Where the Domino Fell - America And Vietnam 1945-1995

Where the Domino Fell recounts the history of American involvement in Vietnam from the end of World War II, clarifying the political aims, military strategy, and social and economic factors that contributed to the participants' actions. Provides an accessible, concise narrative history of the Vietnam conflictA new final chapter examines Vietnam through the lens of Oliver Stone’s films and opens up a discussion of the War in popular culture A chronology, a glossary, and a bibliography all serve as helpful reference points for studentsFrom Publishers WeeklyAccording to the authors of this compact history of the war and its aftermath, what began as a righteous crusade to save Southeast Asia from communism ended up as "a face-saving game to get out of an impossible mess without looking bad." Olson and Roberts (history professors at Sam Houston State University in Texas and Purdue University in Indiana, respectively) chronicle the course of the first and second Indochina wars from the Vietnamese, French and American points of view, tracing the U.S. commitment from the earliest OSS aid mission in 1945 to the humiliating pullout in '73. The book is highly readable, succinct in style and full of surprises: Ho Chi Minh's prediction that Americans' inherent impatience would doom their effort in the end; reviews of postwar Vietnamese movies about the anti-imperialist struggle; an analysis of America's efforts to come to terms with the defeat in Southeast Asia as reflected in popular culture. The authors are blunt, occasionally arbitrary in their opinions, arguing, for instance, that the most effective U.S. pacification effort was the Marines' CAP program, a promising but relatively minor affair prematurely canceled. Photos. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review"Where the Domino Fell is a very well informed and well documented critique of U. S. policy in Vietnam. From the opening years of U.S. involvement in Indochina during the Truman administration, down to the final withdrawal in the mid-1970s, the authors have provided an in-depth and topically balanced analysis of how and why the United States became involved in Vietnam and of the strategy debates that occurred over how to win the war…. An impressive achievement."–William J. Duiker, Ho Chi Minh (2000) Sacred War: Nationalism, and Intervention, and the Lessons of Vietnam (1995)