The Algonquin Area Public Library District

Vietnam War Pathfinder

DVDs:

The Vietnam War. New York, N.Y.: A&E Television Networks, 2008.

This is a 2 disc set that profiles the key players and decision makers, and chronicles all of the major events of Americas longest and most controversial war. It contains archival footage from the arrival of the US advisors in 1959 to the airlift from the roof of the US embassy in 1975. This set contains archival footage as well as interviews from people who experienced the events.
Vecchione, Judith, Austin Hoyt, and Will Lyman. Vietnam: A Television History. S. Burlington, VT: WGBH Video, 2004.

This DVD set was a 6 year project. The 11-hour series analyzes the costs and consequences of the controversial war.

PHOTOGRAPHIC BOOKS:
Burrows, Larry, and David Halberstam. Larry Burrows, Vietnam. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. Print.

Burrows was the only photographer allowed to take the doors off a fighter-bomber so he could lean out to snap some of his most extraordinary images of the Vietnam War. Burrows photographed the war from the early days in 1961 all the way to 1971. His photos capture the true nature of war.

Page, Tim, Douglas Niven, and Christopher Riley. Another Vietnam: Pictures of the War from the Other Side. Washington, D.C: National Geographic, 2002. Print.

This work is a collection of photos from the opposition force of the conflict. It allows an interesting look at a different perspective.

MEMORIAL:
Lopes, Sal. The Wall: Images and Offerings from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. New York: Collins, 1987. Print.

This award winning collection of photographs mainly shows different peoples reactions to the Wall it is incredibly moving and informative.

Ezell, Edward C. Reflections on the Wall: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1987. Print.

The Smithsonian Institute has collected and published various essays, reactions and photographs regarding the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTS:
Steinman, Ron. The Soldiers' Story: Vietnam in Their Own Words. New York: TV Books, 1999. Print.

This book contains stunning, plain-spoken recollections that reveal the terror of combat and the perils of a far off war and the folly of government policy. It is of course, an account of the war from those who suffered through it.

Moore, Harold G, and Joseph L. Galloway. We Were Soldiers Once And Young: Ia Drang, the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam. New York: Random House, 1992. Print.

This account was adapted into the motion picture We Were Soldiers and it is a great firsthand account of the early battles in the Vietnam War.

RELATED READING:
Duiker, William J. "Ho Chi Minh: a Life." Sage Public Administration Abstracts. 27.4 (2001). Print.

Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) fought for half a century to free Vietnam from foreign domination, and the story of his life illuminates the ongoing struggle between colonialism and nationalism that still shapes world history. William J. Duiker, who served in Saigon's U.S. embassy during the Vietnam War, spent 30 years delving into Vietnamese and European archives, as well as interviewing Minh's surviving colleagues, in order to write this definitive biography.
Corfield, Justin J. The History of Vietnam. The Greenwood histories of the modern nations. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print.

Part of a larger series, this book very accurately reports on the history of the nation that was the center of world focus from 1959 1975.