Mark Bradley and Marilyn Young, “Making Sense of the Vietnam Wars” (Oxford UP, 2008)

Mark Bradley and Marilyn Young, “Making Sense of the Vietnam Wars” (Oxford UP, 2008)

What to think about the Vietnam War? A righteous struggle against global Communist tyranny? An episode in American imperialism? A civil war into which the United States blindly stumbled? And what of the Vietnamese perspective? How did they–both North and South–understand the war? Mark Bradley and Marilyn Young have assembled a crack team of historians to consider (or rather reconsider) these questions in Making Sense of the Vietnam Wars: Transnational and International Perspectives (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). The book is part of the National History Center‘s Reinterpreting History series. The pieces in it are wide-ranging: some see the war from the heights of international diplomacy, others from the hamlets of the Mekong Delta. They introduce new themes, for example, the role of American racial stereotypes in the conflict. More than anything else, however, they are nuanced. Their authors provide no simple answers because there are none. You will not find easy explanations, good guys and bad guys, or ideological drum-beating in these pages. What you will find is a sensitive effort to understand an event of mind-boggling, irreducible complexity. There’s a lesson here: we may think we know what we are doing on far-away shores, but we are fooling ourselves. Reminds one a bit of Tolstoy’s thoughts on the philosophy of history at the end of War and Peace. Still worth a read, as is this book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

Episoder(1614)

Elizabeth Becker, "You Don't Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War" (PublicAffairs, 2021)

Elizabeth Becker, "You Don't Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War" (PublicAffairs, 2021)

Who were your heroes during your formative years? As a child of the 1970s, many of mine were journalists, especially those reporting on war and revolution in Southeast Asia and Latin America. I wanted...

10 Mar 20211h 18min

James R. Holmes, "A Brief Guide to Maritime Strategy" (US Naval Institute Press, 2019)

James R. Holmes, "A Brief Guide to Maritime Strategy" (US Naval Institute Press, 2019)

A Brief Guide to Maritime Strategy (US Naval Institute Press, 2019), is a readable introduction to the world of maritime strategy. While Prof Holmes bases his narrative on the writings of Mahan and Co...

3 Mar 20211h 4min

W. P. Leeman and J. B. Hattendorf, "Forging the Trident: Theodore Roosevelt and the United States Navy" (Naval Institute Press, 2021)

W. P. Leeman and J. B. Hattendorf, "Forging the Trident: Theodore Roosevelt and the United States Navy" (Naval Institute Press, 2021)

Theodore Roosevelt was a titan of American politics, society, and culture. Rarely soft spoken, always eager to brandish a big stick, and animated by an inexhaustible energy, Roosevelt used his conside...

3 Mar 202152min

Ty Seidule, "Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause" (St. Martin's Press, 2021)

Ty Seidule, "Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause" (St. Martin's Press, 2021)

We're very fortunate to be joined by the editor of The West Point History of the Civil War (Simon and Schuster, 2014), the Head of the History Department at the United States Military Academy, Colonel...

2 Mar 202157min

Alexander Morrison, "The Russian Conquest of Central Asia: A Study in Imperial Expansion, 1814–1914" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

Alexander Morrison, "The Russian Conquest of Central Asia: A Study in Imperial Expansion, 1814–1914" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

Alexander Morrison’s study of the conquest of Central Asia offers new perspectives on a topic long obscured by misleading grand narratives. Based on years of research in several countries, The Russian...

2 Mar 20211h 24min

Gary Scott Smith, "Duty and Destiny: The Life and Faith of Winston Churchill" (Eerdmans, 2021)

Gary Scott Smith, "Duty and Destiny: The Life and Faith of Winston Churchill" (Eerdmans, 2021)

Though Churchill harbored intellectual doubts about Christianity throughout his life, he nevertheless valued it greatly and drew on its resources, especially in the crucible of war. In Duty and Destin...

2 Mar 202138min

R. A. Bennette, "Diagnosing Dissent: Hysterics, Deserters, and Conscientious Objectors in Germany During World War One" (Cornell UP, 2020)

R. A. Bennette, "Diagnosing Dissent: Hysterics, Deserters, and Conscientious Objectors in Germany During World War One" (Cornell UP, 2020)

Although physicians during World War I, and scholars since, have addressed the idea of disorders such as shell shock as inchoate flights into sickness by men unwilling to cope with war's privations, t...

23 Feb 20211h 3min

Roger R. Reese, "The Imperial Russian Army in Peace, War, and Revolution, 1856-1917" (U Kansas Press, 2019)

Roger R. Reese, "The Imperial Russian Army in Peace, War, and Revolution, 1856-1917" (U Kansas Press, 2019)

Roger Reese’s recent book, The Imperial Russian Army in Peace, War, and Revolution, 1856-1917 (University of Kansas, 2019), takes a deep dive into the internal workings of the Russian army. Focusing p...

22 Feb 20211h 2min

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