Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow
The Vietnam War, to me, is the most interesting war in American history. As someone once said, it is like a "shroud of a mystery, wrapped inside an enigma." Before reading this book I had a general knowledge of the war. I knew about the communist insurgents, the Gulf of Tonkin, Saigon and Ho Chi Mihn. I knew about Presidents Johnson and Nixon, posttraumatic stress disorder and demonstrations. What I did not fully understand was why. Why were the North Vietnamese so resilient? Why did the US make such poor judgment? Why were we really there? What was Vietnam's history prior to our arrival?
"History is an organic process, a continuity of related events, inexorable yet not inevitable." (pg 11) The roots of America's involvement in Vietnam were nurtured by what Professor Daniel Bell has called America's concept of its own "exceptionalism." George Berkeley, an Anglican bishop and philosopher stated in 1726 as he departed from England......
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Approximate Word Count: 2257
Approximate Pages: 9 (260 words per double-spaced page) |