Customer Reviews

The Vietnam War For Dummies

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Maybe the publishers of these series should take the "dummies" title from this and other books in this series.This is anything but a "dumb" book.

THE VIETNAM WAR FOR DUMMIES...It may be for "dummies" but everyone from lay persons to the very informed and familiarized with the subject matter will benefit from owning a copy.Also,it's ideal for school and college both for student and educator.

This book certainly has far more serious and important contributions to make to further understanding of the Vietnam War than the rather humorous title may suggest.Reading the book I couldnt find the bias alleged by he other reviewer.The book even gives you different interpretations of certain issues that are still open to debate.

In fact there is the warning to the reader that it is advised to do research,ample esearch because ofr the many axes that are still being grinded you may find totally contradictory historical interpretations.further research sources are offered too.

But opinion is one thing and hard facts are another.And you can have your own set of opinions but you are not entitled to your own set of facts.There is a part regarding myths and they shoot them down using historical documents and recent investigation rather than hysterical proselityzing so common every time Vietnam is dealed with.And believe me:right,middle of the road,left or just plainly "dummy",you will see many pre conceptions crashing in flames.Oh!And be mature and accept it.Period.

If you believe US soldiers were dope smoking,murdering criminals or that South Vietnam only fell because of the press or the protesters you will see those challenged.Even there is a double myth dissected in some chapters and the top ten myths:that the Vietnam War was not lost/the Vietnam War was lost! That's a good one,see for yourself.

Ronald B Frankum and Stephen F Maxner are authoritative,scholarly,detailed but manage to use plain English and organize the material in such a way that what it comes is an indipensable book which could be used as reference,introduction for further study and a very complete historical account by itself.

They should be able to produce this little jewel:both are very involved with the Texas based Vietnam War experience project that collects documents of all types regarding the war to create a national archive.I think THE VIETNAM WAR FOR DUMMIES is the best source for up to date scholarship available now.
Buy it with confidence.

This book was recommended to me as excellent preparation for an exam on the subject. Not knowing a great deal about the Vietnam War when I began the book, I found the text poorly organized, weakly written, and dotted with typos and editor's comments--a departure from the standard set by many Dummies books. When I delved deeper into my studies by reading other histories of the war, I noticed that the Dummies book leaves out many relevant facts in such a way that American actions are presented as more honestly presented and reasonable than the record demonstrates them to have been, the NVA and the NLF (the book uses Diem's epithet "VC") are conflated, the genesis of the NLF in the Viet Minh and Diem's abuses are either ignored or glossed over, and the North Vietnamese are presented as evil communists manipulating the U.S. A more balanced, thorough, and honest treatment of this complex subject is called for.

Incidentally, near the end of the book there is a list of 10 "myths" that the authors intend to puncture, but at least one of those so-called myths (higher rates of drug/alcohol abuse among Vietnam veterans than among their peers) appears to be a documented fact. All in all, I wish I could get a refund.

I used this book exclusively to study for the DSST Vietnam War exam. I scored a 59. The passing score is 48. I highly recommend this book as a reference to help study for passing the Vietnam War DANTES exam! The book was easy to read and very well organized.

This book is one of the best written for those with only a limited working knowledge of how war is waged. And I'm not just saying that because Stephen Maxner is my brother either. Like the rest of the "For Dummies" guides this book takes you from the Oval Office to Saigon, from the UN to the DMZ....with detailed maps and descriptions of battles taken from the men who fought them. It is an amazing compilation of information.

You'd have to be a dummy to accept this piece of trash as a real guide to the Vietnam War. This is far from an impartial general overview of the war... the author is extremely biased and untruthful in his reporting of 'facts' on vietnam. I have no problem with the author expressing his opinions... but don't do it in a 'for Dummies' book, which is supposed to be an impartial overview of the facts.

As an example, the author states that 'the anti war protesters had absolutely nothing to do with the end of the war... and in fact were responsible for causing the deaths of many soldiers...' Now if this is your OPINION, I disagree with you, but it's your right to feel that way. However this sort of OPINION has no place in a 'for Dummies' book. I could list countless other examples of opinion passed off as fact from this book. If you are curious, peruse one at your local book store... the biased wording will be easily noticed by anyone who isn't comnpletely biased themselves.

If anyone from the 'for Dummies' staff reads this, you should be ashamed of yourselves.