Front Page Vietnam

New York: Arno Press Inc., 1981. Special Book Club Edition. Wraps. 248 pages. Illustrations. Map. Cover has some wear and soiling. Introduction by Drew Middleton. This Military Book Club edition was specially updated. Text and photographs trace the conflict and American involvement in Vietnam as reported by the New York Times. Over 175 front pages from The New York Times together with hundreds of photographs, tracing the involvement of the United States in Southeast Asia. The coverage includes some early news of Indo-China; the earliest headline is from 1950. Drew Middleton covered World War II and postwar Europe for The New York Times and later served as the newspaper's military correspondent. Moving from sports writing to combat reporting at the outset of World War II, Mr. Middleton spent nearly half a century chronicling what he called ''the huge, changing, kaleidoscopic world of international affairs.'' He covered Allied forces in North Africa and on several European fronts, reported on peace conferences and war-crimes tribunals at the end of the conflict, and followed postwar diplomacy from both sides of a divided Europe and at the United Nations. He then returned to coverage of military affairs and was noted for his analyses of fighting in the Middle East and the Falkland Islands. Often, to provide the underpinning for his columns, he went to the scene of the action, and he dug hard for fresh information. Arriving in Saigon one afternoon during the Vietnam war, for example, he walked into a short-handed Times bureau and offered to take on the humblest of chores, writing the routine story based on the daily American communique. This book is reprints over 175 of actual New York Times front pages during the Vietnam War, together with hundreds of photographs. This compilation traces the painful and insidious involvement of the United States in Southeast Asia. Not merely a history book of a military analysis, Front Page Vietnam is living history--a primary source on the war in Vietnam, how it developed, intensified and became increasingly more complicated and bewildered. Gradually, with the wisdom of hindsight, the impact of Front Page Vietnam builds. The United States reacts to the general anti-communist paranoia of the times and the spectre of the "Red Menace: with the U.S. offering to train French troops fighting in Indo-China. The French lose control in the area and the U.S. begins to fill in the resulting gaps. Ultimately the United States steps in and then is forced after a time to step out. Front Page Vietnam also records the disillusionment of many Americans with the government and its motives in pursing the fight in Vietnam and covers the growing antiwar movement. Front Page Vietnam does not pretend to interpret what happened to the hearts and minds of millions of Americans on the battlefront and on the homefront as a result of the Vietnamese War. It does not pretend to evaluate the right or wrong of the issues inherent in the struggle. It does serve as an active reminder of the great impact Vietnam had had on our lives and the life and character of the United States. Condition: Good.

Keywords: Drew Middleton, New York Times, Vietnam War, Indochina, Military Assistance, Military Advisors, Staughton Lynd, Anti-War Movement, Lyndon B. Johnson

ISBN: 0405124929

[Book #49957]

Price: $37.50

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