Sacred War
William J. Duiker
Here's another quick summary of a book I read for my Vietnam class, again in installments. This book is somewhat different than any I've come across so far, in that it was written primarily to show the war through Vietnamese eyes. I think there's a tendency for us in America to view the Vietnam War as a conflict that had great bearing for our country, which it did. However, I agree with Duiker when he says that we tend to forget about Vietnam. His main goal in writing the book is to show how Hanoi won the war, rather than focusing on how the United States lost it.
This approach works very well. It puts the entire mess into interesting perspective and challenges the reader to realize that the Americans in Vietnam were invaders. It also gives the communist leadership in Hanoi credit that it must deserve. After all, they did win. The only major pitfall of the book is that it gets rather academic in some areas, but as an alternative explanation of events in Vietnam I think it is very useful.
Grade: B
William J. Duiker
Here's another quick summary of a book I read for my Vietnam class, again in installments. This book is somewhat different than any I've come across so far, in that it was written primarily to show the war through Vietnamese eyes. I think there's a tendency for us in America to view the Vietnam War as a conflict that had great bearing for our country, which it did. However, I agree with Duiker when he says that we tend to forget about Vietnam. His main goal in writing the book is to show how Hanoi won the war, rather than focusing on how the United States lost it.
This approach works very well. It puts the entire mess into interesting perspective and challenges the reader to realize that the Americans in Vietnam were invaders. It also gives the communist leadership in Hanoi credit that it must deserve. After all, they did win. The only major pitfall of the book is that it gets rather academic in some areas, but as an alternative explanation of events in Vietnam I think it is very useful.
Grade: B
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