Vietnam: Explaining Americas Lost War

The year 2015 marks the 50 th anniversary of theAmericanization of the Vietnam War, a subject that has sparkedintense and enduring debate. Now available in a revised and updatedsecond edition, Vietnam: Explaining America s Lost Waris an award–winning historiography of this seminal conflict of the20 th century. This textbook brings together descriptionand analysis of the most important issues in the field as put forthby scholars, participants, and journalists over the last halfcentury. It addresses key questions about the war.

Written by a well–respected scholar who has spent decades studyingthe consequences of the Vietnam War, this text presents the issuesin a clear and compelling style that encourages straightforwardunderstanding of complex issues and allows readers to draw theirown conclusions about the reasons for America s failure inthe war. A final chapter assesses the competing lessons of the war as drawn from orthodox andrevisionist histories and the extent to which they have influencedAmerican national security policy over the last forty years.

Preface

1 From the Streets to the Books: The Origins of an Enduring Debate 1

2 A Necessary War or a Mistaken War? 23

3 Kennedy Exceptionalism, Missed Opportunity for Peace, or Lost Victory? : The Movement toward War, 1961 1965 49

4 The Revisionist Critique of the Strategy for Defeat : The Clausewitzian Alternative 84

5 The Revisionist Critique of the Other War : The Hearts ]and ]Minds Prescription for Victory 111

6 The Media and the War: Irresponsible or Balanced Journalism? 133

7 The Tet Offensive: Decisive American Victory or Devastating Loss? 155

8 Nixon Kissinger and the Ending of the War: A Lost Victory or Neither Peace nor Honor? 179

9 Conclusion: The War s Lessons 209

Bibliography 218

Index 000

Gary R. Hess is Distinguished Research Professor of Historyat Bowling Green State University, where he taught for forty–fiveyears. His publications include The United States at War,1941 1945 (Wiley, 3 rd edition, 2010), Presidential Decisions for War: Korea, Vietnam, the PersianGulf, and Iraq (rev. ed., 2009), Vietnam and the UnitedStates: Origins and Legacy of War 1941 1945 (1998), and The United States Emergence as a Southeast AsianPower (1987).