Webster's New World Dictionary of the Vietnam War [Paperback]

Marc Leepson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 9, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0028627466 | ISBN-13: 978-0028627465 | Edition: 1

Webster's New World Dictionary of the Vietnam War is the perfect desktop reference for students, veterans, and other interested readers who want the critical facts about the Vietnam War. Hundreds of clear, concise entries on the people, places, equipment, and events provide readers with a solid foundation on this controversial period in U.S. history. Resources include a handy chronological chart, historically important documents such as the Paris Peace Accords and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, a complete list of Medal of Honor recipients, and the Orders of Battle for the U.S., North Vietnamese, and South Vietnamese forces. A detailed bibliography guides readers to respected texts on Vietnam War - related topics such as, Vietnam, the Indochina War, Dien Bien Phu, strategies, and tactics.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There's much more to the Vietnam War than military conflicts and U.S. protests. In fact, the chronology appendix begins with the start of the Dong Son era in early 7th century B.C. and continues, through the establishment of Nam Viet in the 3rd century, the partitioning of Vietnam in the 1954 Geneva agreements, and the skirmishes (political and military) of the '50s, '60s, and '70s, to Clinton's lifting the trade embargo in 1994 and officially recognizing Vietnam in 1995.

The A-to-Z dictionary section, which forms the bulk of the book, details over 1,500 entries covering the people, places, battles, equipment, literature, and events relating to the war, from the A-1 Skyraider (a single-engine propeller fighter-bomber used in air support for American and South Vietnamese ground troops) to Zumwalt, Elmo R. III (U.S. Naval commander from 1969 to 1970 who died in 1988 as a result, many believe, of a cancer caused by exposure to Agent Orange). There are entries for Bao Ninh (the former North Vietnamese Army soldier who wrote The Sorrow of War), Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola's film based on Heart of Darkness), the Nixon Doctrine of 1969, and Tim O'Brien, who wrote Going After Cacciato, as well as entries on Norodom Sihanouk (former king and premier of Cambodia), the Vin Moc Tunnels, and the Tet Offensive. With appendices on orders of battle, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the Paris Peace Accords, and Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipients, this is a well-organized, rigorously cross-referenced collection of the causes, events, and repercussions of what we refer to as the Vietnam War. --Stephanie Gold

Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Webster's New World; 1 edition (December 9, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028627466
• ISBN-13: 978-0028627465
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,715,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Here are a few highlights of my professional career, which began at the relatively advanced age of 28 when I went to work as a proofreader at Congressional Quarterly in Washington. My career path had been put off track by an unplanned two-year stint in the U.S. Army, which included a year in Vietnam. I was drafted on July 11, 1967, soon after I'd graduated from college, George Washington University.

After I got out of the Army in 1969, I didn't know what I wanted to do, then decided to go to graduate school at GW. It took me two years to get my MA (in European history) because I ran out of money after two semesters and had to work full time.

My first job after getting the degree was as a substitute letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service in Silver Spring, Maryland, a job in which I found not a little satisfaction. But after seven months of delivering the mail in the Maryland suburbs, my wife and I moved from Silver Spring to her family farm in Virginia.

I decided to try free-lance writing and my first work appeared in alternative newspapers in Washington and in a small newspaper in Manassas, Virginia. I worked in bookstores (Walden and B. Dalton) until I was hired at CQ in June of 1974.

I was a proofreader for a year, an editorial assistant for a year and a half and then became a full-time staff writer in 1977. I've been writing full time ever since.

If you would like to know more about my writing career, I invite you to go to my website: www.marcleepson.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authoritative reference work on the Vietnam War, May 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Webster's New World Dictionary of the Vietnam War (Paperback)

Marc Leepson and Helen Hannaford have just edited a reference work titled "Webster's New World Dictionary of the Vietnam War." This 600-page volume is an excellent addition to a growing library of Vietnam War reference books that include: John S. Bowman's "The Vietnam War: An Almanac." New York: World Almanac Publications, 1985; Philip K. Jason. "The Vietnam War in Literature: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticisms." Pasadena, California and Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Salem Press, 1992; Stanley I. Kutler. "Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War." New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1996; John Newman, David A. Willson, David J. DeRose, Stephen Hidalgo, and Nancy J. Kendall. "Vietnam War Literature." Lanham, Md. & London: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1996; James Olson. "Dictionary of the Vietnam War." New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1987; Linda Reinberg. "In the Field: The Language of the Vietnam War." New York, Oxford: Facts on File, 1991; Harry G. Summer, Jr. "Historical Atlas of the Vietnam War." Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1995; Carl Singleton. "Vietnam Studies: An Annotated Bibliography." Lanham, Md. & London: The Scarecrow Press; and Pasadena, Calif. & Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Salem Press, 1997; Spencer C. Tucker, editor. "Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social and Military History." Santa Barbara, California, Denver, Colorado, Oxford, England: ABC-Clio, 1998. Leepson and Hannaford's work contains 1,561 encyclopedic entries with the standard "see" and "see also" cross references, eight appendices, and fourteen maps. Central to the essence and ambitions of the book are the contributions of fifty-two scholars whose comments provide bedrock information on an immense array of subjects. The dictionary's specific entries vary in length from a few words for topics such as "jungle boots" and "Rome Plow," to more extensive two-plus page discussions of key items like "Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)," "Marines," and "People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN)." Leepson and Hannaford have done a commendable job of boiling down an overwhelming amount of information into one useable, quick-reference volume. They admit that their dictionary is not "a definitive account" of the war. (p. v) There is no such work. Yet their result is a welcome addition to the massvie body of literature dealing with a war for which we are steadily compiling layer upon layer of books, government documents, videos, films, journal articles, conference papers, and electronic data-base sources. While those interested in the Vietnam War often debate the conflict heatedly in terms of cause and legacies, accuracy of information, and analytical framework, there can be no doubt that the Vietnam generation has been extraordinarily productive in creating a rich corpus of Vietnam War works for future generations to access and evaluate. "Webster's New World Dictionary of the Vietnam War" speaks eloquently of its editors' sincere and arduous efforts to create a dictionary that will fit competently on library shelves among so many other reference works. It is a recommended purchase for those who wish to possess authoritative accounts of a war that is slowly becoming the most studied conflict in United States history.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent, well-organized book on the Vietnam War, March 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Webster's New World Dictionary of the Vietnam War (Paperback)

As a Vietnam War veteran, college reference librarian and instructor of a class on the Vietnam War, I was thrilled to discover Webster's New World Dictionary of the Vienam War, edited by Marc Leepson. Marc had e-mailed me many months ago and told me about this project and had asked me to help him with some of the fact verification, which I was happy to do, but I had forgotten all about it by the time I saw the book advertised. As a reference librarian, I especially appreciate the clear cross-references, the maps and the text of the Paris Peace Accords which is included in Appendix F. Unlike most dictionaries of the Vietnam War, this book has many entries on Asian political leaders important to the war. For example, see the entry on Souvanna Phouma. Writers, such as Tim O'Brien, also get excellent entries which list their important work. For a bias free, one volume reference book on the Vietnam War, you can't go wrong with this one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important Standard Reference for Student & Historian Alike, February 14, 1999

By 

Cathryn Kelley (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Webster's New World Dictionary of the Vietnam War (Paperback)

As a serious writer, artist, student and historian of the Vietnam War (as well as a disabled veteran of that conflict), I was appalled and saddened to discover the highly negative reviews of this book posted on amazon.com by Mr. Rosette and a "Beltway Country" vet/researcher who prefers the cloak of anonymity

Unlike these two gentleman, neither of whom gave "Webster's New World Dictionary of the Vietnam War" other than a cursory, bookstore review (their admission), I actually purchased the book via amazon.com and have spent many hours pouring through its illuminating pages as part of the research for an encyclopedia I'm writing (entitled "Where We Were," an attempt to identify in detail every single military installation and Firebase of the American War that already includes over 15,000 entries and 1,000+ pages).

As a result, I must say that what I found among its pages does not in any way resemble the inflammatory descriptions presented by Mr. Rosette and Mr. "Beltway," and therefore feel compelled to step forward in its defense!

This dictionary is a remarkable and extremely comprehensive reference volume unique among, and significantly superior to, its peers in that genre of the literature of the war. In fact, I would unhesitatingly recommend it be purchased as a standard reference for the library of any student or historian of the war of my generation.

What Mr. Leepson does present are over 1,500 entries of what in my opinion is an unbiased, factual reporting of events, personalities, weapons and places pertinent to the VN experience. No previous similar attempt ("Dictionary of the VN War," by James Olson; "The VN War, An Alamanac," by John Bowman come immediately to mind) are anywhere nearly as comprehensive, or as well-formatted, or as well-written than this Herculean effort.

Claims the book is anti-war and ignores the atrocities and dishonorable acts of the enemy are patently absurd. The "Hue" entry, for example mentions the often ignored fact that nearly 3,000 religious leaders, civil servants, educators, ARVN and SVN politicians were "arrested" and then unmercifully executed by the VNA. For another example, look at the "Atrocity" entry which clearly discusses other NVA/VC transgressions thusly: "Most instances of killing captured or wounded soldiers...murder, rape and robbery by soldiers of both sides fall into [the atrocity category]. Common too was the [theft] of food and other supplies from peasants by the soldiers of both Vietnamese factions, although the Viet Cong Guerillas regularized theirs as a form of taxation." If the book were ultra-left in persuasion, would such material be reported as fact by the author? Hardly.

What you'll find instead are tons of important and often obscure facts reported in a very professional, straight-forward, readable style. Don't be fooled by the casual and ill-founded remarks of two people who did not even take the time to read the text they so readily condemn!

Mr. Leepson, by the way, is the very thoughtful, intelligent and reflective Arts Editor for the VVA's VETERAN Magazine in Wash. D.C. There he has deservedly earned an impecable reputation for the quality and fairness evident in his reviews of the literature, poetry, plays, TV presentations and films of the Vietnam War.

Most Sincerely, Michael "M-60" Kelley

Company D, 1st Bn/502d Infantry, 101st Abn Div, RVN 69/70 (retired for disability due to wounds received 16Sep70; Vietnam Veterans Arts Group 80-99; California Vienam Veterans Memorial Commission,84-91; Art displayed at Chicago's National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum; Author of WHERE WE WERE (late 99 release), Ambush at Firebase Bastonge (VIETNAM Magazine, Jun 99 issue); Contributor to: Dear America-Letters Home from Vietnam, book and film; "We Were Soldiers Once and Young..." and etc...