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Books > Humanities > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945
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.
A timely lesson in the perils of nation-building and a sobering
reminder of the limits of military power from the Costa Award
winning author of The Volunteer. In its earliest days, the
American-led war in Afghanistan appeared to be a triumph - a 'good
war' in comparison to the debacle in Iraq. It has since turned into
one of the longest and most expensive wars in recent history. The
story of how this good war went so bad may well turn out to be a
defining tragedy of the twenty-first century - yet, as acclaimed
war correspondent Jack Fairweather explains, it should also give us
reason to hope for an outcome grounded in Afghan reality. In The
Good War, Fairweather provides the first full narrative history of
the war in Afghanistan, from the 2001 invasion to the 2014
withdrawal. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, previously
unpublished archives, and months of experience living and reporting
in Afghanistan, Fairweather traces the course of the conflict from
its inception after 9/11 to the drawdown in 2014. In the process,
he explores the righteous intentions and astounding hubris that
caused the West's strategy in Afghanistan to flounder, refuting the
long-held notion that the war could have been won with more troops
and cash. Fairweather argues that only by accepting the limitations
in Afghanistan - from the presence of the Taliban to the ubiquity
of poppy production to the country's inherent unsuitability for
rapid, Western-style development - can we help to restore peace in
this shattered land. The Good War leads readers from the White
House Situation Room to Afghan military outposts, from warlords'
palaces to insurgents' dens, to explain how the US and its British
allies might have salvaged the Afghan campaign - and how we must
rethink other 'good' wars in the future.
For American children raised exclusively in wartime-that is, a Cold
War containing monolithic communism turned hot in the jungles of
Southeast Asia-and the first to grow up with televised combat,
Vietnam was predominately a mediated experience. Walter Cronkite
was the voice of the conflict, and grim, nightly statistics the
most recognizable feature. But as involvement grew, Vietnam
affected numerous changes in child life, comparable to the
childhood impact of previous conflicts-chiefly the Civil War and
World War II-whose intensity and duration also dominated American
culture. In this protracted struggle that took on the look of
permanence from a child's perspective, adult lives were
increasingly militarized, leaving few preadolescents totally
insulated. Over the years 1965 to 1973, the vast majority of
American children integrated at least some elements of the war into
their own routines. Parents, in turn, shaped their children's
perspectives on Vietnam, while the more politicized mothers and
fathers exposed them to the bitter polarization the war engendered.
The fighting only became truly real insomuch as service in Vietnam
called away older community members or was driven home literally
when families shared hardships surrounding separation from cousins,
brothers, and fathers.In seeing the Vietnam War through the eyes of
preadolescent Americans, Joel P. Rhodes suggests broader
developmental implications from being socialized to the political
and ethical ambiguity of Vietnam. Youth during World War II
retained with clarity into adulthood many of the proscriptive
patriotic messages about U.S. rightness, why we fight, heroism, or
sacrifice. In contrast, Vietnam tended to breed childhood
ambivalence, but not necessarily of the hawk and dove kind. This
unique perspective on Vietnam continues to complicate adult notions
of militarism and warfare, while generally lowering expectations of
American leadership and the presidency.
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