Vietnam

The Vietnam War ripped America apart and charted the nation's tumultuous future. In their tens of thousands, young men went off to fight in what was an initially popular war only to face defeat and acrimony as national resolve wavered - and returned home to a nation that reviled them and tried to forget about them. Written by Andrew Wiest, the bestselling author of The Boys of '67: Charlie Company's War in Vietnam this book traces the American experience of Vietnam from the war's popular inception to its morale-crushing and bitter conclusion. Based on rich collection housed at the Center of Military History and at the Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech, Vietnam allows the reader a grunt's-eye view of the conflict - from the steaming rice paddies and swamps of the Mekong Delta, to the triple-canopy rainforest of the Central Highlands, and to the forlorn Marine bases that dotted the DMZ. The stories contained within these pages detail everything from heroism and battle to helicopters hitting the landing zones and death and injury. In their own words, this is a true and grippingly accurate portrait of the American war in Vietnam through the eyes of the men and women who fought in that far away land, and those they left behind.

Dr Andrew Wiest is Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi and is also the founding director of the Center for the Study of War and Society. After attending the University of Southern Mississippi for his undergraduate and masters degrees, Dr Wiest went on to receive his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1990. 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. 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; Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land; and The Boys of '67 which has been used as the basis for the National Geographic's Brothers in War feature. Additionally Dr Wiest has appeared in and consulted on several historical documentaries for the History Channel, Granada Television, PBS, the BBC, and for Lucasfilm. The author lives in Hattiesburg, MS.

Introduction 1 Who We Were 2 Drop and Give Me 20 3 Welcome to Vietnam 4 Life and Death in the Nam 5 Combat 6 Loss 7 A World of Hurt 8 Changing Attitudes 9 Freedom Bird 10 Life After Nam Bibliography Acknowledgements Exclusive Extract from The Boys of '67 Index