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Books > History > American history > From 1900
The year is 1970; the war in Vietnam is five years from over. The
women's movement is newly resurgent, and feminists are summarily
reviled as "libbers." Inette Miller is one year out of college-a
reporter for a small-town newspaper. Her boyfriend gets drafted and
is issued orders to Vietnam. Within their few remaining days
together, Inette marries her US Army private, determined to
accompany him to war. There are obstacles. All wives of US military
are prohibited in country. With the aid of her newspaper's editor,
Miller finagles a one-month work visa and becomes a war reporter.
Her newspaper cannot afford life insurance beyond that. After
thirty days, she is on her own. As one of the rare woman war
correspondents in Vietnam and the only one also married to an Army
soldier, Miller's experience was pathbreaking. Girls Don't shines a
light on the conflicting motives that drive an ambitious woman of
that era and illustrates the schizophrenic struggle between the
forces of powerful feminist ideology and the contrarian forces of
the world as it was. Girls Don't is the story of what happens when
a twenty-three-year-old feminist makes her way into the land of
machismo. This is a war story, a love story, and an open-hearted
confessional within the burgeoning women's movement, chronicling
its demands and its rewards.
Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition Widely regarded as a classic on
the Vietnam War, Decent Interval provides a scathing critique of
the CIA's role in and final departure from that conflict. Still the
most detailed and respected account of America's final days in
Vietnam, the book was written at great risk and ultimately at great
sacrifice by an author who believed in the CIA's cause but was
disillusioned by the agency's treacherous withdrawal, leaving
thousands of Vietnamese allies to the mercy of an angry enemy. A
quarter-century later, it remains a riveting and powerful testament
to one of the darkest episodes in American history.
Photo reconnaissance played a significant role during the Cold War,
however it remained unknown to the public for many years because
its product and methods remained classified for security purposes.
While the U-2 gets most of the credit, low-level photo
reconnaissance played an equally important role and was essential
to target selection and bomb damage assessment during the Vietnam
War. Moreover the contribution of naval aviation photo
reconnaissance to the bombing effort in Vietnam is largely an
untold story. This book highlights the role of the unarmed
supersonic RF-8A/G photo-Crusader throughout the war, and also the
part played by its F-8 and F-4 escort fighters. Veteran and
historian Kenneth Jack pieces together the chronological history of
photo recon in the Vietnam War between 1964 and 1972, describing
all types of missions undertaken, including several Crusader vs.
MiG dogfights and multiple RF-8 shootdowns with their associated,
dramatic rescues. The narrative focuses on Navy Photo Squadron
VFP-63, but also dedicates chapters to VFP-62 and Marine VMCJ-1.
Clandestine missions conducted over Laos began 1964, becoming a
congressionally authorized war after the Tonkin Gulf incident in
August 1964. VFP-63 played a role in that incident and thereafter
sent detachments to Navy carriers for the remainder of the war. By
war's end, they had lost 30 aircraft with 10 pilots killed, six
POWs, and 14 rescued. The historical narrative is brought to life
through vivid first-hand details of missions over intensely
defended targets in Laos and North Vietnam. While most books on the
Vietnam air war focus on fighter and bombing action, this book
provides fresh insight into the air war through its focus on photo
reconnaissance and coverage of both versions of the Crusader.
In 1968, twenty-one-year-old Fred McCarthy transitioned from the
monastic life of a seminary student to that of a U.S. Army
helicopter gunship commander in Vietnam. Despite preparation from a
family tradition of decorated combat service, a strong sense of
patriotism, a love for aviation, and a desire for adventure, he got
far more than he bargained for. Written after 50 years of
reflection, reading, and study, this memoir tells both a universal
story about war, adventure, and perseverance and, also shares the
intensely personal experience of the Vietnam War and its legacy for
those who fought in it. McCarthy describes many of his missions,
reflects on the nature of being a combat helicopter pilot, and
processes the experience through his poetry, letters home, and
reflective analysis.
By the end of the American war in Vietnam, the coastal province of
Phu Yen was one of the least-secure provinces in the Republic of
Vietnam. It was also a prominent target of the American strategy of
pacification - an effort, purportedly separate and distinct from
conventional warfare, to win the 'hearts and minds' of the
Vietnamese. In Robert J. Thompson III's analysis, the consistent,
and consistently unsuccessful, struggle to place Phu Yen under
Saigon's banner makes the province particularly fertile ground for
studying how the Americans advanced pacification and why this
effort ultimately failed. In March 1970, a disastrous military
engagement began in Phu Yen, revealing the enemy's continued
presence after more than three years of pacification. Clear, Hold,
and Destroy provides a fresh perspective on the war across multiple
levels, from those making and implementing policy to those affected
by it. Most pointedly, Thompson contends that pacification, far
from existing apart from conventional warfare, actually depended on
conventional military forces for its application. His study reaches
back into Phu Yen's storied history with pacification before and
during the French colonial period, then focuses on the province
from the onset of the American War in 1965 to its conclusion in
1975. A sharply focused, fine-grained analysis of one critical
province during the Vietnam War, Thompson's work demonstrates how
pacification is better understood as the foundation of U.S.
fighting in Vietnam.
In 1968, at the age of 22, Karl Marlantes abandoned his Oxford
University scholarship to sign up for active service with the US
Marine Corps in Vietnam. Pitched into a war that had no defined
military objective other than kill ratios and body counts, what he
experienced over the next thirteen months in the jungles of South
East Asia shook him to the core. But what happened when he came
home covered with medals was almost worse. It took Karl four
decades to come to terms with what had really happened, during the
course of which he painstakingly constructed a fictionalized
version of his war, MATTERHORN, which has subsequently been hailed
as the definitive Vietnam novel.
WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GO TO WAR takes us back to Vietnam, but this
time there is no fictional veil. Here are the hard-won truths that
underpin MATTERHORN: the author's real-life experiences behind the
book's indelible scenes. But it is much more than this. It is part
exorcism of Karl's own experiences of combat, part confession, part
philosophical primer for the young man about to enter combat. It It
is also a devastatingly frank answer to the questions '"What is it
like to be a soldier?"' "What is it like to face death?"' and
"'What is it like to kill someone?"'
From the defeat of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam at Ap Bac to
the battles of the Ia Drang Valley, Khe Sanh, and more, Storms over
the Mekong offers a reassessment of key turning points in the
Vietnam War. Award-winning historian William P. Head not only
reexamines these pivotal battles but also provides a new
interpretation on the course of the war in Southeast Asia. In
considering Operation Rolling Thunder, for example-which Head dubs
as "too much rolling and not enough thunder"-readers will grasp the
full scope of the campaign, from specifically targeted bridges in
North Vietnam to the challenges of measuring success or failure,
the domestic political situation, and how over time, Head argues,
"slowly, but surely, Rolling Thunder dug itself into a hole."
Likewise, Head shows how the battles for Saigon and Hue during the
Tet Offensive of 1968 were tactical defeats for the Communist
forces with as many as 40,000 killed and no real gains. At the same
time, however, Tet made it clear to many in Washington that victory
in Vietnam would require a still greater commitment of men and
resources, far more than the American people were willing to
invest. Storms over the Mekong is a blow-by-blow account of the key
military events, to be sure. But beyond that, it is also a measured
reconsideration of the battles and moments that Americans thought
they already knew, adding up to a new history of the Vietnam War.
This book explores how and why Vietnam loomed so large for Humphrey
as vice president from 1964 through the 1968 election campaign
against Richard Nixon. It assesses how Humphrey's loyalty to Lyndon
Johnson, who emerges as the villain of the story in many ways,
would negatively affect his political ambitions. And it engages the
disconnect between Humphrey's principles and the intricate politics
of his convoluted relationship with the president and his
unsuccessful presidential campaign. It is a complex and frustrating
narrative, the results of which would be tragic, not only for
Humphrey's presidential aspirations, but also for the war in
Southeast Asia and the future of the United States.
Even if you don't know much about the war in Vietnam, you've
probably heard of "The Hanoi Hilton," or Hoa Lo Prison, where
captured U.S. soldiers were held. What they did there and whether
they were treated well or badly by the Vietnamese became lasting
controversies. As military personnel returned from captivity in
1973, Americans became riveted by POW coming home stories. What had
gone on behind these prison walls? Along with legends of lionized
heroes who endured torture rather than reveal sensitive military
information, there were news leaks suggesting that others had
denounced the war in return for favorable treatment. What wasn't
acknowledged, however, is that U.S. troop opposition to the war was
vast and reached well into Hoa Loa Prison. Half a century after the
fact, Dissenting POWs emerges to recover this history, and to
discover what drove the factionalism in Hoa Lo. Looking into the
underlying factional divide between prowar "hardliners" and antiwar
"dissidents" among the POWs, authors Wilber and Lembcke delve into
the postwar American culture that created the myths of the HeroPOW
and the dissidents blamed for the loss of the war. What they found
was surprising: It wasn't simply that some POWs were for the war
and others against it, nor was it an officers versus enlisted men
standoff. Rather, it was the class backgrounds of the captives and
their precaptive experience that drew the lines. After the war, the
hardcore hero holdouts-like John McCain-moved on to careers in
politics and business, while the dissidents faded from view as the
antiwar movement, that might otherwise have championed them,
disbanded. Today, Dissenting POWs is a necessary myth buster,
disabusing us of the revisionism that has replaced actual GI
resistance with images of suffering POWs - ennobled victims that
serve to suppress the fundamental questions of America's drift to
endless war.
In That Time tells the story of the American experience in Vietnam
through the life of Michael O'Donnell, a promising young poet who
became a soldier and helicopter pilot in Vietnam. O'Donnell wrote
with great sensitivity and poetic force about his world and
especially the war that was slowly engulfing him and his most
well-known poem is still frequently cited and reproduced. Nominated
for the Congressional Medal of Honour, O'Donnell never fired a shot
in Vietnam. During an ill-fated attempt to rescue fellow soldiers,
O'Donnell's helicopter was shot down in the jungles of Cambodia
where he and his crew remained missing for almost 30 years. In
telling O'Donnell's story, In That Time also tells the stories of
those around him, both famous and ordinary, who helped to shape the
events of the time and who were themselves shaped by them. The book
is both a powerful personal story and a compelling, universal one
about how America lost its way in the 1960s.
At "zero dark thirty" on January 30, 1971, units of the U.S. Fifth
Mechanized Division left their firebases along the DMZ heading west
along Provincial Route 9. The mission, called Dewey Canyon II, was
to reopen the road from Khe Sahn Air Base to the Laotian border, in
support of a South Vietnamese invasion of Laos (doomed from the
start) to cut off the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Alpha Company of U.S. 61st
Infantry performed commendably in keeping Route 9 open, with just
one casualty killed by friendly fire. They returned to Firebase
Charlie-2 in April, exhausted but hopeful--the Fifth would be
leaving Vietnam in July. They patrolled the "western hills" through
May as rocket attacks fell each evening. On the 21st, a direct hit
on a bunker killed 30 of the 63 men inside--18 were from Alpha Co.
This is their story, as told to Specialist Lou Pepi by members of
his unit.
The story of an extraordinary campaign in the Vietnam War - fought
in a 200-mile labyrinth of underground tunnels and chambers. The
campaign in the tunnels of Cu Chi was fought with cunning and
savagery between Viet Cong guerrillas and special teams of US
infantrymen called 'Tunnel Rats'. The location: the 200-mile
labyrinth of underground tunnels and secret chambers that the Viet
Cong had dug around Saigon. The Tunnel Rats were GIs of legendary
skill and courage. Armed only with knives and pistols, they fought
hand-to-hand against a cruel and ingenious enemy inside the
booby-trapped blackness of the tunnels. For the Viet Cong the
tunnel network became their battlefield, their barracks, their arms
factories and their hospitals, as the ground above was pounded to
dust by American shells and bombs.
The spectre of Simon Bolivar hovers once again over Latin America
as the aims and ambitions of the Liberator are taken up by
Comandante Hugo Chavez, the charismatic and controversial President
of Venezuela. Welcomed by the inhabitants of the teeming shanty
towns of Caracas as their potential saviour, and greeted by
Washington with considerable alarm, this former
golpista-turned-democrat has already begun the most wide-ranging
transformation of oil-rich Venezuela for 500 years, and has
dramatically affected the political debate throughout Latin
America. In a first-hand report from Venezuela, correspondent
Richard Gott places the Comandante in historical perspective, and
examines his plans and programmes. He describes the support and
opposition that these attract, and argues that this experiment may
prove a new way forward for Latin America.
At Easter 1972, North Vietnam invaded the South, and there were almost no US ground troops left to stop it. But air power reinforcements could be rushed to the theater. Operation Linebacker's objective was to destroy the invading forces from the air and cut North Vietnam's supply routes – and luckily in 1972, American air power was beginning a revolution in both technology and tactics.
Most crucial was the introduction of the first effective laser-guided bombs, but the campaign also involved the fearsome AC-130 gunship and saw the debut of helicopter-mounted TOW missiles. Thanks to the new Top Gun fighter school, US naval aviators now also had a real advantage over the MiGs.
This is the fascinating story of arguably the world's first “modern” air campaign. It explains how this complex operation – involving tactical aircraft, strategic bombers, close air support and airlift – defeated the invasion. It also explains the shortcomings of the campaign, the contrasting approaches of the USAF and Navy, and the impact that Linebacker had on modern air warfare.
This new, extensively researched volume (volume two in the series)
is a comprehensive guide to the history, development, wear, and use
of uniforms and equipment during American military advisors
involvement in the Vietnam War. Included are insignia, headgear,
camouflage uniforms, modified items, Flak vests, boots, clothing
accessories, paper items and personal items from the years
1957-1972, all examined in great detail. Using re-constructed and
period photos, the author presents the look and appearance of
American Army, Navy, and Marine Corps advisors in Vietnam. ARVN
Ranger, Airborne, and ARVN infantry advisors, all have their own
chapter, along with Junk Force, RAG Force, and South Vietnamese
Naval and Marine Corps advisors.
In late March 1975, as the Vietnam War raged, an Australian
voluntary aid worker named Rosemary Taylor approached the
Australian Embassy seeking assistance to fly 600 orphans out of
Saigon to safety. Rosemary and Margaret Moses, two former nuns from
Adelaide, had spent eight years in Vietnam during the war, building
up a complex of nurseries to house war orphans and street waifs as
the organisation that built up around them facilitated
international adoptions for the children. As the North Vietnamese
forces closed in on their nurseries, they needed a plan to evacuate
the children, or all their work might count for little ... Based on
extensive archival and historical research, and interviews of some
of those directly involved in the events described, Operation
Babylift details the last month of the Vietnam War from the
perspective of the most vulnerable victims of that war: the orphans
it created. Through the story of the attempt to save 600 children,
we see how a small group of determined women refused to play
political games as they tried to remake the lives of a forgotten
generation, one child at a time.
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