Why the North won the Vietnam War /

There are countless books on the Vietnam War, most trying to analyze what the US did wrong. The well-written scholarly essays in this collection concentrate on what North Vietnam did right. The authors offer well-balanced accounts refuting the best arguments of both left- and right-wing historians. The book contains an adequate index and a useful "Abbreviations and Acronyms" page that aids readers in deciphering the endless military organizations; a glossary of names and places would have been helpful. It does not include any photographs and, much less forgivable, does not supply a single map of Vietnam or Southeast Asia. The chief irritant, though, is the small, light print, which makes for difficult reading. Although all of the essays are well documented, there is no bibliography. The by-product of a college conference with the same title, the book is clearly not written to introduce readers to the Vietnam War. Hence, its audience will be academics already well versed in the conflict. Because it is a collection of essays, it cannot readily be compared with other works, but it will be a useful addition to any serious collection of modern US and Asian history. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. M. O'Donnell formerly, CUNY College of Staten Island

Editor Gilbert (North Georgia Coll. and State Univ.; The Vietnam War on Campus) has brought together nine leading authorities on Vietnam to discuss the difficult issue of how a superpower was defeated by a nominally inferior Third World state. While many academic libraries may exercise caution in these economically stressful times in purchasing expensive collections of essays, this particular work deserves a second glance. Scholars such as Jeffrey Record, George C. Herring, William J. Duiker, and John Prados and their colleagues in this volume provide both depth and breadth to any discussion of the wars in mid-century Southeast Asia, and their attempts at clarifying the factors behind North Vietnamese success and U.S. and South Vietnamese failure will certainly elevate scholarly debate on the topic. This formidable collection covers foreign and domestic policy, military tactics and strategy, and the usually neglected cultural questions surrounding the fall of South Vietnam to the Communist North. A valuable addition to academic libraries.-John R. Vallely, Siena Coll. Lib., Loudonville, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.