Thank you Net Galley

600 pages of real history, ugly in parts, heartbreaking in many. Take a break from vampires and zombies and read your future because we repeat the past when we ignore it.

This is the companion book to the Vietnam War documentary by Ken Burns. There is a certain commonality to read a book that's formatted the same way as The Civil War (also a companion book to the documentary). It brings the entire experience into a modern-day view incorporating not just the soldier's experience but those of the Viet Cong, South Vietnamese, and the refugees. It's is one of the few fully comprehensive books on the subject and can take a God's eye view on the subject.

Some parts that stuck out to me was the extensive lying by Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and the Federal government as a whole. This takes center stage right now as movies like The POST gain popularity. It wasn't until the publishing of the Pentagon papers did the public really know the extent of what was going on in Vietnam. The publishing of those papers effectively ended the war and the Nixon presidency. It would shatter the people's faith in government.

It's a holistic look at the entire Vietnam experience from colonial days to the Fall of Saigon and then we are fast-forwarded to the Vietnam War memorial. I think this context is important as we better understand how important independence was for the North Vietnamese. I felt the ending was a bit abrupt. I think it is important to see the impact of the war afterward. The documentary goes further than any other before it on telling every side, but the refugees, the resettlement in the United States and their stories seem incomplete. Once Saigon falls we get a brief section from the writer of The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen. However, it left me wanting for more information. I had read The Refugees but immediately needed to read The Sympathizer to get the full story. I have also read Thu Bui's Graphic Memoir The Best We Can Do which I would recommend to get more perspective. Both works focused on the impact of the Vietnam war on the Vietnamese and their escape and resettlement in the United States. These parts were important to me as I grew up in Orange County where there is a heavy Vietnamese population. It was important to me to know more about their backstory. Overall a comprehensive story with other supporting works to fill in the gaps.

An excellent companion to Ken Burns' documentary concerning the still controversial Vietnam War, a conflict that once stood as America's longest before her involvement in Afghanistan from 2001-current. Told from multiple viewpoints, it fails to get reaction from some of America's allies that fought in-country alongside of us, including the Australians and ROK Marine veterans. Another complaint is that the Marines and Army soldiers tend to be highly represented, which is no surprise, but what of the Navy off the coast at Yankee and Dixie Stations or the Air Force at Guam or even Tan San Nhut Air Base? Full of useful information, incredible images, and enlightening quotes, the Vietnam War is essential to anyone interested in that turbulent period in American history.

Thanks to Knopf and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.
This is the companion book to the series recently aired on PBS. What an excellent resource. It brings back painful memories for those of us who lived in that time but, for me, it also sorted out details of which I wasn't aware. Even more important, I hope the series and the book bring awareness to those born since the war in Vietnam. The further away we get from these events, the less there is available for younger people to truly understand what happened.

Despite having having read numerous books already on the subject, including classics ranging from “The Things They Carried” to “A Rumor of War,” and having also taken an entire class devoted to American involvement in southeast Asia in undergrad, only now do I feel like I finally have a decent grasp of what happened in Vietnam, thanks to this deep and thorough work that was so masterfully built upon a foundation of perspectives coming from nearly every possible side and aspect.

Not only is this a marvelous history of the Vietnam War, but the timing of its publication probably could not have been more perfect. After all, like all those covered in the book, we too live in an era where among many other things, the US is engaged in a conflict that seems like an aimless quagmire with no end in sight, while the country is deeply cut up by sharpening political divides, plagued by ongoing racial strife and tension, and at times feels as if it’s coming apart at the seams. Besides the numerous similarities between present and past that one will spot, the message that history certainly can and will repeat itself actually gets spelled out quite clearly at one point in the book in part of an interview with former Vietnamese soldier-turned writer Bao Ninh, who says:

“My generation, the people who lived through the Vietnam War, learned a great deal from our miserable and tragic experience. I wonder whether the lessons we absorbed at such tremendous cost are being passed on to future generations? If they are not understood, or if they are forgotten, are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes, committ the same crimes, repeat the same disasters, spread the same sorrows?”

While points like this from the book can admittedly be unsettling to no small degree, I feel like they also bring a bit of hope at the same time. After all, if people managed to struggle through this turbulent time, then what’s to say that we can’t also get through the turbulence of the present?

There’s no doubt in my mind that different readers will draw different lessons and messages from this powerful work, and a wide array of different passages and parts will be taken to heart and resonate with their in a diversity of ways in light of ongoing current events. And why should they not? After all, as was directly stated before, this work is built upon numerous perspectives and eyewitness accounts, which leaves something for nearly everyone, this reader included. I for one felt personally drawn to a few lines from John Musgrave, an extensively interviewed Vietnam veteran:

“...Being a citizen, I had certain responsibilities. And the largest of those responsibilities is standing up to your government and saying no when it’s doing something that you think is not in this nation’s best interest. That is the most important job that every citizen has.”

I simply cannot remember the last time I was able to connect with a written history like this. Definitely do not hesitate to find a way to access and read this magnificent work.

This has been a profound and moving reading experience. I felt as if I was reliving major moments of my life as I read this documentary on the Vietnam War, the companion piece to Ken Burns' visual piece aired so recently on PBS. I have not yet seen any of that, saving it for my completion of this book.

I was a teenager when John Kennedy was elected president and when he was assassinated, not really very aware yet of Vietnam or the place it would have in everyone's life so soon. By the time I graduated high school in 1966, the reality of the draft and being shipped to Vietnam to fight was all too real for every male I knew, and every male of draft age in the country. Some managed to find repeated deferments (!!) but as the war and years progressed, most deferments didn't last either. More and more men were needed to fill the expanding need for boots on the ground.

One of the truly exciting aspects of this book is the fact that it provides input from all sides, and from many views on each side. There are memoir-like statements from men who served with the ARVN, the forces of South Vietnam - both supporters and despisers of the government. There are the same from the men and women of the army of the North, and from the communist forces in the South. There are multiple first-hand reports from American servicemen, reporters and some nurses--the only women who were near combat in this war. These first-hand stories are interspersed with historical sections throughout the book, timed to coincide with events on the ground.

There are also photographs throughout the text, some that were, and still are, famous and were seen throughout the world and on American television in the 1960s and 70s, but many that are new. Some of war, some of anti-war demonstrations, some political, some personal. They still have power.

There is much to be learned from reading this book. One of the major quotes I took from this is spoken by Haldeman, of all people, on the impact of the release of the Pentagon Papers: out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing, which is: you can't trust the government...can't believe what they say...can't rely on their judgment. And..the infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is badly hurt by this, because it shows that people do things the president wants..even when it's wrong. And the president can be wrong.

This, sadly, is a lesson the the United States has learned in spades since. But Vietnam and various political and military leaders responses to it began a slide. I do strongly recommend this book to people of all generations. Even if you think you know all of the details, I think there are likely more than a few new ones that will make it worth your while. And along side the ignominious
actions of some, there are many heroes, some who lived, some who did not. For younger readers, there is the old adage of those who do not learn from history being condemned to repeat it.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A great book that will make you think twice about everything you thought you knew about Vietnam. A must for history buffs.

I’ve been looking forward to the upcoming PBS series on The Vietnam War, which I expect to be another in Ken Burns’ consistently outstanding series. I was in high school and college in the late 60s and early 70s, I still don’t understand the why of this war and I get angry when I consider the incredible loss of life and the way the country of Vietnam was changed forever. So I was very pleased to receive an advance copy of the companion book in exchange for my honest review (thanks to Knopf Doubleday and NetGalley).

In a nutshell, the book exceeded my high expectations. It is gorgeous (and BIG. And LONG. And THOROUGH). It provides an outstanding history of the war, like many other books. What really sets it apart is the way it presents more than the U.S. perspective, reminding us that this was didn’t just affect US.

The photographs are amazing. And, like some of the text, occasionally upsetting. But this book belongs in every library and will be appreciated by anyone interested in Military History in general or Vietnam in particular. If I could give it six stars, I would.

Ken Burns gives an amazingly through look at the Vietnam era in American history, as well as an overview of the factors leading up to the American involvement by presenting the history of the colonial powers in that country. The personal accounts of many individuals on both sides of the conflict reveal so much about how the everyday person, caught up in the conflict, felt and handled their involvement. The actions of the governments on both sides are exposed for what they were.

An excellent, fact-filled book. The pictures were great.

THE VIETNAM WAR by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns is the book accompanying the new documentary film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick which premieres on September 17; here is the official trailer:

Note: Embedded video can be found at: http://www.pbs.org/video/remember-uavfm1/

There is more information on the pbs site about schedules, making of the film and an opportunity to share more stories. The book is told in chronological order, ranging from 1858 and the French presence to April, 1975 and the US departure. Frankly, it is hard to believe that it has been more than 40 years since the Vietnam War ended and 58,000 Americans died, but writing in their introduction Burns and Novick acknowledge that Vietnam was a war of many perspectives and they vow to "faithfully reflect those seemingly irreconcilable outlooks." The text which is filled with many photographs, offers perspectives from soldiers, the homefront, Washington, Saigon and Hanoi. THE VIETNAM WAR received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus and we will have a copy in the library soon.

Ken Burns is appearing in Chicago this week and some of those discussions will be aired on pbs' Chicago Tonight. Expanding beyond a solely American story, both the book and film are likely to receive awards while stirring memories and emotions from a divided time in our nation's history.

Another link in online post is: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/vietnam-stories/

During the Fulbright Hearings in early 1966, George Kennon, a respected writer on American policy concerning the Soviet Union, echoed John Quincy Adams advice that Americans should “…go not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.” These were followed up with a warning that while America could win the war in Viet Nam, he did not wish for the country to be responsible for the high degree of damage and loss of civilian life it would require. At the same time, there were those who felt exactly opposite. Many were uncertain of the best course of action to follow.

It was these myriad opinions that produced what is now the history of Vietnam and America, events that enveloped the lives of most people in both countries. “The Vietnam War,” co-authored by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns, presented an account of everything leading up to the war, the war itself, and its aftermath. The authors dug deep, interviewing people who had been a part of the conflict in one way or another.

What struck me at times was the mindless futility of it all, and how people who meant well got caught up in the moment and even with the facts hitting them right in the face, still continued to push for more involvement. One instance involved General Westmoreland in April of 1967 arguing that with another 200,000 troops, he might be able to end the war in two years. President Johnson’s answer was simplistic, yet neatly described the problem: “…when we add divisions, can’t the enemy add divisions? Where does it all end?” At the same time, there were voices of reason, such as Robert McNamara’s, whose private memo to Johnson pointed out the thousands of non-combatants being injured or dying every week, and the picture of a superpower “…trying to pound a tiny backward nation into submission on an issue whose merits are hotly disputed, is not a pretty one.”

About a third of the way through the book, I began to notice a disturbing trend. More and more, the reasons for not being in the war were being trumpeted, even when the majority of people still favored America’s participation. For instance, after the Tet Offensive in 1968, a poll showed just less than half of the people said America should never have become ensnared in Vietnam. The following long paragraph was filled with negative opinions about American participation. It is true the country was divided at that time, but the book seems to slant the viewpoint as if this was the majority viewpoint that the Johnson Administration was ignoring. My comment is not an argument for the Vietnam War, but I had been hoping to see more of the reasons from both sides as to the split within America that caused violence in the streets. In other words, this is history. We have the ability to step back and look at it from all sides. Only looking from certain angles is a disservice to the reader.

That said, even though there were more examples to sway a reader’s thoughts, these were still facts, presented in the form of quoted statements, letters, documents, pictures, and so on. More and more people did grow disenchanted with the war as it dragged on, there were race issues within the armed services as well as back home, and sometimes (as with all wars) there were simply some foolish decisions made that resulted in the deaths of soldiers. One cannot come away from this book without a new perspective, or at least a lot of fresh fodder to chew on.

Most interesting was the ability to learn about the thinking of people from America, South Vietnam, and North Vietnam (including those in the Viet Cong). While it seemed that most eventually saw the futility of a continuing war, many in the different governments had their own agenda. Getting them all to agree was an impossibility. The question asked by many soldiers, “What are we doing here?” gains momentum when placed against that backdrop. This unquestionably contributed to the increasing number of American deserters. A diary found on the body of a North Vietnamese soldier asked “How many more lives will have to be sacrificed before this country will be liberated?” Apparently, soldiers on both sides had similar thoughts.

This book is a great addition to anyone wishing to gain more understanding about the Vietnam War. I would suggest that one might experience greater enjoyment with a hardcover or paperback copy, as there are many sidebar stories that relate personal experiences connected with the historical text. Four-and-a-half stars.

Excellent in depth material on a distubing time. Balanced coverage not tainted by politics. This war can now be considered as “covered”. Hopefully we have learned something. Absolutely must read if you lived through these years.

This will be short since many others will add their voices to this book.

Having been born in the mid 50's and being the sort who wants to know why the world, this country have grown in this particular way, I find Geoffrey Ward's history of the Vietnam war to be an outstanding example of historical writing. I remember watching the nightly news with fascination mixed with fear. My young mind couldn't quite grasp the death unfolding before me. This book has put what I saw into historical context. Vietnam was the first war that was broadcast into our homes. But we are an insulated country. We tend to view the world as us and the rest. The Vietnam War started before we became involved. Geoffrey Ward does a good job in explaining a country dominated by others. How Ho Chi Minh brought communism and thus the war to the shores of his home. The French, then the U.S. tried to prevent this growing area of communism.

Needless to say we did not prevent an ever growing war. This combined with an ever growing discontent affects us even today.

Any student of history, actually anyone with a desire to know, will be enthralled with the vivid writing, the excellent research, the analysis of a countries in the throes of transformation.

I received a free Kindle copy of The Vietnam War: An Intimate HistoryThe Vietnam War: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns courtesy of Net Galley and Knopf DoubledayKnopf Doubleday,  the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review to Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my history book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as I have a deep interest in the Vietnam War. I have read a number of books by the authors.

This is an interesting book in that it starts prior to the United States involvement in Vietnam covering the years as a colony of France, it's attempt at freedom at that time, the background on the major players and the eventual victory by North Vietnam in reuniting the country.

What I found most appealling was the number of individual interviews that gave a first person perspective to the history. It also contains numerous photographs which help bring into perspective what was happening, especially for those who did not live through those years.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the Vietnam War. You will not be disappointed.

I greatly enjoyed the book, and I'm looking forward to the documentary as well. This is one of those histories that make me wonder where the heck I was during high school, college, and graduate school.

An Awesome Book about a Horrible War

If you are a fan of Ken Burns’ style of history, you will love this book. Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward take us on a long and poignant journey through the Vietnam war, starting with events in the early 20th century and ending with modern, “capitalist” Vietnam. Along the way are any number of tragic tales, acts of bravery, desperation and savagery all in the name of a tiny country of little political or military significance. And yet it dominated the politics of at least three of the largest and most powerful countries on the planet. Ward and Burns do a masterful job at probing many of the small stories that made up the big story.

=== The Good Stuff ===

* If a picture is worth a thousand words, Ward and Burns are the people to supply those words. The book is full of an incredible collection of photographs, some familiar, some not, and excellent commentary built around many of them. If you look at the serious expression in the eyes of a young Ho Chi Minh in Paris in 1918, you can’t help but wonder what would have happened had Woodrow Wilson ever read the petition he so badly wanted to deliver. How can you not shake your head at a 1941 photo of an American OSS officer training Viet Minh soldiers how to fire rifle grenade?

* The text is quite easy to read and well written, but be prepared for a long book. The book covers a lot of ground, but it not what I would consider a detailed and complete history of the war. Rather it seeks to capture, in detail, small segments of the war, concentrating on individual characters and their motivations and actions. In various segments, the authors concentrate on US soldiers, US military leadership, Vietnamese military and civilian leaders, antiwar protestors, US politics, and any number of other viewpoints. In the end, the sum of all the parts gives a pretty complete look at what happened.

* The authors mostly try to maintain a neutral viewpoint, but they find it harder and harder as the book progresses. I can’t speak for the authors, but I suspect their opinion would be along the lines of “How on earth did we ever get ourselves into that mess?” And while they may be officially neutral, they can not help but note that the “stakes” we were playing for in no way matched the costs.

=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===

* I hate to disagree with historians of the stature of the authors, but I will anyway. I think that they are looking back at events in Vietnam with too much benefit of hindsight. Sure, from 2017, the whole domino theory and the importance given to a 100 mile wide strip of jungle seems absurd. But in 1966, you couldn’t get elected dog-catcher if you weren’t “tough on communism”. Likewise, blaming politicians for getting all caught up in the hysteria is also a bit unfair. Presidents and Congressmen aren’t going to take any viewpoints that the majority of their constituents don’t already support.

* I realize it is not the author’s style to engage in this kind of analysis, but after reading a few hundred pages, it would have been nice to get a “professional opinion” on what we got for the trillion dollars and 60,000 casualties.


=== Summary ===

The book was long and sometimes the content was a bit tough to read- it didn’t always catch Americans at our best. But in the end it provided a look at the war from many different viewpoints, and examined the price paid by many of the participants. While the text is well written and quite informative, it was the pictures that really made the book for me. Probably the most powerful photos were a few near the end, where former enemies from the US and Vietnam are reunited, and you can’t but notice the look in their eyes of “Why?”

I would recommend the book for anyone with an interest in this period of history, although some who have lived through it may find some of the viewpoints and content a bit upsetting.

Like Ken Burns' documentaries, this companion book to his upcoming documentary on the Vietnam War is riveting. No one who wasn't there cannot begin to imagine the horror that went on during that long war, but this book does as much as possible to make the public understand. Starting with the French occupation and war & ending in the present, Mr. Burns presents this complex portion of world history. One point he made, near the end of the book, is that Americans thought of this war as an American war, and tended to forget that it was a Vietnam war.

While this pre-realease version had technical problems with layout, the background information was extremely enlightening. I believe this synopsis will provide more clarity to the political climate so heavily bent on "support" & intervention. One cannot help but compare Vietnam with current mideast & muslim conflicts. They don't like us, they don't want us, but we know better...