietnamese are often overlooked, and books by south vietnamese soldiers in particular. The journalistviet cong spy who changed the course of the. What is the best book about vietnam war written from. The definitive collection of fiction and nonfiction on the war 1998 by stewart onan diving into a book about the vietnam war can be a daunting task.
American journalism 19591969 historians and students will find reporting vietnam to be a rich and handy reference. Its a shame, because although there are many excellent books written by american authors about the conflict, they dont give you an idea of how a vietnamese person saw the war. Viet cong spy who changed the course of the vietnam war. Existing studies of the vietnam war have been written mostly from an american perspective, using western sources, and viewing the conflict through western eyes. Before the sympathizer won the 2016 pulitzer prize for fiction, many readers didnt know any authors or books written from the vietnamese perspective. 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.
Stories of war from the women reporters who covered vietnam. As its title suggests, it tells the story from the perspective of the vietnamese. The vietnam war, as seen by the victors the atlantic. Readers weighed in on the best books about the vietnam war. Many thought the united states involvement in vietnams affairs was a mistake, and the opposition to the war defined a generation. The classic reporting on the vietnam war schell, jonathan on. In many americans minds, its not history at all just a part of their lives. For others, it will bewith 25plus years of hindsightsimply fascinating reading.
Dr frank palmos is an historian and former journalist. A vietnamese perspective on the wars war is boring medium. In the last few years, with the publication of such books as jacques leslies the mark and william prochnaus once upon a distant war, historians and former correspondents have been examining closely the role of journalism in the conduct of the vietnam war. And unlike my ap history book, the vietnamese textbook i read contained little information about. This was a book i read before i went to vietnam and it was written by an army doctor who wasnt even there. Yes this book is a good onesided perspective of the vietnam war by a reporter.
The final book on your list of books about the vietnam war is 365 days. Hue 1968 revisits an american turning point in the war. What we get from him is a sense of what the vietnamese were. American vietnam war veterans and south vietnamese vietnam war veterans meet up to discuss the pbs documentary on the vietnam war by american filmmaker ken burns on thursday, sept. Memoirs of a victim turned soldier accounts of the vietnam war from the perspective of vietnamese are often overlooked, and books by south vietnamese soldiers in particular are relatively rare. War reporting from the front line in vietnam is the theme of this presentation by a correspondent who joined 33 land, sea and air missions, between arriving in saigon in 1965 and departing after the most brutal and decisive fighting of the war, in 1968. Within four years the americans were paying 78 percent of a colonial war directed by the same.
These include winners of national book awards and pulitzer prizes, both fiction and nonfiction. United states news media and the vietnam war jump to. Vietnam war left a painful legacy for indigenous minority. Ahead of the release of his new book, vietnam, max hastings introduces some clips of his reporting from the war. Among the most positive is an abundance of topnotch books, many written by veterans of the conflict. How the north vietnamese remember the vietnam war, 40 years. The book includes some great observations and agonizing. The ambassadors credentials, as i saw it, were also twofold. The best vietnam war books five books expert recommendations. A vietnamese perspective on the wars war is boring. First, by a similar accident of nature, he was born in the city of hanoi and came of age at a time when american aircraft routinely sought to free the vietnamese people from communist domination by bombing what was then termed north vietnam back into the stone age. An absorbing and definitive modern history of the vietnam war from the acclaimed new york times bestselling author of the secret war. I wanted to get on with my life, and i think a lot of americans felt the same way. This is a significant book and i did not want to put it down.
How young vietnamese view the vietnam war the atlantic. The novel explores the war from the perspective of a former north vietnamese soldier, kien, and is a nonlinear telling of how the conflict transformed himself, his. Thousands and thousands died in the war on all sides. Hue 1968 revisits an american turning point in the war in vietnam author mark bowden says the capture of hue, vietnam, was part of a wave of wellplanned communist attacks that helped turn u. At the national archives, a new perspective on the vietnam war. It is a densely written, carefully phrased, and meticulously researched and documented recitation about the wars fought by vietnam, as seen from the vietnamese side, albeit mostly from the perspective of the communists.
When the vietnam war was over, the pentagon decided that there had been too much negative reporting from the. Enough books novels and nonfiction have been published about the vietnam war and its aftermath to fill a modestsized library. An intimate history is an impressivelooking book, with a vast array of photos that accompanies a look back at the long and complicated war. The vietnamese communist party banned the book because of its unflattering recitation of the wars brutality. This book happens to be one of the best novels about vietnam and will give you some great insight into what it was like to be in this war. The author looks at vietnam from an interesting perspective.
Ive read several books by american authors about the vietnam war, and now. What i offer in this essay, then, is my personal narrative and a perspective on the vietnam war by a former marine corps officer, vietnam veteran and philosopher who has spent many years studying the theory of war, diverse historical accounts of the vietnam war and, perhaps more to the point, contemplating a life profoundly impacted by the. Vietnamese students currently make up the sixthlargest group of foreign students studying in the united states. The two volumes of reporting vietnam offer a trove of material for such studies. Fields of fire is a brilliant book about the vietnam war. The vietnam war, as we americans call it, looms large in american history. 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. At hirashikis request, irving rewrote the book in english. Part one contains combatfront writing by journalists who. 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. Best books on vietnam the best books about vietnam as a country, not just the vietnam war. There was a time when all i knew of vietnam war books was tim obriens, the things they carried, a book that prompted the laconic entry in my book journal, this book destroyed me. Best books on vietnam share book recommendations with.
One of the things i loved so muchand that broke my heart so cleanlyabout the things they carried was that it reminded me of another beloved war book, slaughterhousefive, in that both books are. It was part of a larger regional conflict as well as a manifestation of the cold war. United states news media and the vietnam war wikipedia. Pham xuan an was a time magazine correspondent and north vietnamese spy. From enemy to friend a north vietnamese perspective on the war by bui tin. The ultimate 2020 list of best vietnam books to read. The vietnam war was a long and gruesome battle with a huge cost accumulated on both sides, in terms of human fatalities. His coverage of the war in dispatches was groundbreaking for its presented a type.
Veterans angry, disappointed following pbs vietnam war. Censorship in vietnam university of massachusetts press. At the same time, the diem government undertook an extensive security campaign called the strategic hamlet program. But north vietnams war generation experienced those events. Stories of war from the women reporters who covered vietnam tad bartimus, tracy wood, kate webb, laura palmer, edith lederer, jurate kazickas, denby fawcett, ann bryan mariano, anne morrissy merick, gloria emerson on. Journalists share vietnam experiences national archives. During the program, the journalists discussed numerous memories on the vietnam war. Providing a useful background on vietnamese history, with periods of domination from and resistance to, outsiders, the book helps the reader understand the depth of the nationalism. Gadkarwilcox, author of allegories of the vietnamese past. Hanois perspective on the montagnards seems fixed in a vietnam warera past, said phil robertson, deputy director of human rights watchs asia. Sorrow of war offers the north vietnamese perspective by tracing the. Vietnamese perspectives on the war in vietnam digital commons.