In body counts, professor yen le espiritu accomplishes the task of putting her own life into the sociological and historical context without making herself the center of the story. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. In lewis sorleys book a better war, published in 1999 after studies of voluminous previouslysecret papers of creighton abrams, he writes. The vietnam war and militarized refugees edition 1. He decided to conduct of a war of attrition, using search and destroy tactics, in which the measure of merit was body count. In 2006, when yen le espiritu published her seminal piece, the wewinevenwhenwelose syndrome. Times readers weighed in with their favorite books on the vietnam war. The coverage publicized the defense departments body count. Firstly, the communist fighters vietcongnorth vietnamese army vcnva understood that body count was important to u.
Lewis sorley, a retired army lieutenant colonel and prominent military historian, gives us the answer in his book, westmoreland. Army simply used body counts to measure its military effectiveness in a. Army employed body countsthe number of confirmed vietnamese killsto chart u. Body counts and success in the vietnam and korean wars scholars analyzing the vietnam war frequently argue that the united states armys fixation on body countsthe number of enemy deadplayed a major role in contributing to americas failure to win against a third world nation with considerably fewer military forces. The vietnam war and militarized refugees examines how the vietnam war has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up. Focusing on the politics of war memory and commemoration, this book retheorizes. The vietnam war and militarized refugees examines how the vietnam war has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up of american imperialist adventure and for the reproduction of american and vietnamese american identities. Focusing on the politics of war memory and commemoration, this book retheorizes the connections among history, memory, and power and refashions the. The nightly body counts from vietnam on the evening news. The nightly body counts from vietnam on the evening news with walter cronkite. The vietnam war and militarized refugees paperback. This debate has grown louder in recent months, as 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the vietnam war. The vietnam war body count controversy centers on the counting of enemy dead by the united. Bodycount figures were grossly exaggerated throughout the vietnam war due to several factors.
These 10 books, in addition to the ones below, were recommended. Body count was an aspect of the attrition based war that took place in vietnam. Is your subtitle the general who lost vietnam fair. The vietnam war and militarized refugees yen le espiritu abstract. And it recalls the thinking that led the united states to escalate the vietnam war partly on the basis of body counts, rather than basing decisions on more. The vietnam war and militarized refugees book online. How accurate are the body count figures during the vietnam war. How accurate are the body count figures during the vietnam. The vietnam war is likely the most problematic of all the wars in american history. I first encountered the very well written body count back when i was a lad during the early 1980s when vietnam war message movies still werent quite the rage just yet, probably in my sophomore year in high school. Although some might give this dubious distinction to. Focusing on the politics of war memory and commemoration, this book retheorizes the connections among history, memory, and power and. The vietnam war and militarized refugees is an account of the american intervention in the vietnam war and its ongoing consequences even after the end of the war in 1975.
This book was so awesome and realistic that i felt the emotions of each. Us military intervention initially prioritized propping up the unstable south to create a strong buffer against reunification efforts from the north. The vietnam war and militarized refugees kindle edition by espiritu, yen le. General westmoreland had complete freedom of action in deciding how to prosecute the war within south vietnam. The vietnam war and militarized refugees examines how the vietnam. Press coverage of the twentyfifth anniversary of the fall of saigon in american quarterly, she was at the cusp of the wave of important new scholarship in critical. The body count was a measurement of adversarys manpower losses. Focusing on the politics of war memory and commemoration, this book retheorizes the connections. The vietnam war and militarized refugees examines how the vietnam war has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up of american. The vietnam war has been seen as an american tragedy, but what about the millions of victimized vietnamese. There also was still a great deal of resentment over the us loss to north vietnam in the usvietnam war. If this second read of body count is any indication a return to webbs book should be refreshing and enjoyable. And that was because, unlike other american wars, the only way to measure success, or lack thereof, in vietnam, was body counts by counting the number of enemy soldiers dead which virtually guaranteed that the american people would eventually turn against the war.
His semiautobiographical novel the shorttimers 1979 was the basis of the film full metal jacket 1987. Focusing on the politics of war memory and commemoration, this book retheorizes the. A vietnam war thriller by richter watkins goodreads. During the war in vietnam, i heard frank bardacke honored recently for his wonderful book on union democracy in the farmworkers, give a short speech at a rally laying out how all three national tv networks and major newspapers had carried exactly the same analysis of a battle. If this second read of body count is any indication a return to webbs book. Body counts is a vivid portrait of a tumultuous era, with an astonishing cast of characters, including tennessee williams, gore vidal, keith haring, bill clinton, and yoko ono. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading body counts. While i have always considered this one of the best novels on the vietnam war i suppose i should read it again. Henry kissinger was an architect of these us military atrocities. Body counts the vietnam war and militarized refugees 1st. There are issues around killing and counting unarmed civilians noncombatants as enemy combatants, as well as inflating the number of actual enemy who were killed in action kia. Body counts by yen le espiritu overdrive rakuten overdrive. Body counts the vietnam war and militarized refugees. Try searching on jstor for other items related to this book.
Body counts and success in the vietnam and korean wars. During the vietnam war why was body count used as a. Sep 15, 2017 whats your favorite book about the vietnam war. The vietnam war and militarized refugees by yen le. Historians have argued that westmorelands strategy placed a premium on high body counts through a big unit war that relied almost solely on search and destroy missions. New book proves murder, rape and torture were not the exception in vietnam, they were the norm. Readers weighed in on the best books about the vietnam war. Jun 05, 2012 this debate has grown louder in recent months, as 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the vietnam war. Rent body counts the vietnam war and militarized refugees 1st edition 9780520277717 and save up to 80% on textbook rentals and 90% on used textbooks. From a historiographical standpoint, most secondary literature on the vietnam war maintains that the u.
Body counts by yen le espiritu paperback university of. Sep 30, 2011 is your subtitle the general who lost vietnam fair. The vietnam war body count controversy centers on the counting of enemy dead by the united states armed forces during the vietnam war 19551975. Oct 17, 2017 body count figures were grossly exaggerated throughout the vietnam war due to several factors. He was a united states marine corps veteran, who served during the vietnam war. Focusing on the politics of war memory and commemoration, this book. Im glad for the memory loss since it was a very fine read. Jerry gustave hasford november 28, 1947 january 29, 1993, also known under his pen name gustav hasford was an american novelist, journalist and poet. The vietnam war and militarized refugees read online.
In body counts, espiritu presents the case of what she terms the. Media, tfa, and the vietnam war body counts new politics. The vietnam war and militarized refugeesexamines how the vietnam war has. Military people now realize that quantifying victory is far more complex. Yen le espiritu this resource examines how the vietnam war has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up of american imperialist adventure and for the reproduction of american and vietnamese american. This book examines how the vietnam war has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up of american imperialist adventure and for the reproduction of american and vietnamese american identities. This book examines how the vietnam war has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up of american. The vietnam war and militarized refugees uc press, 2014 charts an interdisciplinary field of critical refugee studies, which reconceptualizes the refugee not as an object of rescue but as a site of social and political critiques. The vietnam war and militarized refugeesexamines how the vietnam war has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up of american imperialist adventure and for the reproduction of american and vietnamese american identities. Westmoreland has long been derided for his failed strategy of attrition in the vietnam war. By the time a new class of drugs transformed the epidemic in 1996, strub was emaciated and covered with kaposis sarcoma lesions, the scarlet letter of aids.
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