AMERICAS VIETNAM WAR CL [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Becker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 20, 1992

An award-winning journalist provides an in-depth account of America's involvement in Vietnam, from the first U.S. participation to the final withdrawal, and places the events within the context of an era preoccupied with communist expansion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Social science writer Becker's title aptly points out Americans' hubris: While our involvement in this war went back further than is generally realized (by the late 1950s South Vietnam received the fifth-largest amount of U.S. foreign aid), what we call the Vietnam War was but a short portion of the area's ordeal. Perhaps most engaging here are Becker's comments on her responses as a teen in the 1960s and her use of memoirs, arts and other documents. The book's chronological format efficiently presents aspects of those years that are most interesting to today's adolescents--among others, the horror of what emotions can lead to, such as fragging; the hypocrisy of governance and the futility of warfare. Becker amply succeeds in her goal of being "narrative without being encyclopedic." Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up-- Appropriately titled, this book looks at the Vietnam War from the American perspective. Becker concentrates on how the war affected the U. S. on many levels, from the thoughts and reactions of its leaders to the feelings of those who either served in the war or fought against it, to its long-term effects on foreign policy. She provides some background about Vietnam and how we came to be involved there, and she covers most of the main events of the war itself. It is clear that the author considers the entire U. S. effort a mistake, and she backs that opinion with the inclusion of information about both the internal debates that raged in the government and the public debates and protests that followed the U. S. buildup. In spite of the clear focus and the information she provides, Becker does not really capture the complexities of the Vietnam Conflict and America's commitment to it. She ignores much of the recent information about Ho Chi Minh and the communist efforts in Vietnam, which makes many American actions a mystery and prevents readers from gaining a true understanding of much of the war. While this is in many ways an adequate account, it does not compare favorably with Albert Marrin's more comprehensive America and Vietnam (Viking, 1992). --Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 211 pages
• Publisher: Clarion Books (April 20, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395590949
• ISBN-13: 978-0395590942
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,842,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A sense of the war in a readable book, December 5, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: AMERICAS VIETNAM WAR CL (Hardcover)

Over the past two weeks I have been reading the book America's vietnam war by Elizabeth Becker. This book not only talks about the war that our country has been involved in but also Vietnam's past and how the country became how it is today. Also this book goes way back to when the Chinese invaded and how some of their culture is still in the Vietnamese lifestyle. The Vietnamese soldiers really wanted to defend their country as they have so many times. While the south as you learn in the book felt that they were fighting America's war and often did not fight too strongly or simply refused to fight. Even though the south vietnamese were being payed 10 times the amount that the NVA, or North Vietnamese Army recieved the North had so much more determination. And that was all it took to win against America and it's allies. This book is a great history lesson of vietnam and surrounding countries slightly and one great book to read.

5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent general history, October 17, 2002

By 

Karl Lindholm (Middlebury, Vermont USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: AMERICAS VIETNAM WAR CL (Hardcover)

I teach an AmCiv course at the college level on the literature of the Vietnam War, often to students who don't know much about the war and the period. So I am constantly on the lookout for a good, concise general history of the war, written without a political ax to grind. This is it. It won't win the Pulitzer Prize in history, but it won't take you six months to read either. It covers all the essential bases in a readable fashion. I was happy to find it.