Triumph Revisited: Historians Battle for the Vietnam War

Description

More than thirty years later, the Vietnam War still stands as one of the most controversial events in the history of the United States, and historians have so far failed to come up with a definitive narrative of the wartime experience. With competing viewpoints already in play, Mark Moyar’s recent revisionist approach in Triumph Forsaken has created heated debate over who "owns" the history of America’s war in Vietnam. Triumph Revisited: Historians Battle for the Vietnam War collects critiques of Triumph Forsaken from both sides of this debate, written by an array of Vietnam scholars, cataloguing arguments about how the war should be remembered, how history may be reconstructed, and by whom. A lively introduction and conclusion by editors Andrew Wiest and Michael Doidge provide context and balance to the essays, as well as Moyar’s responses, giving students and scholars of the Vietnam era a glimpse into how history is constructed and reconstructed. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction: Historians and the Vietnam War Section I: The Vietnam War in an Asian Perspective Chapter 1 The Vietnamese Civil War of 1955–1975 in Historical Perspective Chapter 2 Ngo Dinh Diem and South Vietnam Reconsidered Chapter 3 What We Still Do Not Know: Moyar’s Treatment of Global Communism Chapter 4 A One-sided Picture of the Chinese–Vietnamese Ties during the Vietnam War Chapter 5 Section I Response Section II: Debating Triumph Forsaken as History Chapter 6 Triumph Impossible Chapter 7 Fighting Stories Chapter 8 Imperial Revanchism: Attempting to Recover a Post-war "Noble Cause" Chapter 9 Triumph Forsaken as a Path to Setting the Record Straight Chapter 10 Governing the Vietnamese "Masses": The United States, Ngo Dinh Diem, and the Notion of Triumph Forsaken Chapter 11 Triumph Forsaken as Military History Chapter 12 Section II Response Section III: Orthodoxy and Revisionism Chapter 13 Orthodoxy and Revisionism: The Domino Theory as a Case Study Chapter 14 Caricature for Caricature?: The Vietnamese Context in Triumph Forsaken Chapter 15 Familiar Territory: Mark Moyar's Call to Revisionism and the Counterfactual Chapter 16 Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Triumph Forsaken and the Revisionist Challenge Chapter 17 Ngo Dinh Diem and Vietnam War Revisionism in Mark Moyar's Triumph Forsaken Chapter 18 Section III Response Conclusion Contributors Index