Inventing Vietnam The United States and State Building in Southeast Asia, 1954-1968

Name: Inventing Vietnam The United States and State Building in Southeast Asia, 1954-1968
Price: 4.22 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780521716901

ISBN-10: 052171690X

ISBN-13: 9780521716901

Edition: 2008

Authors: James M. Carter

List price: $31.99

30 day, 100% satisfaction guarantee!

Buy new: $24.75

Marketplace

2 new & used from $4.22

what's this?

Rush Rewards U
Members Receive:

You have reached 400 XP and carrot coins. That is the daily max!

Description:

This book considers the Vietnam war in light of U.S. foreign policy in Vietnam, concluding that the war was a direct result of failed state-building efforts. This U.S. nation building project began in the mid-1950s with the ambitious goal of creating a new independent, democratic, modern state below the 17th parallel. No one involved imagined this effort would lead to a major and devastating war in less than a decade. Carter analyzes how the United States ended up fighting a large-scale war that wrecked the countryside, generated a flood of refugees, and brought about catastrophic economic distortions, results which actually further undermined the larger U.S. goal of building a viable…

Book details

List price: $31.99
Copyright year: 2008
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 4/14/2008
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 276
Size: 5.98" wide x 9.02" long x 0.63" tall
Weight: 0.792
Language: English

James M. Carter obtained his PhD from the University of Houston in 2004 and is currently Assistant Professor of History at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. His research specialties include U.S. foreign relations, the Vietnam War and the Cold War. His publications include several articles on nation building in Vietnam and private contractors in both Vietnam and Iraq as well as book reviews in Itinerario, The Journal of Military History, Education About Asia, and on H-Diplo. In summer, 2007, he was appointed a Fellow of the Summer Military History Seminar at West Point Military Academy.



Acknowledgments



Introduction: Inventing Vietnam



The Cold War, Colonialism, and the Origins of the American Commitment to Vietnam, 1945-1954


The End of Colonialism, the Cold War, and Vietnam


Making the World Safe through Development


Intellectuals, Modernization, and the Third World


The State of Vietnam: History, Geography, and Imperialism


Inventing Vietnam: The United States and State Building



"The Needs Are Enormous, the Time Short": Michigan State University, the U.S. Operations Mission, State Building, and Vietnam


Collective Security and Crafting Consensus


"The Needs Are Enormous, the Time Short": Michigan State University in Vietnam


Conclusion



Surviving the Crises: Southern Vietnam, 1958-1960


The American Mission and Building Vietnam


Inventing Vietnam and the Politics of Aid


My-Diem and the Rise of the Insurgency


Conclusion



"A Permanent Mendicant": Southern Vietnam, 1960-1963


Southern Vietnam in the Decade of Development


Counterinsurgency, Strategic Hamlets, and the Militarization of U.S. Policy


The Political Economy of State Building


Conclusion: Political Collapse and the Fall of Diem



A Period of Shakedown: Southern Vietnam, 1963-1965


"Stable Government or No Stable Government": Rescuing Southern Vietnam from the Vietnamese


"The Construction Miracle of the Decade": The Military Buildup and Inventing Vietnam


"The Works of Peace": The Mekong Delta and the Politics of War


"Long Since ... Dependent on U.S. Aid"


Conclusion



The Paradox of Construction and Destruction: Southern Vietnam, 1966-1968


"RMK-BRJ Is Changing the Face of South Viet Nam"


"Not Much More Than a Drop in the Bucket": Refugees, Pacification, and the "Other War" in Southern Vietnam


"A National Symphony of Theft, Corruption, and Bribery"


Conclusion


Epilogue: War, Politics, and the End in Vietnam


The Tet Offensive


Leaving Vietnam Undone


Bibliography


Index