Where the Domino Fell (6^th Ed.) America and Vietnam 1945 - 2010

This updated, expanded edition of Where the Domino Fell recounts the history of American involvement in Vietnam from the end of World War II, clarifying the political aims, military strategy, and social and economic factors that contributed to the participants' actions.

• Revised and updated to include an examination of Vietnam through the point of view of the soldiers themselves, and brings the story up to the present day through a look at how the war has been memorialized
• A final chapter examines Vietnam through the lens of Oliver Stone's films and opens up a discussion of the War in popular culture
• Written with brevity and clarity, this concise narrative history of the Vietnam conflict is an ideal student text
• A chronology, glossary, and a bibliography all serve as helpful reference points for students
• An important contribution not only to the study of the Vietnam War but to an understanding of the larger workings of American foreign policy

Preface vii

Prologue: LBJ and Vietnam ix

1 Eternal War: The Vietnamese Heritage 1

2 The First Indochina War, 1945–1954 18

3 The Making of a Quagmire, 1954–1960 43

4 The New Frontier in Vietnam, 1961–1963 67

5 Planning a Tragedy, 1963–1965 93

6 Into the Abyss, 1965–1966 117

7 The Mirage of Progress, 1966–1967 138

8 Tet and the Year of the Monkey, 1968 163

9 The Beginning of the End, 1969–1970 190

10 The Fall of South Vietnam, 1970–1975 215

11 Distorted Images, Missed Opportunities, 1975–1995 237

12 Oliver Stone’s Vietnam 257

Selected Bibliography 280

A Vietnam War Chronology 283

Glossary and Guide to Acronyms 292

Index 295

Maps

Map 1 Indochina, 1995 xii

Map 2 Vietnam, 1945 to 1975 66

Map 3 Major battles of the Tet offensive, January 1968 169

James S. Olson is Distinguished Professor of History at Sam Houston State University, and the recipient of the university's Excellence in Teaching Award and Excellence in Research Award. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of more than 30 books, including The Ethnic Dimension in American History, Fourth Edition (with Heather Olson Beal, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) and Bathsheba's Breast: Women, Cancer, and History (2002), which won the History of Science Category Award from the Association of American Publishers, and was recognized by the Los Angeles Times as one of the best non-fiction books in America for 2002.

Randy W. Roberts is Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University. Among other books he is the author of A Team for America: The Army-Navy Game That Rallied a Nation at War (2012), coeditor of Hollywood's America: Twentieth-Century America Through Film, Fourth Edition (with Steven Mintz, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), and coauthor of A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory (with James S. Olson, 2001), My Lai: A Brief History with Documents (with James S. Olson, 1998), and John Wayne American (with James S. Olson, 1996).