Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0684805227 ISBN 13: 9780684805221

Publisher: Scribner, 1997

Synopsis

More than five hundred entries cover the people, places, military actions, policies, strategies, tactics, weapons, domestic politics, and diplomacy of the war

About this title

About the Author:

Stanley I. Kutler is the E. Gordon Fox Professor of American Institutions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

From Booklist:

This comprehensive, clearly written work brings together the political, military, diplomatic, and cultural aspects of the war, with the most detailed focus on America's involvement. Many articles trace the historical background of Southeast Asia and the war's impact on the region and the wider world. Editor Kutler, a professor of American Institutions at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has written on the Nixon presidency. The list of contributors includes scholars from the U.S. Army Center of Military History and other institutions and many persons whose affiliations are listed as "Madison, Wisconsin," suggesting they are graduate students.

A chronology outlines Vietnam's early history, the French colonial era, growing U.S. intervention, full-scale war, and the aftermath, concluding with U.S. recognition in 1995. In the encyclopedia portion of the volume are major essays on such topics as the antiwar movement, art and literature, military strategy and tactics, drugs and drug use, the media and the war, diplomacy, American and Vietnamese perspectives, and the order of battle for various forces with units, commanders, and dates. Shorter articles treat military and political leaders on all sides, organizations, slang, and places. Each article is signed and includes a bibliography. Many black-and-white photos, 12 black-and-white maps, and several tables enhance our understanding. Concluding the work are an extensive bibliographic essay, copies of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and Paris Peace Accords, a list of Medal of Honor recipients, a synoptic outline of contents, and a detailed index.

Dictionary of the Vietnam War (Greenwood, 1988) and Vietnam War Almanac (Facts On File, 1985) are both useful ready-reference sources but lack the depth of this new work. The bibliographies in the encyclopedia are more current, citing research done in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Historical Atlas of the Vietnam War (reviewed in this issue) provides color maps on mostly military topics.

These 564 articles and numerous images of a war that had a hugely divisive effect on the U.S. sear us. This encyclopedia is a vital purchase for secondary, public, and academic libraries.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0684805227
• ISBN 13: 9780684805221
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 711
• Editor: Kutler Stanley I.