Edward Miller - The Vietnam War: A Documentary Reader

Uncovering the Past: Documentary Readers in American History

Series Editors: Steven Lawson and Nancy Hewitt

The books in this series introduce students in American history courses to two important dimensions of historical analysis. They enable students to engage actively in historical interpretation, and they further students' understanding of the interplay between social and political forces in historical developments.

Consisting of primary sources and an introductory essay, these readers are aimed at the major courses in the American history curriculum, as outlined further below. Each book in the series will be approximately 22550 pages, including a 2530 page introduction addressing key issues and questions about the subject under consideration, a discussion of sources and methodology, and a bibliography of suggested secondary readings.

Published

Paul G. E. Clemens

The Colonial Era: A Documentary Reader

Sean Patrick Adams

The Early American Republic: A Documentary Reader

Stanley Harrold

The Civil War and Reconstruction: A Documentary Reader

Steven Mintz

African American Voices: A Documentary Reader, 1619-1877

Robert P. Ingalls and David K. Johnson

The United States Since 1945: A Documentary Reader

Camilla Townsend

American Indian History: A Documentary Reader

Steven Mintz

Mexican American Voices: A Documentary Reader

Brian Ward

The 1960s: A Documentary Reader

Nancy Rosenbloom

Women in American History Since 1880: A Documentary Reader

Jeremi Suri

American Foreign Relations Since 1898: A Documentary Reader

Carol Faulkner

Women in American History to 1880: A Documentary Reader

David Welky

America Between the Wars, 1919-1941: A Documentary Reader

William A. Link and Susannah J. Link

The Gilded Age and Progressive Era: A Documentary Reader

G. Kurt Piehler

The United States in World War II: A Documentary Reader

Leslie Brown

African American Voices: A Documentary Reader, 1863-Present

David Freund

The Modern American Metropolis: A Documentary Reader

Edward Miller

The Vietnam War: A Documentary Reader

Edited by Edward Miller

This edition first published 2016
Editorial material and organization 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The Vietnam War : a documentary reader / edited by Edward Miller.
pages cm. (Uncovering the past: documentary readers in American history)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4051-9677-2 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-4051-9678-9 (pbk.) 1. Vietnam War, 1961-1975Sources. I. Miller, Edward Garvey, editor.
DS557.4.V573 2015
959.7043dc23

2015019089

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover image: US Marines wade through a marsh, Vietnam, November 1965. Photo Paul Schutzer/TimeLife Pictures/Getty Images

Primary sources have become an essential component in the teaching of history to undergraduates. They engage students in the process of historical interpretation and analysis and help them understand that facts do not speak for themselves. Rather, students see how historians construct narratives that recreate the past. Most students assume that the pursuit of knowledge is a solitary endeavor; yet historians constantly interact with their peers, building upon previous research and arguing among themselves over the interpretation of documents and their larger meaning. The documentary readers in this series highlight the value of this collaborative creative process and encourage students to participate in it.

Each book in the series introduces students in American history courses to two important dimensions of historical analysis. They enable students to engage actively in historical interpretation, and they further students' understanding of the interplay among social, cultural, economic, and political forces in historical developments. In pursuit of these goals, the documents in each text embrace a broad range of sources, including such items as illustrations of material artifacts, letters and diaries, sermons, maps, photographs, song lyrics, selections from fiction and memoirs, legal statutes, court decisions, presidential orders, speeches, and political cartoons.

Each volume in the series is edited by a specialist in the field who is concerned with undergraduate teaching. The goal is not to offer a comprehensive selection of material but to provide items that reflect major themes and debates; that illustrate significant social, cultural, political, and economic dimensions of an era or subject; and that inform, intrigue, and inspire undergraduate students. The editor of each volume has written an introduction that discusses the central questions that have occupied historians in this field and the ways historians have used primary sources to answer them. In addition, each introductory essay contains an explanation of the kinds of materials available to investigate a particular subject, the methods by which scholars analyze them, and the considerations that go into interpreting them. Each source selection is introduced by a short head note that gives students the necessary information and a context for understanding the document. Also, each section of the volume includes questions to guide student reading and stimulate classroom discussion.