Vietnam

May 19, 2013 Erik Graff rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: US citizens

Recommended to Erik by: no one

Shelves: history

Although I grew up during and was significantly affected by the invasion of Vietnam by the USA, although I had been substantially active in opposing the war and had read a great deal of material on the subject, this is the first real history of Vietnam I have completed.

It is not a perfect history. Based on research Karnow had conducted for a multipart, award-winning television documentary, it is too focused on the United States to constitute a real history of Vietnam. Further, his treatment is s...more Although I grew up during and was significantly affected by the invasion of Vietnam by the USA, although I had been substantially active in opposing the war and had read a great deal of material on the subject, this is the first real history of Vietnam I have completed.

It is not a perfect history. Based on research Karnow had conducted for a multipart, award-winning television documentary, it is too focused on the United States to constitute a real history of Vietnam. Further, his treatment is shallow in that it does little to explain why--not how, but why--the United States has had such an historical affinity for unpopular dictatorships and antipathy for popular movements. Finally, although he mentions the book as a source, Karnow fails to discuss the material covered in McCoy's The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia, particularly the economic importance of the drug trade for sustaining, if not motivating, much of American foreign policy.

On the positive side, however, Karnow did have substantial on-the-ground experience working as a journalist in Vietnam and did interview many of the Vietnamese principals, North and South. Further, he does attempt to give some historical background to the country and its culture in his first couple of chapters.

Finishing it today, I was left with the sobering enigma of the evils committed and/or countenanced by the leadership of the United States in my, in our name. Some of it is ignorance, of course, and Karnow gives many instances of that at the highest reaches of government and the military, but some of it is simply mysterious to me. How can anyone justify the killing of over a million people, most of them civilians, in our campaigns in SE Asia? How, indeed, now, can President Obama and his administration carry on our aggressive occupations of Afghanistan (the current primary source of the world's heroin, q.v. McCoy's The Politics of Heroin) and Iraq? What is it in the system that promotes such morally depraved persons to power?
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Oct 02, 2012 Choonghwan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Oct 3, 2012

I bought this book when i was in Hanoi traveling Vietnam for the first time. There was a used-book store on the Old Quarter.
My father had joined the Vietnam war before i was born. I had a remote memory about it.

"You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win." Ho Chi Minh
This aptly summarizes the war which actually started when Vietnam people started fighting against their French colonizers decades earlier.

The US was s...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Booknblues rated it 5 of 5 stars

Stanley Karnow’s Vietnam; A History is a monumental undertaking for both the author and the reader tracing the history of Vietnam and its quest for freedom through the ages up until the 1980’s when the book was published.

Karnow is well qualified to write this text, with a career reporting on Vietnam that dates back to the 1950’s . I was impressed with the interviews he did to write the book in many cases interview people who fought on both sides of a battle. It was enlightening to read the Nort...more Stanley Karnow’s Vietnam; A History is a monumental undertaking for both the author and the reader tracing the history of Vietnam and its quest for freedom through the ages up until the 1980’s when the book was published.

Karnow is well qualified to write this text, with a career reporting on Vietnam that dates back to the 1950’s . I was impressed with the interviews he did to write the book in many cases interview people who fought on both sides of a battle. It was enlightening to read the North Vietnamese perspective.

The first half of the book was slow going for me providing a history of Vietnams struggle for independence and the difficulty the French had in trying to maintain it as a colony. I was very interested in learning about Ho Chi Min who was little more than a picture. Karnow was able to flesh him out and I have a found a great respect for the man, who worked so hard for an independent country.

The book began moving along for me during the sixties when I was growing up. Kennedy , Johnson and Nixon seemed to be repeating the same mistakes which the French had made in Vietnam. Karnow was also able to give us insight into the politics and mechanizations behind the presidential politics. He tells about a study done during Johnson’s presidency in 1966 which found:

“The bombing campaign, the study said, was having “no measurable direct effect” on enemy military activities -- and it restated the familiar reasons for that evaluation: North Vietnam was “basically a subsistence agricultural economy” that presented an “unrewarding target” for air raids; the volume of supplies sent south was too small to be stopped by air strikes and, in any case, the country had ample manpower to keep its primitive logistical net work intact; intelligence estimates showed that infiltration into the south had risen since the bombing began and could continue to increase; and Chines and Soviet assistance was more than compensating for the damage being inflicted.”

And yet the bombing continued.

Karnow recounts how a speech writer for Johnson, MacPherson’s opinion shifted by what he saw on television as many Americans opinions shifted watching the images on tv:

“ I watched the invasion of the American embassy compound and the terrible sight of General Loan killing the Vietcong captive. You got a sense of the awfulness, the endlessness of the war--and though it sounds naive, the unethical quality of a war in which a prisoner is hot at point-blank range. I put aside the confidential cables. I was more persuaded by the tube and by the newspapers. I was fed up with the optimism that seem to flow without stopping from Saigon”

And then there was Nixon who wanted to get America out of Vietnam honorably but continued to make the same mistakes of the previous administrations:

“The real problem” he wrote, “is that the enemy is willing to sacrifice in order to win, while the South Vietnamese simply aren't' willing to pay that much of a price in order to avoid losing.”
“Nixon’s observation was not original. It merely restated the dilemma that had confounded the United States since the very beginning of its intervention in Vietnam. the Communist were prepared to accept appalling casualties for the sake of minimal gains.”

The Vietnam War was truly a trying time for America and as someone who came of age in this time period I wanted to understand it better. It was indeed a bog, a quagmire which we wandered into with noble intentions without understanding the intentions or the tenacity of the Vietnamese people. I highly recommend Karnow’s book for anyone interested despite it being such a prodigious work.(less)

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Feb 25, 2013 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: hookah

for a war with as much impact on the national consciousness as Vietnam, it's amazing to discover here on Goodreads that this is The--not 'A'--history of the Vietnam War. one would think given all the television, movies, national discourse about the subject, that there are several histories, but apparently this is it--one book. how do we explain an America that was officially segregated, confident, "winner of two world wars" of the 1950s, (if, externally, gray-flannel suited and Organization Man-...more

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Apr 13, 2009 Charissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, never-finished, non-fic, war

My mom got me a second hand copy of this immense tome. I skimmed through it in college, but have forgotten most of what I read. Figured I'd give it a real read this time. Maybe I'll notice some similarities between Vietnam and Iraq. You think? So far my main impression is that the book smells like cigar smoke, and the cover has been ripped from it's spine. No matter... the pages still have all the words.

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Dec 05, 2012 Isabel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, war

This is an amazing book. I loved how it started at the end--in this moment in history when Vietnam is something we see the effects of casually every day. Karnow opens with a series of observations about how Vietnam has colored the political view of Americans today. There are photographs of the VN Memorial, veterans marching on (and at) Washington, families fleeing VN and American families fostering VN people... I remember growing up with Vietnamese kids in class and wondering what their deal was...more This is an amazing book. I loved how it started at the end--in this moment in history when Vietnam is something we see the effects of casually every day. Karnow opens with a series of observations about how Vietnam has colored the political view of Americans today. There are photographs of the VN Memorial, veterans marching on (and at) Washington, families fleeing VN and American families fostering VN people... I remember growing up with Vietnamese kids in class and wondering what their deal was. Now, living in Northern Virginia, I see lots of Vietnamese-Americans and still have questions. Having finished this book, most of them are answered now.

Karnow approaches history from the unique perspective of a journalist and a historian. His writing is vivid, personal and still informed and occasionally even academic. This book combines the military and political aspects of the war to create a more comprehensive picture than all the social histories I'd come across before. The social bits are still in there, they just enhance the other picture instead of taking over the book.

Points he made that really impressed me: drug addiction among the troops, the economic and social effect of having an American military operation in Saigon for decades, the personal and political intrigues in both the US and Vietnam, the distrust between the Soviet Union, China and Vietnam, how the expat Vietnamese were treated in Cambodia, how the war changed over the years, the sheer duration of Vietnam's struggle for independence (Karnow takes the history back to the age of explorers and French missionary activity in SE Asia), how both inflated ideas of success and failure of the military actions on both sides were corrected by dispassionate review decades later... Tons of details added up to make a comprehensive picture (for once!). I've had so many loose ends in my head for so long about Vietnam. I really enjoyed having them come together to make some kind of sense.

After reading over 650 pages of history, I thought I'd just shut the book and move on, but actually, even the appendices were readable and useful. The timeline at the end extends beyond the history in the book, bringing the end of the "conflict" (? I'm still not sure what to call it, actually) into the larger context of full diplomatic relations between the US and VN during the Clinton administration. The final entry in the timeline is 1996: "Vietnam attends the Olympic Games for the first time ever on American soil, in Atlanta, Georgia." Such a brilliant ending point (again combining the political and the social) for this history!(less)

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Nov 14, 2011 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, history, politics, vietnam-war

Fascinating, appalling, and all too relevant. Karnow begins with the earliest colonial era in Indochina, and takes you all the way up to the last helicopter leaving Saigon. Written in an engaging, polished prose that nonetheless lets some passion through as Americans again and again can't let go of illusions and walk away from a bad situation of their own making.

I learned many things I hadn't understood at all before - how deep French cultural roots ran in Viet Nam, role of Catholics, Buddhists...more

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Dec 14, 2011 Scott rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is very thorough and well-written history of Vietnam, although it is largely presented in the context of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. While there is some great background about Vietnam's deeper history and a good overview of the French involvement in Indochina, this book's strength lies in the incredible information provided about the political and military decisions and actions of the U.S., the South Vietnam regimes, the Viet Cong, and the North Vietnam government. For anyone...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Ian Kemp rated it 5 of 5 stars

A very detailed study of not just the military dimension but the underlying political motivations and manoeuvers which created and sustained the 'vietnam war'. The author has a mature but never cynical position which not surprisingly exposes the unprincipled actions of the few that created suffering for the many.

Only one thing about this book shocked me - the resonance and even clear parallels with actions in our own decade with the US offensive in Iraq. The book exposes a litany of distortion,...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Melanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, nonfiction, historical

Finally finished! I give this book an overall 3 stars, with 4 stars for thoroughness and 2.5 stars for a pleasurable reading experience. I read this book in order to get a good overall history of the Vietnam war. This book does a really thorough job of exploring the US poltitical history of the war, with brief nods to the experience of the on-the-ground war and North Vietnam perspective. The author tries to be objective, but his point of view is that the war was badly managed, which I feel that...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Andy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Pulitzer prize winner Karnow writes accurately and honestly about the Vietnam war. Interestingly, I read reviews of this book on Amazon before I bought it. The American reviewers were quite damning about the book. Perhaps because it exposes the war, propagated by the Americans, for what it was: unjust. Members of the American government realized the war couldn't be won as early as 1967. McNamara was especially vociferous about this and was eventually fired by Johnson for his dissent. However, ig...more

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Dec 22, 2011 Philip rated it 5 of 5 stars

At around 270,000 words, Stanley Karnow’s Vietnam – A History is something of a monster, as is its subject. Even those who did not live through the era when reports of the conflict dominated most international news, the title itself is still probably recognised as something iconic, something that sums up the third quarter of the twentieth century. The word iconic would be inaccurate, however. Icons are small images that suggest something bigger. Vietnam, as a subject, as a reality, was always a...more At around 270,000 words, Stanley Karnow’s Vietnam – A History is something of a monster, as is its subject. Even those who did not live through the era when reports of the conflict dominated most international news, the title itself is still probably recognised as something iconic, something that sums up the third quarter of the twentieth century. The word iconic would be inaccurate, however. Icons are small images that suggest something bigger. Vietnam, as a subject, as a reality, was always a big issue. It was fought over for thirty years, toppled US Presidents, claimed untold thousands of lives and effectively involved the whole world. This was superpower conflict by proxy.

Stanley Karnow’s book is replete with detail, analysis, fact, some fiction and much posturing. It benefits from being written largely from experience. The author was a respected journalist who covered the war at its height and his encounters with political elites, combatants and victims bring the story of death and destruction to life, if that phrase is not in bad taste.

This was no minor skirmish, confined to a far corner of the North American world view. World War Two devastated Europe and significant other parts of the world. And yet a greater tonnage of explosives was dropped in the Vietnam War than in all the Second World War’s theatres of conflict combined. It’s worth taking a moment to reflect on that. In addition, chemical weapons, defoliants and napalm were sprayed around with apparent abandon before the United States, defeated, left for their territorially unaffected, unattacked home.

There are those who thought the war was counter-productive. There were those who still think that the war was fought by a USA that had one hand tied behind its back. An all-out onslaught would have brought decisive victory. But, given the above, what would that victory have looked like? Just how close did the world come to a second nuclear war?

Stanley Karnow reminds us how truth becomes a casualty. He describes how US officials, civilian and military alike dared not communicate negative messages or attitudes about the war. To do so was seen as defeatism and there were no promotions for defeatists, no opportunities for pessimists, their positions being interpreted as merely unpatriotic. In contrast, positive reports were rewarded, even if they bore little resemblance to reality. And the author’s portrait of Walt Rostow, a prominent member of LBJ’s team, casts him squarely in the role of anti-communist hawk, a guise in which we should view him when today we approach his still respected work on economic change and development.

But what is perhaps most troubling was the ease with which those in power used the mechanisms of their state to hound dissenters, to tap their phones, block their careers. And, it has to be remembered, this culture did lead – though perhaps indirectly – to the near impeachment and actual removal from office of an elected US President.

Stanley Karnow’s book captures the conflict ideologically, historically and politically. Alongside Gabriel Kolko’s book on the same subject, it ought to be required reading for anyone left in the world who thinks that war can solve conflict.
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Sep 27, 2012 Kevin rated it 4 of 5 stars

An interesting look at Vietnam. it feels like a book written by a journalist, but for that he does a good job pulling back and tying the details together to create a coherent picture. He does a good job building up to the US involvement in Vietnam, tying in all the players (the French, Vietnamese, Chinese etc) and how things were situated as they were. As the book goes on it becomes more and more US focused, where by the end the North Vietnamese perspective is added as an afterthought. This is m...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Aaron Bond rated it 4 of 5 stars

Excellent coverage of everything leading up to the Vietnam situation to the end. And by leading up to, I mean everything from 1400 on to display the nationalism of the Vietnamese to show why winning a war there was always going to be difficult if not impossible.

Karnow writes with the tact of a seasoned war journalist but also with the eye of a historian. No single facet of the war was independent of another, previous facet. Everything built upon something, and as I referenced in the opening, tha...more

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Jul 06, 2010 Elgin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: military

This was my first in depth history about Vietnam...the book was well written and fascinating. I enjoyed the chapters on the history of Ho Chi Minh...really a remarkable man; its too bad that he was not able to take unite Vietnam earlier...i think things would have worked out much better for that country and certainly forus. The most disturbing aspect was the litany of lies that our government told to the American public about the reasons for fighting there, about how the war was going, and about...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Barrett rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book is impeccable researched and organized so take my low rating with a grain of salt. As a hobbyist student of military history, but focused on WWII, The Civil War and the Indian Wars I wanted a book to give me an overview of Vietnam. However, I was looking for details on the actual battles. This book is 700 pages of White House dealings, coups, and political "un-intrigue". I know all about LBJ and Robert McNamara but nothing about the military tactics used in Tet offensive. Again, probab...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Claire rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

A good book, giving an overview history from the first missionaries to the North Vietnamese/Vietcong taking Saigon. It gives a good background of the nationalistic feeling of the Vietnamese along with the French and American involvement in the country. Like all books it isn't perfect, leaving more questions than it answers, but it does give you a more balanced look at Vietnam and the war. It doesn't say either side was right, and gives information about how many missed opportunities there were t...more

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Feb 25, 2013 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

Karnow presents a spectacular historical look at the War in Vietnam and how things got out of hand for numerous US Administrations. It also gives an excellent historical context of where things went wrong and how the war that seemed so simple on paper went so wrong. It was, truly, one that tore a nation apart and divided generations of Americans, still healing from the Second and Korean Wars. Karnow uses his journalistic abilities to properly place Vietnam in the larger scale of things and to sh...more Karnow presents a spectacular historical look at the War in Vietnam and how things got out of hand for numerous US Administrations. It also gives an excellent historical context of where things went wrong and how the war that seemed so simple on paper went so wrong. It was, truly, one that tore a nation apart and divided generations of Americans, still healing from the Second and Korean Wars. Karnow uses his journalistic abilities to properly place Vietnam in the larger scale of things and to show how the US entered the war, the apparent Goliath, and exited with their tails between their legs. A major gaffe for Presidents Johnson and Nixon, Vietnam surely ruined their administrations, as greedy inebriated them with a splash of power.

Karnow does not stand on the sidelines and simply lament the losses from a US perspective, he gives as full a picture as he can, using interviews with many on both sides of the war to better illustrate what was going on inside the war rooms, in the jungles, and within the Oval Office. He pulls no punches and does not leave anyone unscathed. Where things went wrong, the spotlight shines down on them and where praise is deserved, it is surely showered upon the victors. I remained stunned throughout that the juggernaut known as the US military could not penetrate the rag-tag North Vietnamese Communists. It was not even a puppet war (both Cold War powers backing their respective sides), but hundreds of thousands of US troops died for what?

Having not lived through it whatsoever, I relied solely on the famous photos and news clips I’d seen on the entire debacle. I can now say that I have a much better idea of the follies and their creators. I can see just how disgraceful the US ended up being as a small Communist country booted them out, wounded and afraid of staying any longer. While the parallels are not as apparent, could the current two wasted wars be similar? Iraq and Afghanistan are surely spheres where the US does not belong, as they poked their Bush-led noses to flex their Popeye muscles. Too bad they come out looking like Jabba the Hut, without the intelligence! Only time will tell how long the US will keep their heads in the sand and pray for victory, even as the last chopper pulls away and all that’s left is disgrace and ruin.

Kudos Mr. Karnow! Well written, spendidly presented, and thoroughly enjoyable!(less)

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Jan 21, 2013 Jerome rated it 4 of 5 stars

Is this a good book? It depends on what you're looking for. This book has many merits: It is comprehensive, it attempts to explain Vietnamese history, and it is full of on the spot interviews and remembrances. This remains the basic history text of record on American involvement in Vietnam. There is a breadth of perspective here that is lacking in many accounts of this most up-close and personal of wars.

He spends more time discussing North Vietnam's "insane" economic policies and the Communist m...more Is this a good book? It depends on what you're looking for. This book has many merits: It is comprehensive, it attempts to explain Vietnamese history, and it is full of on the spot interviews and remembrances. This remains the basic history text of record on American involvement in Vietnam. There is a breadth of perspective here that is lacking in many accounts of this most up-close and personal of wars.

He spends more time discussing North Vietnam's "insane" economic policies and the Communist massacre of civilians at Hué in 1968 than he does any U.S. atrocities (e.g., My Lai). And I was impressed by his descriptions of bravery on both sides of the conflict. This is no mean feat for someone that was placed on Richard Nixon's "enemies list" (as Karnow was).

Despite these advantages, the book has some real limitations. The writing is pedestrian, the characterizations (if one can say that about history) tend to be thin, and Karnow fails to convey a sense of wholeness in many chapters. The book at times feels more like a collection of dispatches from a reporter in the field (which Karnow was in Vietnam) rather than the work of a historian who has integrated fact and theory based on deep understanding and research. As comprehensive as the book tries to be, Karnow's reach may have exeeded his grasp with his project.

Unfortunately, Karnow buys into Ho Chi Minh's propoganda that he led a popular "revolution" against the Japanese. In reality, the surrendering Japanese in 1945 handed over power to a variety of local groups with the goal of causing the Allies trouble. Contrary to Karnow's poor research, there was no revolution in 1945 and there was no Viet Minh "government" except on paper. The Viet Minh were so weak that they were pushed aside by the local french within a few weeks without even support from the outside.

Karnow disposes of the French war in Vietnam in around 30 pages. Following the mythology script, he focuses most of his attention on Dien Bien Phu and ignores the complexity and details of the French phase. It's a superficial account at best.

The Eisenhower and Kennedy chapters on Diem aren't all that great, either. Rather than being about Vietnam, its more like Vietnam as seen by Washington in those years. There is no attempt at understanding the actual politics of the Diem era. The information on North Vietnam (or as Karnow strangely refers to them "the communists") is completely lacking. The internal politics of North Vietnam are ignored as much as possible.

As an example of Karnow's strange views: "In May 1959, the North Vietnamese leadership created a unit called Group 559, its task to begin enlarging the tradtional communist infiltration route, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, into the south." Group 559 in reality launched an invasion of Laos putting a large part of the territory of that counry under Vietnamese rule which continues on even now. Karnow's notion of a "traditional infiltration route" is completely false. North Vietnam invaded Laos to flank the border of south vietnam and to use occupied Laos as a base for attacking Vietnam.

As the book goes on, Karnow presents the traditional mythology about peaceful neutral Cambodia. What he fails to say is that Sihanouk was a dictator who murdered his opponents and kept power by alternately allying himself with the left and the right. He also fails to mention the well-known fact that rather than being neutral, Sihanouk (and Cambodia) had signed a deal with China were their rice crop would be bought at an inflated price in exchange for opening Cambodian ports to arms shipments and allowing Vietnamese bases on Cambodian soil. The so-called "neutrality" story that Karnow repeats is nonsense.

And Karnow gets how the war ended completely wrong. The war ended because the entire North Vietnamese army launched a conventional military invasion with tanks over the border. In the end, the "invincible" insurgency in the countryside couldn't win anything.

Other than those gripes, this a fine book if you're looking for an introduction on the war.(less)

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Apr 07, 2012 Lindsey rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, nonfiction

I debated with myself for awhile on what rating to give this book. Stanley Karnow is a thorough writer and is amazingly accurate with the depth of interviews and his straight-forward journalistic type reporting of the history of Vietnam and the war. Many new things I had never heard before were discovered and he has detailed pictures between each chapter with their black and white images that bring the story more to life. I think the only issue with the 2 stars is that I don't always like nonfic...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Tim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A few years ago, I happened to catch some of the programs on the local PBS station of the series, “Vietnam: A Television History.” It had not only footage of political and military personnel, and descriptions of their places in this very difficult and complicated time in world history, but also included disturbing combat footage, as well as extensive retrospective interviews with those (French, Vietnamese and American) personnel involved. I found it fascinating, and certainly put my own experien...more A few years ago, I happened to catch some of the programs on the local PBS station of the series, “Vietnam: A Television History.” It had not only footage of political and military personnel, and descriptions of their places in this very difficult and complicated time in world history, but also included disturbing combat footage, as well as extensive retrospective interviews with those (French, Vietnamese and American) personnel involved. I found it fascinating, and certainly put my own experience there in a much wider perspective. The chief correspondent for the series was Stanley Karnow, who also wrote the book emanating from the series.

This is a work that takes some digestion; it’s taken me a year and a half to read, with long breaks between chapters. This is mostly because the chapters (30+ pages, dense with words, all important) contain so much information and attempts to make sense of the multinational intrigues and political ploys, as well as military campaigns. Each of the chapters is headed by ten or so pages of photos from the time span of the chapter, making the reading even more interesting. The book follows the history of this country from the second century BC through the late 70’s, when Saigon finally fell to the Communists. Along the way, this strong, plucky people endured invasions and incursions from China, Japan, France and the United States (well, we were just there to help, I suppose). The central player in most of the book is Ho Chi Minh, a charismatic revolutionary who inspired a high degree of nationalistic patriotism in the populace. The Ho Chi Minh Trail, a series of jungle trails throughout Vietnam and Laos, was a cleverly designed way to transport men and materiel from North Vietnam to the Viet Cong where they were fighting, most of it hidden from aerial view. And if part of it was destroyed, why it was fairly rapidly rebuilt or rerouted. All of the main players, and a goodly number of more minor ones, many incompetent or power-hungry, many competent but frustrated by incompetent political backup, come in and out of this narrative.

In addition to the text, there is a 17 page chronology dating from 208 BC to 1982, the unveiling of the Vietnam Memorial. Also included is a sort of annotated “Dramatis Personae” of some 100 Vietnamese, French and American people involved in the events, as well as a handful of Russian, Cambodian, Chinese and other personnel. And as if that weren’t enough, there are extensive notes on sources (Mr. Karnow’s notes from his days as a correspondent, interviews with many of the above-named “cast of characters” in the preparation of the “Vietnam, A Television History” PBS series, and many other documents he consulted in amassing this comprehensive history. I would strongly recommend reading the introductory comments regarding his sources, then those for each chapter after you read them; deepens one’s understanding of these very complex military/political events.

I would recommend this book strongly, for anyone who has an interest in finding out more about this lush, beleaguered country. It certainly has provided a background for me for my other, fictional reading, notably “Up Country” (recently read and reviewed); “The Things They Carried” (required reading for VA Interns); and Peter Straub’s “The Throat” (this is the third in a sort of horror trilogy by Peter Straub, the others being “Koko” and “Mystery,” all based on some events among a group of fellow soldiers in Vietnam). Just give yourself some time to get through it (700+ pages).
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Oct 27, 2011 Rusty Henrichsen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excellent book on Vietnam - not only the American years, but going back to ancient rivalries with China, Cambodia, etc. Written in 1981, so it may not have all the advantages of opened American archives, but the author was stationed there beginning in 1959 when there were only a few hundred American advisors in the country. He also returned to Vietnam in 1981 and had extensive interviews with the new rulers and many others who were on the losing side.

It's beyond me that American presidents could...more

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May 30, 2012 Tanya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, i-own-it

I've had this book on my shelf for years, and every time I would hear a newsman or politician draw parallels between the Vietnam War and our latest international entanglements I would think, "I really need to read that book..." It is clear that this conflict of 40 years ago has a great impact on foreign policy decisions of today, and I've always felt that my understanding of current affairs was compromised by my foggy notions about the Vietnam War.

Having spent a week studying this 700-page "monu...more I've had this book on my shelf for years, and every time I would hear a newsman or politician draw parallels between the Vietnam War and our latest international entanglements I would think, "I really need to read that book..." It is clear that this conflict of 40 years ago has a great impact on foreign policy decisions of today, and I've always felt that my understanding of current affairs was compromised by my foggy notions about the Vietnam War.

Having spent a week studying this 700-page "monumental narrative" (per back of book), I can't say that the fog in my mind is completely cleared. Our involvement in Southeast Asia in the decades following World War II was nothing if not murky, and even within the counsel rooms at the White House there was never consensus on what we were doing there, if we should be there, and how on earth we were going to get out of there.

But out of the morass of information in Karnow's book, I'll give an extremely watered-down version of what I learned. We put troops in Vietnam because when the neocolonial French departed, they left a power vacuum into which the North Vietnamese Communist Party (among others) stepped. In the 1960's America was obsessed with limiting the spread of Communism (a little like we're afraid today of the spread of fundamental Islam), and we viewed ourselves as the world policeman that needed to step in and fix things. The biggest mistake we made once we were there was completely misunderstanding the mindset of the North Vietnamese and the Southern Vietcong. We expected that they would think like Americans - that if we could flex our technological and military muscles enough they would decide a fight with us was simply not worth it. Instead, they were prepared to be annihilated rather than give up. As Ho Chi Minh said, "You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and I will win." We also chose not to recognize the ineptitude of the South Vietnamese government that we were propping up, and didn't want to see the damage our presence was doing to the society. As for our exit from Vietnam, what a mess... And I thought it was hard to pull troops out of Iraq! Johnson chose to not run for re-election rather than deal with the problem, and Nixon pulled every unethical trick he could come up with to enforce support for his policies.

Perhaps surprisingly, I came out feeling more positive about politics after reading this book. I tend to be disgusted by things that are going on in Washington, and assume that it just keeps getting worse. But now I think maybe our leaders have learned a few things from past mistakes, and ARE trying to do things better, even though they make plenty of new mistakes. The world is a complicated place with so many conflicting interests, but I like to at least feel like I understand as much as possible.(less)

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Apr 17, 2009 Osho rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, southeast-asia

Audio product here.

A rather lengthy and dense history of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war. While generally chronological, there are a number of points where this is not strictly adhered to. Karnow's narrative is methodical and not stylish; on the plus side, he incorporates quotes from numerous interviews with politicians, U.S. and Vietnamese military personnel, and others.

Others' reviews are generally positive, but some fault Karnow's scholarship or perspective. I can't evaluate the legitimac...more

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Jun 24, 2009 Evan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: epic, __in-my-collection, warfare, 1960s, russian-soviet-etc, asia, vietnam, politics

This is a big one. It was the basis of one of the best documentary series' ever broadcast: "Vietnam: A Television History" on PBS in the early '80s. It was one of the great multi-part limited series, like Ken Burns' "The Civil War" or "Eyes on the Prize (I&II)".
I had this book in my collection for at least 15 years before finally tackling it almost two years ago. I found the earlier parts of the book more fascinating, the long history of Vietnam, its culture and rulers and politics and the u...more

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Sep 06, 2008 Kevin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Karnow covers the history of Vietnam from the pre-colonial period through the fall of Saigon. As a corespondent during the war, Karnow appears to have excellent sources and the narrative often resembles a newspaper article. Some of the more interesting portions of the book come when he speaks to principle North Vietnamese actors during a post-war visit in the 1980s. While many had had the pride of victors, several seemed to regret the communist system that they brought to be.

After I read David H...more

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Jul 20, 2011 Sadonna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dead-tree, history, owned

Used this book for a History course on the America in the 60s with a concentration on the Vietnam war. One of the most depressing classes I ever took. Excellent account of many aspects the war - companion to the groundbreaking (at the time) PBS series. I was born in 1962 and I remember the war being on TV when I was a kid - even though the parents tried to shelter us from it. Until I took this class, I really didn't understand the disillusionment of the generation before me. Really eye opening.

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Nov 01, 2011 Jen Mech rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, non-fiction, used-for-class

We actually used this book as a textbook for a class I took on the Vietnam War. Being a child of the eighties, I was not around for the war, and it was just a brief lesson in history class, if that. This book changed me. I began reading far ahead of the class, and finished the book long before the semester was over. I watched every movie I could find on the subject. In short, this book brought a terrible war to life for me, and made it a part of MY history, instead of just world history.

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Oct 31, 2012 Tim rated it 3 of 5 stars

An enjoyable read, providing a thorough account of Vietnam at war, from French missionaries to the Americans. Overall, the book was extremely well written, but I found two shortcomings with the book: 1) the book tended to get bogged down in minute details about troop movements and small battles instead of providing an overall picture of the Vietnam conflict 2) the book lacked an analysis of how the Vietnam War impacted international politics, the direction and future of the Vietnamese people, an...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Aaron Crofut rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: war, vietnam

Clausewitz in action. The North would never quit short of being obliterated, potentially dragging in China or the USSR long before that was achieved; the United States would not risk that; the outcome was determined from the get-go. Vietnamese nationalism proved to be the deciding force, though regional divisions could have been exploited had the South a nationalist worth supporting. But after WWII, Ho managed to claim that mantle. And unfortunately for us, Ho was a communist right when the Cold...more

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