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Books > Humanities > History > American history > From 1900
A great white angel spreading her wings across the Moreno Valley:
this is how one visitor described the memorial standing atop a
windswept prominence in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Taos,
New Mexico. A de-facto national Vietnam veterans memorial, built by
one family more than a decade before the Wall in Washington, DC,
and without aid or recognition from the US government, the chapel
at Angel Fire is a testament to one young American's sacrifice -
but also to the profound determination of his family to find
meaning in their loss. In The Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Angel
Fire, Steven Trout tells the story of Marine Lieutenant David
Westphall, who was killed near Con Thien on May 22, 1968, and of
the Westphall family's subsequent struggle to create and maintain a
one-of-a-kind memorial chapel dedicated to the memory of all
Americans lost in the Vietnam War and to the cause of world peace.
Focused primarily on a life lost amid our nation's most
controversial conflict and on the Westphalls' desperate battle to
keep their chapel open between 1971 and 1982, the book's brisk and
moving narrative traces the memorial's evolution from a personal
act of family remembrance to its emergence as an iconic pilgrimage
destination for thousands of Vietnam veterans. Documenting the
chapel's shifting messages over time, which include a momentary
(and controversial) recognition of the dead on both sides of the
war, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Angel Fire spotlights one
American soldier's tragic story and the monument to hope and peace
that it inspired.
Why did the USA become involved in Vietnam? What led US policy
makers to become convinced that Vietnam posed a threat to American
interests? In The Road to Vietnam, Pablo de Orellana traces the
origins of the US-Vietnam War back to 1945-1948 and the diplomatic
relations fostered in this period between the US, France and
Vietnam, during the First Vietnam War that pitted imperial France
against the anti-colonial Vietminh rebel alliance. With specific
focus on the representation of the parties involved through the
processes of diplomatic production, the book examines how the
groundwork was laid for the US-Vietnam War of the 60's and 70's.
Examining the France-Vietminh conflict through poststructuralist
and postcolonial lenses, de Orellana reveals the processes by which
the US and France built up the perception of Vietnam as a communist
threat. Drawing on archival diplomatic texts, the representation of
political identity between diplomatic actors is examined as a cause
leading up to American involvement in the First Vietnam War, and
will be sure to interest scholars in the fields of fields of
diplomatic studies, international relations, diplomatic history and
Cold War history.
Moving from the White House to the B-52 cockpits to the missile
sites and POW camps of Hanoi, "The Eleven Days of Christmas" is a
gripping tale of heroism and incompetence in a battle whose
political and military legacy is still a matter of controversy.
Following the Text Offensive, a shift in U.S. naval strategy in
1967-1968 saw young men fresh out of high school policing the
canals and tributaries of South Vietnam aboard PBRs (patrol boat,
riverine)--unarmored yet heavily armed and highly maneuverable
vessels designed to operate in shallow, weedy waterways. This
memoir recounts the experiences of the author and his shipmates as
they cruised the Viet Cong-occupied backwaters of the Mekong Delta,
and their emotional metamorphosis as wartime events shaped the men
they would be for the remainder of their lives.
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Going Home
(Paperback)
Carole Brungar
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R615
R523
Discovery Miles 5 230
Save R92 (15%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Wolf Pack
(Paperback)
John Jack Mayhew, William McCollum
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R502
Discovery Miles 5 020
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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The first comprehensive treatment of the air wars in Vietnam.
Filling a substantial void in our understanding of the history of
airpower in Vietnam, this book provides the first comprehensive
treatment of the air wars in Vietnam. Brian Laslie traces the
complete history of these air wars from the beginning of American
involvement until final withdrawal. Detailing the competing roles
and actions of the air elements of the United States Army, Navy,
and Air Force, the author considers the strategic, operational, and
tactical levels of war. He also looks at the air war from the
perspective of the North Vietnamese Air Force. Most important for
understanding the US defeat, Laslie illustrates the perils of a
nation building a one-dimensional fighting force capable of
supporting only one type of war.
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