The Vietnam War

Explore essential works on the Vietnam War and its aftermath, selected by RCL editors. Resources for College Libraries (RCL) features core titles for academic libraries, curated by Choice/ACRL subject specialists. In this list, preview a selection of the 90,000+ titles available at rclweb.net.

Updated June 30, 2025
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Vietnam's American War: A History
Asselin, Pierre
Paper Book
Communist forces in the Vietnam War lost most battles and suffered disproportionally higher casualties than the United States and its allies throughout the conflict. The ground war in South Vietnam and the air war in the North were certainly important in shaping the fates of the victors and losers,...
Nothing ever dies : Vietnam and the memory of war
Nguyen, Viet Thanh
Paper Book
Nothing Ever Dies, Viet Thanh Nguyen writes. All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory. From the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer comes a searching exploration of a conflict that lives on in the collective memory...
Embers of war : the fall of an empire and the making of America's Vietnam
Logevall, Fredrik
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE Written with the style of a great novelist and the intrigue of a Cold War thriller, Embers of War is a landmark work that will forever change your understanding of how and why America went to war in Vietnam. Tapping newly accessible diplomatic...
Inventing Vietnam : the war in film and television
Paper Book
The Vietnam War has been depicted by every available medium, each presenting a message, an agenda, of what the filmmakers and producers choose to project about America's involvement in Southeast Asia. This collection of essays, most of which are previously unpublished, analyzes the themes, modes,...
Haunting legacy : Vietnam and the American presidency from Ford to Obama
Kalb, Marvin L.
Paper Book
The United States had never lost a war--that is, until 1975, when it was forced to flee Saigon in humiliation after losing to what Lyndon Johnson called a "raggedy-ass little fourth-rate country." The legacy of this first defeat has haunted every president since, especially on the decision of...
The "uncensored war" : the media and Vietnam
Hallin, Daniel C.
Paper Book
Vietnam was America's most divisive and unsuccessful foreign war. It was also the first to be televised and the first of the modern era fought without military censorship. From the earliest days of the Kennedy-Johnson escalation right up to the American withdrawal, and even today, the media's role...
The sorrow of war : a novel of North Vietnam
Bao Ninh.
Paper Book
The Sorrow of War is the first novel of the Vietnam War told from the North Vietnamese perspective. Readers follow Kien as a young soldier and, later, as a writer struggling to come to grips with the savageries he has witnessed. Takes its place alongside the greatest war novel of the century, All...
Race in the crucible of war : African American servicemen and the war in Vietnam
Goodwin, Gerald F.
Paper Book
When African American servicemen went to fight in the Vietnam War, discrimination and prejudice followed them. Even in a faraway country, their military experiences were shaped by the racial environment of the home front. War is often viewed as a crucible that can transform society, but...
Combat in the Sky: Airpower and the Defense of North Vietnam, 1965-1973
Hu'ng, Dong Sy
Paper Book
Fought in the skies over North Vietnam, the air war between Vietnamese People's Air Force (VNPAF) and U.S. airpower lasted nearly eight years with hundreds of thousands of combat missions carried out and nearly four hundred dogfights. Combat in the Sky: Airpower and the Defense of North...
Cold War Friendships: Korea, Vietnam, and Asian American Literature
Park, Josephine Nock-Hee
Paper Book
Cold War Friendships explores the plight of the Asian ally of the American wars in Korea and Vietnam. Enlisted into proxy warfare, this figure is not a friend but a "friendly," a wartime convenience enlisted to serve a superpower. It is through this deeply unequal relation, however, that the Cold...
America's longest war : the United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975
Herring, George C.
Paper Book
Respected for its thorough research, comprehensive coverage, and clear, readable style, America's Longest War explores the origins of the thirty-year war for Vietnam. It seeks to explain how the United States became involved and the consequences of its actions for the Vietnamese as well as...

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