Everyman in Vietnam: A Soldier's Journey into the Quagmire [Paperback]

Based on an exceptional collection of letters written by an American soldier during his tour of duty,Everyman in Vietnam: A Soldier's Journey into the Quagmireprovides a gripping and multi-dimensional way to understand the nature and enduring significance of the Vietnam conflict. The book's vivid, intimate, and accessible account of Jimmy Gilch, an ordinary American soldier in Vietnam, offers a unique glimpse into the complexities and contradictions of the American intervention there. The movement back and forth between the larger history of the war and the experiences of Gilch fighting in a very particular place at a particular time gives readers a sense of the concrete nature of the war in Vietnam that is often absent in more general treatments. Offering an instructive example of the craft of history in action,Everyman in Vietnamexplores the history of the multinational and global processes that led to the U.S. interventions, the political calculations on opposing sides that shaped successive decisions for military escalation, and Vietnamese perspectives on the conflict.

List of Maps
Acronyms and Key Terms
Acknowledgements
About the Authors

Prologue: In the Ho Bo Woods: June 28, 1966

Introduction

Chapter One:Divergent Trajectories: America and Vietnam after World War II
The Promise of Prosperity
Struggle to Liberate a Shattered Land
Early U.S. Interventions in Indochina
Exemplar of Modernity

Chapter Two:Cold War Convergences
Flawed Settlement and a Nation Divided
Coming of Age in Cold War America
The Invention of South Vietnam
The Mounting Costs of Containment
Rebel Without A Cause

Chapter Three:The Making of a Quagmire
Draft Decisions
Lyndon Johnson's Dilemmas
Basic Training: Fort Dix, New Jersey, September 1965
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