Introduction
The
Vietnam War was a war that occurred in the late twentieth century, between the
United States military and groups of Viet Cong resistance fighters. While many
simply see the war at face value, a conflict during the Cold War between
Capitalism and Communism, there was much more going on during the conflict
itself. Apart from studies and theories of war from the non-fiction and
government documents, other themes and aspects of the war arise from first hand
soldier accounts as well as the literature emerging from the conflict. A number
of these aspects, such as psychologies of the troops, reactions from the local
population, gender studies, etc, can be studied for future papers and research.
The
purpose of this Webliography is to offer research and source materials for
their papers and research on the subject of the Vietnam War and themes that
emerge during the conflict and literature written on the conflict, with
particular focus on those in the field of English or similar academic field of
studies. This Vietnam War Webliography was collected and designed in order to
help those in the academic community or otherwise find more research materials
on the Vietnam War for studies or papers.
Each
source has something to offer in the broad subject of the Vietnam War, covering
either facts and details about the war or themes and subjects that arise from
soldier authors and other writers about events that occurred during the war.
Additional materials can be found on the subject by a variety of means. Either
from a well developed Google search to a search into a database or library,
with the subject and theme already in mind. If one is still at a complete loss
of what to look for, examine the internet for a broad Vietnam War view and
narrow it from there (on this, the broadest, level Wikipedia might be a good
starting point but be sure to find more concrete sources and evidence).
The
sources provided by this Webliography will provide information about the
Vietnam War and the world around it at the time, covering themes dealt by the
soldiers, native people, and some of the opinions and thoughts of the people
back home. The sources will vary from government documents to soldier-author
books, documentaries to films, and many others. Each source will have a short
description of the content so that they are easier to sift through, and each
type of source will be divided into sections that will better help divide them
and aid the future users gain easier access to them.
Books and Print
Sources
> Butler, Michael
J. “U.S. Military Intervention in Crisis, 1945 – 1994: An Empirical Inquiry of Just
War Theory.” The Journal of Conflict Resolution. 47.2 (2003): 226 – 248.
This article
explores the themes of the “just war,” as in a conflict in the name of justice.
It explores the notion that because of their self perceived aura of goodness,
this justified any actions performed by the military and its soldiers.
>
Caputo,
Philip. A Rumor of War. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996.
This is a memoir
of the Vietnam War by Philip Caputo, an officer during the early parts of the
Vietnam War. While exploring a number of different themes throughout his
memoir, Caputo seems to focus on the differing attitudes of soldiers in the
field and officers giving orders at the local headquarters.
>
Chapman,
Jessica. “Teaching the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese Perspective.”
Organization of
American Historians Magazine of History. 18.5 (2004): 33 – 35.
In this short
article, Chapman lays out some details that explain some of the thoughts and
behaviors of the Vietnamese people during the events that lead up to the war.
It also provides some additional articles and books on the subject.
>
Couser,
G. Thomas. “Going After Cacciato: The Romance and the Real War.” The Journal
of Narrative Technique. 13.1 (1983): 1 – 10.
In this article,
the clash between reality and imagination is discussed. Couser writes that the
character Paul Berlin (and in turn Tim O’Brien – author of “Going After
Cacciato”) is obsessed with the real story of the war being told, but it
conflicted by the knowledge that the war is receiving a lot of media attention
and thus his story would be seen simply as “just another war story” and thus
changes the way he tells his story in order for the material to appear fresh
and new. So, while showing different aspects of the war, the article shows
difficulties faced by soldier-authors in writing their works.
> Daddis, Gregory
A. “The Problem of Metrics: Assessing Progress and Effectiveness in the Vietnam
War.” War in History 19.1 (2012): 73 – 98.
Daddis explores
the problems in assessing progress during the Vietnam War in this article. He
examines problems that emerged because of the officers in charge wanted to see
numbers and statistics of the soldier’s progress, such as kill counts, instead
of actually taking and holding locations from the Viet Cong during the war.
>
Epstein,
Renee. “Talking Dirty: Memories of War and the Vietnam War Novel.”
Massachusetts
Review.
34.3 (1993): 457 – 481.
In this article,
Epstein explores how war is remembered in the memories of the soldiers and how
the soldier writers decide to write of or draw from their experiences during
the war.
> Heinemann,
Larry. Paco’s Story. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1986.
This is a
fictional novel written by the soldier author Larry Heinemann, who was an
average grunt in the US military during the Vietnam War. In his fictional
piece, he covers the aftermath and public reaction of the war for one of the
soldiers returning home. He explores themes of the wounded warrior returning
home to face hostility by the general public who did not support the war and
blame the soldiers.
> Hellmann, John. American
Myth and the Legacy of Vietnam. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986.
In this book,
Hellman examines different themes, values, and symbols that occur in Vietnam
literature, fiction, and memoirs.
>
Herring,
George C. America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950 – 1975.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.
This book
provides a good and detailed account of the Vietnam War, its events, causes,
and effects. The summary provided within the books provides a good insight on
the inner workings of those in charge of the war and the decisions they made
regarding military and political actions throughout the war.
>
Herzog,
Tobey C. Vietnam War Stories: Innocence Lost. London: Routeledge, 1992.
In this book,
Herzog explores the theme of the “innocence lost” of the soldiers and the
society of the United States during the Vietnam War. The war left the soldiers
and nation, after feeling invincible from Kennedy and political speeches,
distraught after the hardship and trauma left during and after the war. This is
a good read for those wishing to better understand the reactions to the war
from US soldiers and civilians.
> Laufer, Robert
S., M. S. Gallops, and Ellen Frey-Wouters. “War Stress and Trauma: The
Vietnam Veteran Experience.” Journal
of Health and Social Behavior 25.1 (1984): 65 – 85.
This article
explores the psychological angle of the Vietnam War, and the war’s effects on
the soldiers fighting it. It studies one of the most common phenomenon, post
traumatic stress disorder and the alarmingly large amount of soldiers that have
been diagnosed with this disorder.
>
Lunch,
William L. and Peter W. Sperlich. “American Public Opinion and the War in
Vietnam.” The Western Political Quarterly 32.1 (1979): 21 – 44.
This article
provides information and insight into the reactions of the American population
during the Vietnam War. Most of the reactions back home tended to be negative,
and this article might help one more fully understand their reactions to the
war and its policies itself.
> Marlantes, Karl.
Matterhorn. New York: Grove Press, 2010.
This lengthy
fiction piece displays many different themes throughout the novel. Marlantes
covers themes varying from diseases, morality, grunts versus officers, war
strategies as viewed by the average soldiers, fragging, and many others.
>
Nash,
George H. “Dissolution of the Paris Peace Accords.” National Review.
27.41 (1975): 1166 – 1171.
This article delves
into the problems of the Paris Peace Accords and how they did not work as
intended. Nash explores who violated the ceasefire and lead to the fall of
South Vietnam.
> O’Brien, Tim. Going
After Cacciato. New York: Broadway Books, 1999.
In this fictional
Tim O’Brien (a popular soldier author) novel, desertion is the primary theme
explored. While dealing with the emotional states of soldiers during the war
and deserted from the conflict, we also get a look into how some interactions
between the soldiers and other native people.
>
Raymond,
Michael W. “Imagined Responses to Vietnam: Tim O’Brien’s Going After
Cacciato.” Critique.
24.2 (1983): 97 – 104.
This article
compares Going After Cacciato with
other Vietnam War novels and memoirs, including A Rumor of War, in order to compare writing styles as well as
content. It also touches on the reality of the war and analyzing the added
imagination O’Brien placed on the experiences of Paul Berlin in order to create
a “more real” feeling of the soldiers in the war.
> Ricks, Thomas E.
“What Ever Happened to Accountability?” Harvard Business Review 90.10 (2012):
93 – 100.
This article
examines the actions of soldiers and officers in regards to morality, how some
officers would “take care of their own” by covering for soldiers who performed
misdeeds on civilians during the war (whether this be murder, rape, or other
actions).
>
“Shaping
Up.” Time. 88.11 (1966): 50.
In this article,
some statistics are given about the desertion rates and penalties of desertion
in the South Vietnamese military.
>
Stearman,
William L. “Lessons Learned From Vietnam.” Military Review. 90.2 (2010):
109 – 166.
In this article,
Stearman presents some misconcenptions about the Vietnam War, including the
general opinions of the South Vietnamese population and the involvement of the
South Vietnamese Military in the war.
>
Tovy,
Tal. “Peasants and Revolutionary Movements: The Viet Cong as a Case Study.”
War in History. 17.2 (2010):
217 – 230.
In this article,
the themes of Viet Cong motivations are explored, which reveal how some of the
Vietnamese civilians were feeling during and about the Vietnam War. The article
also touches on some United States strategies designed to cause desertion in
the ranks of the Viet Cong.
DVD and CD
Sources
> Apocalypse Now. Dir. Francis
Coppola. Perf. Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall. Paramount, 1979.
This fictional film circles around a
tour of a US military captain and his small squad during the Vietnam War. The themes
of this film focus on the absurdities of the war, but also provide examples of
the behaviors and emotions of the soldiers in the field.
> Dear America:
Letters Home From Vietnam. Dir. Bill Couturié. Perf. Tom Berenger, Ellen
Burstyn, J. Kenneth Campbell. Couturie Company, 1987.
This documentary reviews letter from US
soldier back home during the Vietnam War, allowing more access to the way the
soldiers were thinking about the war itself.
> Hamburger Hill. Dir. John
Irvin. Perf. Anthony Barrile, Michael Boatman, Don Cheadle. RKO Pictures, 1987.
This fiction film shows the brutality of
the war by focusing on the taking of a hill nicknamed by the soldiers as
“Hamburger Hill,” where wave after wave of US troops are sacrificed to take a
well defended hill from the Viet Cong. This shows the clash between officers in
command and the grunt fighting the war, as the hill is not kept after it is
taken as it has no significant strategic value.
> Hearts and Minds. Dir. Peter
Davis. Perf. George Bidault, Clark Clifford, George Coker. BBS Productions,
1974.
This documentary covers the opposition
to the war, displaying why “American racism and self-righteous militarism”
helped to prolong the war itself.
> Heaven &
Earth.
Dir. Oliver Stone. Perf. Hiep Thi Le, Tommy Lee Jones, Haing S. Ngor. Alcor
Films, 1993.
In this fiction film, we see the war
from a different angle, from the native Vietnamese side of the war. From the
angle of a native Vietnamese woman, we can see many different themes emerge
from the Vietnam War, including post traumatic stress, rape, war (both from the
view of the Viet Cong and the US military), and soldier-native marriage.
> Vietnam: A
Television History.
Nar. Will Lyman. WGBH, 1983.
This documentary made for television
does its best to cover the history of the Vietnam War itself, attempting to
cover it from as many perspectives as possible in order to let viewers get to
better understand the war and situations that arose around it itself.
Website and
Online Materials
>
“1961
– 1973: GI Resistance in the Vietnam War.” Libcom.org. 3 Sept. 2006
<http://libcom.org/history/vietnam-gi-resistance>.
This website
article traces the anti-war movement in the United States army during the
Vietnam War. This movement is tied closely to the morale and behavior of the
troops, which in turn would occasionally include the desertion rates the
general infantry touring Vietnam.
>
“Explorations:
The Vietnam War as History.” Digital History. 26 Nov. 2013. <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/vietnam/vietnam_pubopinion.cfm>.
This website
provides many different kinds of research materials. While the link goes
directly to reactions, public opinion, and anti-war movements about the Vietnam
War, the whole website also provide information about other aspects about the
conflict.
> “Military Ranks
– Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard.” Military Factory.
<http://www.militaryfactory.com/ranks/>.
This website
provides the ranking systems of the US military. This can be handy when
attempting to decipher the ranks of officers and soldiers in other documents
and literature.
>
“A
Vietnam Timeline.” Modern American Poetry. <http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/vietnam/timeline.htm>.
This website
provides a brief summary of the events leading up to the Vietnam War, events
during the war, and some events that occurred afterwards. It allows for a good,
short look into the causes of the war, major events during the war, and some of
the effects from the conflict.
>
“Vietnam
Veteran’s Terminology and Slang.” Vietvet.org. 22 Mar. 2000. <http://www.vietvet.org/glossary.htm>.
This website
provides a good glossary when going through soldier literature or other Vietnam
literature. The words, acronyms, and phrases tend to be either military jargon
or slang used by the soldiers in the field. Knowing these or having this
resource handy will help one understand some readings and materials around the
US soldiers and military.
>
“Vietnam
War.” History.com. <http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war>.
This website
provides a more in depth history and summary of the Vietnam War. It also
provides other articles and resources available to learn more about the events
surrounding the conflict in Vietnam.
>
“Vietnam
War Weapons.” Military Factory. 12 Nov. 2013. <http://www.militaryfactory.com/vietnam/vietnam_war_weapons.asp>.
The Vietnam War
has sometimes been called a technological war, as the US was using modern
weapons against the older technology of the Viet Cong. This website offers a
list of links to a variety of different technologies employed by the military
forces of both sides of the war, helping to understand how the war itself was
fought.
Maps
> Department of
History. United States Military Academy: West Point. The Vietnam War.
< http://www.westpoint.edu/history/SitePages/Vietnam%20War.aspx>.
This website provides many US military
war maps during the Vietnam War, helping to outline the battles and strategies
employed.
> “Vietnam War –
Maps: United States Military.” eHistory Archives. <http://ehistory.osu.edu/vietnam/maps/>.
This website provides several different
maps from the US military during the Vietnam War. They can be helpful in
learning the tactics and events of the war throughout the many years throughout
the war itself.
