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Book Launch | Vietnam's American War: A History

Author Pierre Asselin, the Dwight E. Stanford Chair in the History of US Foreign Relations at San Diego State University, will discuss his book that offers a North Vietnamese perspective of the Vietnam War. Asselin draws on two decades of research in Vietnamese archives to relate the communist Vietnamese experience and its role in the outcome of the war.

Date & Time

Tuesday
Jan. 30, 2018
3:30pm – 5:00pm ET

Location

5th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center
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Overview

Image removed.The Woodrow Wilson Center’s History and Public Policy Program welcomes Pierre Asselin for a book launch discussion of Vietnam's American War: A History.

Communist forces in the Vietnam War lost most battles and suffered disproportionally higher casualties than the United States and its allies throughout the conflict. The ground war in South Vietnam and the air war in the North were certainly important in shaping the fates of the victors and losers, but they alone fail to explain why Hanoi bested Washington in the end. To make sense of the Vietnam War, we must look beyond the war itself.

In his new work, Vietnam's American War (Cambridge, 2018), Pierre Asselin explains the formative experiences and worldview of the men who devised communist strategies and tactics during the conflict, and analyzes their rationale and impact. Drawing on two decades of research in Vietnam's own archives, including classified policy statements and reports, Asselin expertly and straightforwardly relates the Vietnamese communist experience - and the reasons the war turned out the way it did. 


Hosted By

History and Public Policy Program

The History and Public Policy Program makes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs.  Read more

Cold War International History Project

The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Through an award winning Digital Archive, the Project allows scholars, journalists, students, and the interested public to reassess the Cold War and its many contemporary legacies. It is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program.  Read more

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