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Reviews for The Vietnam War

by Geoffrey C Ward

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In their latest collaboration (after The Civil War: An Illustrated History), Burns and Ward present the details of the Vietnam War (November 1, 1955-April 30, 1975). This companion volume to the ten-part film series airing on PBS this September will enlighten readers to the events that led up to the war, the combat itself, and its aftermath. The authors use archived material and interviews with soldiers and antiwar protestors to tell the story; brief essays by historians and Vietnamese fighters are also offered throughout. Further included are newly classified transcripts from American and Vietnamese politicians revealing the event from all sides, including perspectives of the North Vietnamese soldiers. The finest aspect of the volume may be the stunning yet devastating pictures of the time period. Unique details include artist Maya Lin's model for the Vietnam Memorial and the contact sheet of Eddie Adams's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of the death of a North Vietnamese man. VERDICT A powerful work that adds value and insight to any collection. Fans of Burns and Ward will be awed by their mastery in creating an accurate, thorough historical narrative.-Jason L. Steagall, Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


Choice
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

Since the Vietnam War, several hundred books, thousands of periodical articles, and dozens of movies have been produced, mostly adding to the controversy over the war. Left-wingers cling to their copies of Stanley Karnow's Vietnam: A History (CH, Jan'84), maintaining that the US should never have become involved. Right-wingers find solace in Mark Moyar's Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965 (CH, May'07, 44-5183), proclaiming that the US could have won the war if only it had used different tactics. Historian Ward portrays the perspective of all sides. Those Americans who fought the war believed they were fighting to protect freedom. Opponents of the war saw it as immoral. Even those who fled to Canada are viewed as heroes who gave up their friends, neighbors, and families rather than partake in an unjust war. Ward has collaborated on numerous occasions with filmmaker Ken Burns, the most famous being their documentary The Civil War (1990). A well-written text, excellent maps, iconic photographs, and a superb bibliography make this a mandatory purchase for all libraries and an excellent gift for those who fought for the war in Vietnam or against it in the streets of US cities. The subtitle could well be "A Time for Healing." Summing Up: Essential. All public and academic levels/libraries. --Michael O'Donnell, CUNY College of Staten Island


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A sweeping, richly illustrated narrative of a conflict fast retreating in memory, one that noted documentarian Burns calls a "lamentable chapter in history."As they have done in numerous collaborations (The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, 2014, etc.), Ward and Burns take a vast topic and personalize it. Regarding the Vietnam War, this involved tracking down veterans of the war and recounting their experiences to gain insight into how great events play out on the individual levelthus the "intimate" element of the subtitle. Of particular value is the inclusion of Vietnamese voices on both sides of the conflict, most of whom agree more than four decades later that the question of who won or lost is less important than the fact that no one really prevailed. Ward and Burns use several of these figures as returning characters in the narrative. One, for instance, is Vincent Okamoto, a Japanese-American soldier born in a relocation camp during World War II, who recalls a Southern soldier's advice for not being confused for one of the enemy: "Hey, no offense, partner; but if I was you I'd dye my hair blond and whistle Dixie' when it gets dark." Other figures are relegated to revealing walk-on roles, such as a Vietnamese operative who, with the "pride of a revolutionary," coordinated the assassinations of hundreds of South Vietnamese and American soldiers and officials. The text is accompanied by more than 500 photographs, some of them immediately recognizablethe execution of a Viet Cong on the streets of Saigon, children running to greet a returning American prisoner of warmany others fresh. As ever, Ward and Burns aim for a middle-of-the-road, descriptive path, but the very nature of this enterprise courts controversy, as when they remind readers of Richard Nixon's secret negotiations with North Vietnam while he was a candidate for president, an act that Lyndon Johnson privately deemed treasonous. Accompanying the PBS series to be aired in September 2017, this is an outstanding, indispensable survey of the Vietnam War. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

*Starred Review* In their new intimate yet capacious history, the award-winning, audience-enthralling duo of historian and screenwriter Ward and documentarian extraordinaire Burns investigate the complex, divisive, and tragic Vietnam War from a unique plurality of perspectives. The consistently lucid, flowing, and dramatic narrative begins with French colonial rule in Indochina, then marches forward through every phase of Vietnam's struggle for independence, the international intervention that divided the country, the ensuing civil war, and the Cold War-instigated, ultimately catastrophic American embroilment over four administrations. With the combined impact of robustly detailed writing and more than 500 staggering photographs, Ward and Burns thoroughly chronicle horrific combat and relentless bombing missions, the mass deployment of napalm and Agent Orange, the suffering and death of civilians, the resiliency of North Vietnamese forces, and the powerful antiwar movement. The eye-opening stories of key public figures, from Ho Chi Minh and Ngo Dinh Diem to Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, are matched by those of ordinary people, including American and South and North Vietnamese soldiers and their families; an American doctor POW; a woman field nurse; a young, long-separated North Vietnamese couple; antiwar activists, including war veterans; and Vietnamese refugees. With reflections by prominent journalists and writers, including Philip Caputo and Viet Thanh Nguyen, this is a vivid, affecting, definitive, and essential illustrated history. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Powerful in its own right, this superlative volume will be released with much fanfare and a 350,000 print run in conjunction with the September airing of Burns and Ward's 10-part PBS series.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2017 Booklist


Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Burns continues his tradition of narrating the audio abridgment of his documentary work, as he has done before with The Civil War, The National Parks, and other projects. The results are mixed, but that's not because Burns lacks talent as a narrator; he has a measured, clear voice, and a strong delivery. Rather, the abridgment itself and the limitations of the audio format cause this product to falter-missing are the intense battle images, the unforgettable music of the 1960s and '70s, and the personal interviews with Vietnamese speakers. Here, the only eyewitness recordings spliced in with the narration are ones by Americans. As a result, Burns, with his natural American accent, becomes the mouthpiece for Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, which creates a distance for the listener. The recordings of U.S. presidents with various generals and advisers becomes tedious in the audiobook, with Burns merely reading "Johnson" and "McNamara" followed by a rendering of their remarks. A Knopf hardcover. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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