James Wright, “Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and its War” (Thomas Dunne Books, 2017)

James Wright, “Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and its War” (Thomas Dunne Books, 2017)

There’s been something of a revival of interest in the Vietnam War in the past years. Perhaps it’s the influence of Ken Burns’ documentary miniseries, perhaps it’s just the distance from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For whatever reason, 2016, 2017 and 2018 saw the publication of a number of new works about the war. In Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and its War (Thomas Dunne Books, 2017) James Wright employs a generational framework to understand the experience of the war. He offers a careful and persuasive synthesis of the political and diplomatic history of the war. But Wright’s interest really lies in the experience of the ordinary men and women who fought in the war or who saw it from afar. Surveys of the experience of fighting in Vietnam are interspersed with fascinating discussions of responses in the US. His pairing of a discussion of Memorial Day, 1969 as experienced across the US with the fighting at Hamburger Hill is particularly engrossing. My father’s generation grew up in the midst of Vietnam. My generation grew up in its shadow. My students learned about the war in a day in high school, if that. For them, Iraq and Afghanistan are ‘America’s Longest War(s).’ Wright’s book is a great way to open a conversation between these generations. Kelly McFall is Professor of History and Director of the Honors Program at Newman University. He’s the author of four modules in the Reacting to the Past series, including The Needs of Others: Human Rights, International Organizations and Intervention in Rwanda, 1994. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

Jaksot(1622)

Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, "The Battle of Manila: Poisoned Victory in the Pacific War" (Oxford UP, 2025)

Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, "The Battle of Manila: Poisoned Victory in the Pacific War" (Oxford UP, 2025)

On Feb. 6, 1945, just three days after the U.S. army started to fight the Japanese in the city of Manila, General Douglas MacArthur declared that “Manila had fallen.” In truth, the battle would take a...

26 Maalis 1h 10min

Susanne Vees-Gulani, 'Icon Dresden: Baroque City, Air War Symbol, Political Token" (U Michigan Press, 2026)

Susanne Vees-Gulani, 'Icon Dresden: Baroque City, Air War Symbol, Political Token" (U Michigan Press, 2026)

Icon Dresden: Baroque City, Air War Symbol, Political Token (University of Michigan Press, 2026) by Dr. Susanne Vees-Gulani explores how memory and politics in Dresden after its 1945 bombing are deepl...

23 Maalis 43min

Sidra Hamidi, "After Fission: Recognition and Contestation in the Atomic Age" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

Sidra Hamidi, "After Fission: Recognition and Contestation in the Atomic Age" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

Nuclear status is typically treated as a stable feature of a state's capacity to possess, use, or build nuclear weapons. Challenging this view, After Fission: Recognition and Contestation in the Atomi...

21 Maalis 56min

Timothy Manion, "Why Barbarossa Failed: Germany and Russia in the Second World War" (Helion, 2026)

Timothy Manion, "Why Barbarossa Failed: Germany and Russia in the Second World War" (Helion, 2026)

Why did Operation Barbarossa fail? For more than eight decades, historians have offered one dominant answer: Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union was doomed from the outset. Vast distances, bru...

20 Maalis 1h 52min

Our Age of War: A Discussion with Author Robert Pape

Our Age of War: A Discussion with Author Robert Pape

Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, has been writing about war for decades, including in his book Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War (Cornell University Press, ...

18 Maalis 42min

Foster Chamberlin, "Uncivil Guard: Policing, Military Culture, and the Coming of the Spanish Civil War" (Louisiana State UP, 2025)

Foster Chamberlin, "Uncivil Guard: Policing, Military Culture, and the Coming of the Spanish Civil War" (Louisiana State UP, 2025)

In Uncivil Guard: Policing, Military Culture, and the Coming of the Spanish Civil War (Louisiana State UP, 2025), Foster Chamberlin evaluates the role of militarized police forces in the political vio...

15 Maalis 53min

Gudrun Persson, "Russian Military Thought: The Evolution of Strategy Since the Crimean War" (Georgetown UP, 2025)

Gudrun Persson, "Russian Military Thought: The Evolution of Strategy Since the Crimean War" (Georgetown UP, 2025)

The development of the Russian military's strategic thought is an understudied and thus misunderstood subject in the West. Strategy in Russia encompasses the broader context of foreign and domestic po...

15 Maalis 1h 22min

Matthew Moran et al., "Coercing Syria on Chemical Weapons" (Oxford UP, 2025)

Matthew Moran et al., "Coercing Syria on Chemical Weapons" (Oxford UP, 2025)

In 2012, US President Barack Obama stated that the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons on its population would cross a red line that would require the US government to reconsider its approach ...

14 Maalis 37min

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