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English Pages 176 Year 2022
THE VIETNAM WAR IN HISTORY, LITERATURE AND FILM
BAAS Paperbacks Series Editors: Philip Joh~ Davies, Professor of American Studies at De Montfort University; George McKay, Professor of English and American Studies at the University of Central Lancashire; Simon Newman, Sir Denis Brogan Chair in American Studies at the University of Glasgow; and Carol R. Smith, Senior Lecturer in English and American Studies at King Alfred's College, Winchester.
Published in association with the British Association for American Studies, this exciting series has become an indispensable collection in American Studies. Each volume tackles an important area and is written by an accepted academic expert within the discipline. Books selected for the series are clearly written introductions designed to offer students definitive short surveys of key topics in the field. Titles in the series include: The Cultures ofthe American New West
Neil Campbell Gender, Ethnicity and Sexuality in Contemporary American Film
Jude Davies and Carol R. Smith The United States and World War II
Martin Folly The Sixties in America: History, Politics and Protest
M. J. Heale The United States and European Reconstruction
John Killick Religion in America to z865
Bryan F. LeBeau American Exceptionalism Deborah L. Madsen The Amen"can Landscape
Stephen F. Mills Slavery and Servitude in North America, z6o:;-z8oo
Kenneth Morgan ]a1_1_ in American Culture
Peter Townsend The New Deal
Fiona Venn Animation and America
Paul Wells Political Scandals in the USA
Robert Williams
The Vietnam War in History, Literature and Film
MARK TAYLOR
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS
© Mark Taylor, 2003 Edinburgh University Press Ltd 22 George Square, Edinburgh Typeset in Fournier by Koinonia, Manchester, and printed and bound in Great Britain by CPT Antony Rowe, East bourne. Transferred to digital print 2008 A CIP Record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN o 7486 I 533 4 (paperback) The right of Mark Taylor to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Contents
List of Illustrations Map of South-east Asia Time line
vi Vll
V111
Introduction: Understanding America's War in Vietnam I
Telling True War Stories
IO
2
Heroes
33
3 Cinematic History: The Case of]FK 4 Battles Villains 6 Veterans
I3I
Conclusion: Telling Differences A Guide to Further Reading
I)I
Glossary
I)4
Index
I))
Illustrations
2
Map of South-east Asia (1954-75)
v11
American soldiers in Vietnam
34
3 President Johnson listening to a tape sent to him by his son-in-law, Captain Charles Robb
62
4 American soldiers carry a wounded comrade out of combat
85
Map of Son My
108
6 Some of the dead at My Lai 4
111
7 Vietnam veterans at the memorial wall in Washington DC
136
CHIN A
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THAILAND '-
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