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More than forty years after it ended, the Vietnam War continues to haunt our country. We still argue over why we were there, whether we could have won, and who was right and wrong in their response to the conflict. When the war divided the country, it created deep political fault lines that continue to divide us today. Now, continuing in the tradition of their critically acclaimed collaborations, the authors draw on dozens and dozens of interviews in America and Vietnam to give us the perspectives of people involved at all levels of the war: U.S. and Vietnamese soldiers and their families, high-level officials in America and Vietnam, antiwar protestors, POWs, and many more. The book plunges us into the chaos and intensity of combat, even as it explains the rationale that got us into Vietnam and kept us there for so many years. Rather than taking sides, the book seeks to understand why the war happened the way it did, and to clarify its complicated legacy. Beautifully written and richly illustrated, this is a tour de force that is certain to launch a new national conversation.
Read by Brian Corrigan with Fred Sanders, and with an introduction read by Ken Burns
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
September 5, 2017 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780307970855
- File size: 900338 KB
- Duration: 31:15:42
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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The melancholy tone of Ken Burns's voice exactly suits the mood of this history of the Vietnam War, which precedes his newest documentary, coming to PBS in September 2017. The book takes a nonjudgmental approach, but it's clear the war's outcome was shaped by actions taken decades earlier--as if the result were inevitable. Burns adds no false drama but always reads with a tone of respect for the front-line combatants and the earnest opponents. He varies his pace only slightly to keep listeners engaged. Overall, he lets the story speak for itself. It would have been easy to dismiss the choice of Burns as narrator as a vanity project, but this would be unfair. His voice suits the work. Overall, the audio does the print version full justice. R.C.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine -
August 21, 2017
This lavishly illustrated large-format book from frequent collaborators Ward and Burns (The Roosevelts) serves as the companion volume to the eponymous 18-hour, 10-part PBS documentary from Burns and Lynn Novick. The work follows the usual Ward and Burns formula of mixing solid historical narrative with personal stories of both the famous (in this case, mainly politicians and military leaders from all sides of the conflict) and the ordinary (troops, war journalists, and anti-war activists). Well-written and deeply researched, this history covers virtually every aspect of the French and American wars in Vietnam from 1945 to 1975, focusing mainly on military, diplomatic, and political issues. Individual tales of Army infantrymen, Marine grunts, and other combatants are woven throughout the larger narrative. There is virtually no new history here, however, and a number of the personal stories included here can be readily found in memoirs and other books, including those of Vietnam War veteran writers Philip Caputo, Tobias Wolff, Karl Marlantes, W.D. Ehrhart, Tim O’Brien, Joan Furey, and John Musgrave, and the Vietnamese novelist Bảo Ninh, as well as the work of the former war correspondents Neil Sheehan, John Laurence, and Joe Galloway. Nevertheless, anyone looking for an expansive overview of the Vietnam War will find much to admire here. Maps & photos. -
October 30, 2017
Emmy Award–winning filmmaker Burns continues his tradition of narrating the audio abridgment of his documentary work, as he has done before with The Civil War, The National Parks, and other projects. The results are mixed, but that’s not because Burns lacks talent as a narrator; he has a measured, clear voice, and a strong delivery. Rather, the abridgment itself and the limitations of the audio format cause this product to falter—missing are the intense battle images, the unforgettable music of the 1960s and ’70s, and the personal interviews with Vietnamese speakers. Here, the only eyewitness recordings spliced in with the narration are ones by Americans. As a result, Burns, with his natural American accent, becomes the mouthpiece for Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, which creates a distance for the listener. The recordings of U.S. presidents with various generals and advisers becomes tedious in the audiobook, with Burns merely reading “Johnson” and “McNamara” followed by a rendering of their remarks. A Knopf hardcover.
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