Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land: The Vietnam War Revisited

by Andrew Wiest

Overview

Fifteen renowned authors from widely varied backgrounds examine the Vietnam War, providing a fresh insight into this controversial conflict, even for those who have 'read it all before'.

“This is a superb and compelling reexamination of the major historical, political, and ethical issues that continue to smoulder many decades after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, I highly recommend Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land. It is among the best books of its kind that I've encountered over the last dozen years.” - Tom O'Brien, author of The Things They Carried

First-hand accounts, maps and contemporary photographs, analysis from the soldiers involved and new perspectives from combatants on both sides provide an incisive investigation into a fascinating and terrible war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782009467
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	05/20/2013
Series:	General Military
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	316
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Dr Andrew Wiest is Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi. A widely published author, Wiest's titles include Vietnam's Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN (New York University), which won the Society for Military History's Distinguished Book Award; America and the Vietnam War (Routledge); Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land (Osprey); and Passchendaele and the Royal Navy (Greenwood Press). Additionally Dr Wiest has appeared in and consulted on several historical documentaries for the History Channel, Granada Television, PBS, the BBC, and for Lucasfilm. Wiest lives in Hattiesburg with his wife Jill and their three children Abigail, Luke and Wyatt

Contributors include: Bui Tin, Professor Kenton Clymer, Professor R. Blake Dunnavent, Bernard Edelman, Professor Ronald B. Frankum, Jr., Professor Jeffrey Grey, Professor Daniel C. Hallin, Le Ly Hayslip, Arnold R. Isaacs, Lieutenant-General Lam Quang Thi, Dr John Prados, Gordon L. Rottman, Lewis Sorley and Martin Windrow.
Dr Andrew Wiest is University Distinguished Professor of History and the founding director of the Dale Center for the Study of War&History at the University of Southern Mississippi. Specializing in the study of World War I and Vietnam, he has served as a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Warfighting Strategy in the United States Air Force Air War College. Since 1992 Dr Wiest has been active in international education, developing the award-winning Vietnam Study Abroad Program.

Wiest's titles include Vietnam's Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN (New York University), which won the Society for Military History's Distinguished Book Award, Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land (Osprey), and The Boys of '67 (Osprey), which was the basis for the Emmy nominated National Geographic Channel Documentary Brothers in War. He lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi with his wife Jill and their three children Abigail, Luke, and Wyatt.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Contributors
Chronology

Chapter 1: Introduction
An American War?
Dr Andrew Wiest

Chapter 2: The French Indochina War
1946–54
Martin Windrow

Chapter 3: Fight for the Long Haul
The War as Seen by a Soldier in the People's Army of Vietnam
Bui Tin

Chapter 4: The Road South
The Ho Chi Minh Trail
Dr John Prados

Chapter 5: The War Outside Vietnam
Cambodia and Laos
Professor Kenton Clymer

Chapter 6: A View from the Other Side of the Story
Reflections of a South Vietnamese Soldier
Lieutenant General Lam Quang Thi

Chapter 7: Caught in the Crossfire
The Civilian Experience
Le Ly Hayslip&Dien Pham

Chapter 8: Diggers and Kiwis
Australian and New Zealand Experience in Vietnam
Professor Jeffrey Grey

Chapter 9: The Conduct of the War
Strategy, Doctrine, Tactics, and Policy
Lewis Sorley

Chapter 10: On the Ground
The US Experience
Bernard Edelman

Chapter 11: “Swatting Flies with a Sledgehammer”
The Air War
Professor Ronald B. Frankum, Jr.

Chapter 12: Battle for the Mekong
The River War in Vietnam
Professor R. Blake Dunnavent

Chapter 13: Tactics in a Different War
Adapting US Doctrine
Gordon L. Rottman

Chapter 14: The “Living-Room War”
Media and Public Opinion in a Limited War
Professor Daniel C. Hallin

Chapter 15: The Final Act – And After
The Legacy of War
Arnold R. Isaacs

Endnotes
Bibliography
Glossary
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Editor Wiest (University of Southern Mississippi) has assembled an eclectic blend of solid academic articles and personal reflections packaged in a large-format, coffee-table-style work with nearly 200 superb photographs, maps, charts and tables. The end result is unconventional but fortuitously so, mixing traditional with new, unfamiliar perspectives and issues with enough breadth, depth and novelty to satisfy a broad audience from astute general readers to the most accomplished Vietnam War students and scholars. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries." -Editors Pick, Choice (March 2007)

"...as this excellent anthology illustrates, there are enduring disagreements concerning the justification, military planning, and long-term effects of the [Vietnam] war. Professor Wiest... has compiled a series of essays written by historians, correspondents, and participants from both sides of the conflict, and thus readers are provided with a variety of perspectives and opinions." -Jay Freeman, Booklist (August 2006

"A diverse, unique set of perspectives are juxtaposed under one cover." -The Internet Bookwatch

"Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land... is a worthy compilation of essays by historians, journalists, and participants in the Vietnam War... The essays offer in-depth looks at many of the war's Big Questions. Weist...gives room to the voices from all sides of the political spectrum... An excellent examination of the experience of American Vietnam veterans by Bernard Edelman, based on illuminating interviews he has conducted over many years. Edelman also concisely and accurately covers the postwar experiences of Vietnam veterans." -The VVA Veteran

"What is particularly interesting about the book is the diverse topics that are covered... those with an interest in military history and in particular the Vietnam War will find this book an informative resource." -Timothy Baghurst, The Traveler

"You'll read about things you may not like and have your eyes opened to other aspects ot the conflict. You'll find out that what you thought were major causes for failure were really not as important as they seemed at the time. You'll also see that much of the dynamics of what was going on in Vietnam during the 60s is also playing itself out in Iraq today... It is a book that I think all children of the 60s and early 70s have to read... A book that I most highly recommend to you." -Scott Van Aken, modelingmadness.com

Editorial Reviews

The war on terror and the Iraq war have invited numerous comparisons to the Vietnam War. These three fine books show that as new information and declassified records become available about the conflict that fractured the 1960s and 1970s, new investigations and interpretations are worthy and deeply instructive. The Vietnam War may have ended more than 30 years ago, but its legacy still roils American culture, politics, and diplomacy. Fry (history, Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas; Dixie Looks Abroad: The South and U.S. Foreign Relations, 1789-1973) focuses on the war-related congressional inquiries of the Johnson era, which framed and-unlike the Johnson administration-encouraged public debate about the war. The 1966 Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearings, chaired by Sen. J. William Fulbright, and the 1967 Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, chaired by Sen. John C. Stennis, were conducted by two Southern lions of Congress. Fulbright promoted a negotiated settlement, as he realized the war could not be won solely by American military might, while Stennis supported bombing North Vietnam into submission. The public majority slowly came to accept the Fulbright position. LBJ refused the recommendations of both committees and instead, as the author concludes, clung to a murky middle ground that diminished his credibility and ultimately drove him from a second term. Vivid retellings of testimonies by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Maxwell Taylor, and others enliven the text. These hearings were vital public education forums, and in the case of Fulbright's hearings, made opposition to the war respectable. Fry's book is strongly recommended for academic and larger public collections. Schulzinger (history, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder; A Time for War: The United States and Vietnam, 1941-1945) looks at U.S.-Vietnam relations in the decades since the war, from the frosty Ford/Carter years, through the slow thaw of the Reagan administration, to full diplomatic recognition during the Bush/Clinton era. His lively narrative covers veterans' frequently painful readjustment to life back home, and a most fascinating chapter portrays life in America for the million Vietnamese refugees who escaped the North Vietnamese onslaught in 1975. Rounding out this fine survey are discussions of the war's contribution-so to speak-to literature, notably in the works of Graham Greene, Tim O'Brien, and Norman Mailer, and deliberations on some of the more than 400 motion pictures and television programs that portray the Vietnam experience, e.g., Coming Home, Apocalypse Now, and Platoon. Schulzinger also assesses how the Vietnam Memorial and other monuments aided the nation's healing. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Wiest (history, Univ. of Southern Mississippi; Haig: The Evolution of a Commander) has collected 15 uniformly excellent new essays by highly regarded scholars, veterans, and victims from differing military, political, and academic perspectives to present the war in a global context. Readers will learn about the war as fought by South Vietnamese troops, by the North Vietnam army, and by American and Australian GIs. Bui Tai, a high-ranking Vietnam Communist Party official, tells how victory turned bitter when the victors threw 300,000 South Vietnamese officials into jail and created large numbers of "boat people" who drowned while attempting to escape imprisonment or death at the hands of their new Communist masters. Le Ly Hayslip (When Heaven and Earth Changed Places) chillingly tells how she and numerous villagers throughout the south were uprooted from their homes and brutally treated as sufferers of President Diem's Strategic Hamlet Program. Daniel Hallin's investigation of the media, which was often assailed for turning the public against the war, reveals that the press, rather than causing increased public uneasiness, more often responded to it. This accessible, multilayered overview will appeal to general readers and to specialists who want a good supplementary text for Vietnam War-era courses. Strongly recommended for academic and public libraries.-Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

You'll read about things you may not like and have your eyes opened to other aspects ot the conflict. You'll find out that what you thought were major causes for failure were really not as important as they seemed at the time. You'll also see that much of the dynamics of what was going on in Vietnam during the 60s is also playing itself out in Iraq today... It is a book that I think all children of the 60s and early 70s have to read... A book that I most highly recommend to you.” —Scott Van Aken, modelingmadness.com

“What is particularly interesting about the book is the diverse topics that are covered... those with an interest in military history and in particular the Vietnam War will find this book an informative resource.” —Timothy Baghurst, The Traveler

“This book is an excellent re-examination of a costly conflict that raised significant ethical, political and historical issues that continue to resonate and simmer decades later.” —Toy Soldier & Model Figure (October 2013)

“The Strength of this work is in the new ways it examines [the Vietnam War].” —Military Heritage (January 2014)

“Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land... is a worthy compilation of essays by historians, journalists, and participants in the Vietnam War... The essays offer in-depth looks at many of the war's Big Questions. Weist...gives room to the voices from all sides of the political spectrum... An excellent examination of the experience of American Vietnam veterans by Bernard Edelman, based on illuminating interviews he has conducted over many years. Edelman also concisely and accurately covers the postwar experiences of Vietnam veterans.” —The VVA Veteran

“Editor Wiest (University of Southern Mississippi) has assembled an eclectic blend of solid academic articles and personal reflections packaged in a large-format, coffee-table-style work with nearly 200 superb photographs, maps, charts and tables. The end result is unconventional but fortuitously so, mixing traditional with new, unfamiliar perspectives and issues with enough breadth, depth and novelty to satisfy a broad audience from astute general readers to the most accomplished Vietnam War students and scholars. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.” —Editors Pick, Choice (March 2007)

“A diverse, unique set of perspectives are juxtaposed under one cover.” —The Internet Bookwatch

“...as this excellent anthology illustrates, there are enduring disagreements concerning the justification, military planning, and long-term effects of the [Vietnam] war. Professor Wiest... has compiled a series of essays written by historians, correspondents, and participants from both sides of the conflict, and thus readers are provided with a variety of perspectives and opinions.” —Jay Freeman, Booklist (August 2006

From the Publisher