ABSTRACT

A monumental work of research and analysis, this is a history of the Vietnam War in a single province of the Mekong Delta over the period 1930-1975. More precisely, it is a study of the Vietnamese dimension of the "Vietnam War, " focusing on the revolutionary movement that became popularly known as the "Viet Cong." There are several distinctive features to this study: (1) it provides an explanation for the paradox of why the revolutionary movement was so successful during the war, but unable to meet the challenges of postwar developments; (2) it challenges the dominant theme of contemporary political analysis which assumes that people are "rational" actors responding to events with careful calculations of self-interest; (3) it closely examines province-level documentation that casts light on a number of important historical controversies about the war. No other history of the Vietnam War has drawn on such a depth of documentation, especially firsthand accounts that allow the Vietnamese participants to spea directly to us.

chapter 1|7 pages

The Vietnamese War

Introduction

chapter 2|6 pages

Postlude

chapter 3|25 pages

Prelude

chapter 4|21 pages

Revolution

chapter 5|23 pages

Resistance

chapter 6|26 pages

Six Years of Peace 1954–59

chapter 7|26 pages

The Tiger Wakes

chapter 8|25 pages

Forged by the Hammer of the Party

chapter 9|32 pages

Creating an Armed Strike Force

Military Expansion, 1961–63

chapter 10|27 pages

Going for Broke

chapter 11|28 pages

Year of the Big Change: 1965

chapter 12|27 pages

Winning Hearts and Minds

chapter 13|25 pages

Stalemate

chapter 15|26 pages

Tragic Farewell

chapter 16|32 pages

Holding On

chapter 17|28 pages

Civil War

chapter 18|24 pages

The Final Chapter