Fifty years after it was fought, the Vietnam War continues to haunt our country. Read about the battles, politics and people who took part in the conflict. These books are available to borrow from the Lititz Public Library.
Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975 by Max Hastings
A narrative of the entire conflict blends political, military and personal experiences with testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bargirls and Hanoi students alongside that of US infantrymen, marines and Huey pilots.
Road to Disaster: A New History of America’s Descent into Vietnam by Brian VanDemark
Drawing upon decades of archival research, interviews and previously unheard recordings, the author looks at the decisions made by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and examines why decent, brilliant and previously successful men became blind to their own errors.
The Vietnam War: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. Ward
Interviews with participants in America and Vietnam provide the perspectives of people involved at all levels of the war, plunging into the intensity of combat and explaining the rationale that kept us fighting for many years.
The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam by Max Boot
The pioneer of “hearts and mind” diplomacy in Vietnam proposed an alternative vision that was ultimately crushed by America’s giant military bureaucracy, which favored troop buildups over winning the trust of the people.
Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and Its War by James Wright
The author critically recounts the steps that led to war and brings forward the experiences of the young Americans who fought and the families who grieved for those who did not return.
Hûé 1968: The Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam by Mark Bowden
On January 31, 1968, the North Vietnamese launched over one hundred attacks across South Vietnam, an initiative that would become known as the Tet Offensive, and within hours Hûé, the country’s intellectual and cultural capital, was in enemy hands.
The Vietnam War: The Definitive Illustrated History from the Smithsonian Institution
A chronicle of America’s fight against Communism in Southeast Asia during the 1960s and 1970s explores the people, politics, events and lasting effects of the Vietnam War.
The Odyssey of Echo Company: The 1968 Tet Offensive and the Epic Battle to Survive the Vietnam War by Doug Stanton
Forty young American soldiers in an Army reconnaissance platoon of the 101st Airborne Division were thrust into combat in January 1968, having been in-country only a few weeks.
Things I’ll Never Forget: Memories of a Marine in Vietnam by James M. Dixon
Faced with the choice of being drafted into the Army or volunteering for the Marine Corps, a 1965 high school graduate shares his experiences as a Marine when five hundred thousand Americans were serving one year tours in battle-torn South East Asia.
Abandoned in Hell: The Fight for Vietnam’s Fire Base Kate by Captain William Albracht
In October 1969, the youngest Green Beret captain in Vietnam took command of a remote hilltop outpost held by only twenty-seven American soldiers and 150 mountain militiamen, holding out against three North Vietnamese Army regiments for five days.
What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes
In 1968, at the age of twenty-three, an inexperienced lieutenant was dropped in the highland jungle of Vietnam and placed in command of a platoon of forty Marines who would live or die by his decisions.
Two Souls Indivisible: The Friendship that Saved Two POWs in Vietnam by James S. Hirsch
Thrown into the same fetid cell by their captors, the first black officer captured by the North Vietnamese and a racist young navy pilot endured unspeakable torture and suffering, becoming friends who saved each other’s lives.
My Detachment by Tracy Kidder
An ROTC intelligence officer, just months out of college and expecting a stateside assignment, was sent to Vietnam to command a band of eight more-or-less ungovernable men charged with reporting on enemy radio locations.
November 2, 2018