Lexington Books
Pages: 218
•
Trim: 6½ x 9½
978-1-4985-0389-1 • Hardback • October 2014 • $121.00 • (£93.00)
978-1-4985-0391-4 • Paperback • May 2016 • $51.99 • (£40.00)
978-1-4985-0390-7 • eBook • October 2014 • $49.00 • (£38.00)
Anthony James Joes is professor emeritus of political science at Saint Joseph’s University and former visiting professor at the U.S. Army War College.
Chapter One: The Viet Minh War
Chapter Two: The Coming of Ngo Dinh Diem
Chapter Three: The Murder of President Diem
Chapter Four: The South Vietnamese Army
Chapter Five: The Tet Offensive and The Ho Chi Minh Trail
Chapter Six: The 1972 Easter Offensive
Chapter Seven: The Americans Abandon the South Vietnamese
Chapter Eight: Retrenchment and Collapse
Chapter Nine: Reflection on the Fall of South Vietnam
Appendix: Could South Vietnam Have Endured?
In his study of the fall of South Vietnam, Professor Joes has provided, once again, a carefully crafted analytic and extensively documented account of an historic period critical in the history of the United States. Like his earlier works, this is insightful and suggestive. It provides assessments of courses not taken as well as those pursued in Southeast Asia—employing a studied calculus of probabilities. It is highly recommended to all interested in the past and future of U.S. foreign, defense, and general security, policies.
— A. James Gregor, University of California, Berkeley
Anthony Joes conducts a profound and sweeping reassessment of the fall of South Vietnam. Not a history of the war, this eloquent and impassioned treatise tackles some of the critical events, leaders, and decisions, commencing with the role of the French and Japanese and proceeding through to the fall of Saigon, and alternative strategies that could have been pursued to produce a different outcome. The book is richly documented, shows mastery of comparative military history to illuminate 30 years of war, and attacks the myths that have distorted our understanding of what actually happened, and what could have happened. All readers will find his account intellectually stimulating. Moreover, there are lessons here that are pertinent for American statesmen engaged in more recent wars. The Vietnam reader will find a veritable cornucopia of critical assertions and conclusions to visit, some for the first time.
— Gabriel Marcella, Retired Professor, U.S. Army War College
The war over the Vietnam War continues, and Anthony James Joes' provocative assessment of why we lost will both enrage and fortify (depending on one's point of view).
— Jeffrey Record, U.S. Air War College