The Vietnamese War: Revolution and Social Change in the Mekong Delta, 1930-1975

By David W.P. Elliott

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076560602X
• ISBN13: 9780765606020
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 536 Pages
• Weight: 6.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 3.9" x 13.3" x 9.0"