Hanoi's War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam

by Lien-Hang T. Nguyen

Overview

While most historians of the Vietnam War focus on the origins of U.S. involvement and the Americanization of the conflict, Lien-Hang T. Nguyen examines the international context in which North Vietnamese leaders pursued the war and American intervention ended. This riveting narrative takes the reader from the marshy swamps of the Mekong Delta to the bomb-saturated Red River Delta, from the corridors of power in Hanoi and Saigon to the Nixon White House, and from the peace negotiations in Paris to high-level meetings in Beijing and Moscow, all to reveal that peace never had a chance in Vietnam.
Hanoi's War renders transparent the internal workings of America's most elusive enemy during the Cold War and shows that the war fought during the peace negotiations was bloodier and much more wide ranging than it had been previously. Using never-before-seen archival materials from the Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as materials from other archives around the world, Nguyen explores the politics of war-making and peace-making not only from the North Vietnamese perspective but also from that of South Vietnam, the Soviet Union, China, and the United States, presenting a uniquely international portrait.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469628356
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	02/01/2016
Series:	New Cold War History
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	122,500
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Lien-Hang T. Nguyen is associate professor of history at the University of Kentucky.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Abbreviations xii

Introduction 1

Part I The Path to Revolutionary War

1 LeDuan's Rise to Power and the Road to War 17

2 Policing the State in a Time of War 48

Part II Breaking the Stalemate

3 The Battle in Hanoi for the Tet Offensive 87

4 To Paris and Beyond 110

Part III The Pursuit of a Chimeric Victory

5 Sideshows and Main Arenas 153

6 Talking while Fighting 194

Part IV The Making of a Faulty Peace

7 War against Détente 231

8 War for Peace 257

Epilogue 300

Conclusion 305

Notes 313

Bibliography 391

Index 417

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Nguyen's magnificent book is truly an international history of the war, with new Vietnamese sources and serious attention to international actors. Scholars of the Vietnam War and the Cold War will be in her debt.—Andrew Preston, Cambridge University



Using important new documentation from across the world, most notably Vietnam, Lien-Hang Nguyen has written the first truly authoritative account of the negotiations that led to the 1973 Paris Peace Accords. Hanoi's War is an extraordinary achievement, an indispensable contribution to the rapidly changing history of the conflicts in Vietnam.—George C. Herring, author of America's Longest War: The United States in Vietnam, 1950-1975



Nguyen's beautifully crafted and original book makes a transformative contribution to the study of the Vietnam wars. In offering a compelling analysis of newly available Vietnamese source material set against a capacious international canvas, Nguyen lets us fully understand how and why this tragic war finally came to an end. No one has so richly captured how the Vietnamese made their own history, and at the same time produced such a luminous work of international history.—Mark Philip Bradley, University of Chicago



At last, a genuinely international history of the Vietnam war that solidly rests on Vietnamese sources in order to offer a deep analysis of the war from the other side. This is one of the most important books published on the Vietnam War in the last thirty years.—Marilyn B. Young, New York University

Editorial Reviews

Without question, Hanoi's War stands as a major accomplishment and one of the most important scholarly works to appear on this later, and relatively understudied, phase of the struggle." —Foreign Affairs



Hanoi's War is first-rate. The scope is ambitious. . . . The value of Hanoi's War is its use of existing records to produce a new interpretation of Hanoi's struggle. It adds a valuable new chapter to the international history of the war." —Journal of Military History



Stunning. . . . [Nguyen] presents a compelling view from 'the other side of the hill.'" —Sea Classics



A must addition for any academic library today. Essential. All levels/libraries." —Choice



Whatever you think you know about the war in Vietnam will be challenged, revised, and deepened by this remarkable book. . . . Hanoi's War is a must-read. . . .The book deserves more attention than it has thus far received. It enriches our understanding of the War in Vietnam and by implication, subsequent American commitments, including the war in Afghanistan." —Artfuse



[A] deeply researched, well-argued book." —The VVA Veteran



Nguyen should be congratulated for tilting decisively away from America's war in Vietnam. . . . She gives Vietnamese-language sources the attention they deserve." —Critical Asian Studies



A breakthrough of unique importance for a fuller understanding of the history of the Vietnam War." —H-War



A well written, meticulously researched book that will appeal to both military and general readers." —Michigan War Studies Review



Hanoi's War is the book for which historians of the American war in Vietnam have been waiting: the first comprehensive study drawn from Vietnamese archival and published sources that provides a critical examination of North Vietnam's strategic decisions. There is no other work like it in English, Vietnamese, or any other language. Nguyen has made a pathbreaking contribution to historical understanding of the war." —Journal of American History

From the Publisher