Reddit reviews Vietnam: A History

> I sort of wish Ken Burns would do a documentary on Vietnam. A lot of the feature length stuff about it just seems over dramatized.

Have you seen Vietnam: The 10,000 Day War or Vietnam: A Television History?

Both are extensive examinations and outstanding in their depth and breadth. Vietnam: A Television History also has a super thorough companion book called Vietnam: A History written by journalist/historian Stanley Karnow. It's perhaps the best single-volume history of the Vietnam war.

Peter Hessler's writings on China are great reads for people who are interested in the region. I particularly enjoyed River Town and country Driving, but Oracle Bones (which I haven't read) is a more historical outlook.

South East Asia is a big and varied region, is there a particular region or specific area in history you're interested in? In 20th century history there are many great biographies on Gandhi and also a lot of informative non-fiction on the Vietnam conflict

Vietnam: A History, by Stanley Karnow.

It was made into a PBS series in the 1980's, and is in my opinion the best account of the country, their history, and the war.

https://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-History-Stanley-Karnow/dp/0140265473

One of the best historiographies ever composed on USA involvement in Viet-Nam:

https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Lake-Vietnamese-Americans-Vietnam/dp/0316159190/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505052020&sr=1-1&keywords=fire+in+the+lake+by+frances+fitzgerald

Pretty good:

https://www.amazon.com/Embers-War-Empire-Americas-Vietnam/dp/0375756477/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505068806&sr=1-1&keywords=embers+of+war+logevall

Pretty good:

https://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-History-Stanley-Karnow/dp/0140265473/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505068845&sr=1-1&keywords=vietnam+a+history

Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow is the best non-fiction book I have read regarding the war.

As far as fiction goes, if you are looking for an idiosyncratic, unconventional, and hilarious analysis of the conflict, I highly recommend Norman Mailer's Why Are We In Vietnam? Note: at first glance it may seem like this book has NOTHING to do with Vietnam (in fact, the word "Vietnam" appears nowhere in the text itself) but bear with it! It provides an amazing critique of American culture and foreign policy during the fifties and sixties. One of the best and most decisive works from the greatest war writer of all time.

>Ho didn't defend shit, his regime proudly valued their Marxist allies' aid more than morality or anything approaching people's rights if they opposed that of the state.

HCM was actually a pretty shrewd diplomat who played the Chinese off against the USSR and used both for aid while completing his domestic objective of unifying the country. Need I remind you that he appealed to the United States first before going to the socialist bloc for aid? America was too busy propping up the French and later the "Republic" of Vietnam.

Ho listened to the Chinese and used their resources to develop a "people's war" division in the form of the Viet Cong and stockpiled Soviet heavy artillery, tanks, and aircraft because they wanted him to fight a conventional land war against the RoV. By never fullying adopting one doctrine but switching between the two as time went on, the North was able to wheedle more aid out than was strictly necessary by making China and Russia compete to see who could be more influential. And as Nixon withdrew they were able to dial back the VC and ramp up the conventional combined arms conflict to crush the South.

I recommend reading Karnow's Vietnam: A History if you want the most comprehensive take on the war, with interviews from senior officials on all 3 sides of the conflict.


>Both are now backwater countries that have been superseded by their neighbors.

Which neighbors? The US leveled nearly all of SE Asia with the exception of Thailand.

> No, but it's just as corrupt as a system that instead of buying land, let's you "rent it from the state" with payouts to the appropriate cadre members. Is this really what you want for the future of Asia?


At the risk of sounding like a pot kettle attack that's how real estate works everywhere. Trump pays the mafia to develop. People in north St. Louis are going to get kicked out of their homes when the defense mapping agency moves across town. Ever since Kelo v. City of New London the Supreme Court has ruled that the government can seize your property as a taking for the enjoyment of private developers, not just in the public interest.

>Just like the unwillingness of this sub to be anything but a pro-communist echo chamber.

It's not like I even think state socialism or Mao is that great of a dude. I just don't see a lot of compelling evidence to suggest that the Republic of Korea, the KMT, or any of the other groups they fought against were that much better. If their causes were so righteous and backed by the world's preeminent superpower then how did they lose?

Stanley Karnow: Vietnam A History

That's the book to read. It was our textbook at University.

https://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-History-Stanley-Karnow/dp/0140265473