
The Vietnam War
An Intimate History
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Narrated by:
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Ken Burns
About this listen
From the award-winning historian and filmmakers of The Civil War, Baseball, The War, The Roosevelts, and others: a vivid, uniquely powerful history of the conflict that tore America apart - the companion volume to the major, multipart PBS film to be aired in September 2017.
More than 40 years after it ended, the Vietnam War continues to haunt our country. We still argue over why we were there, whether we could have won, and who was right and wrong in their response to the conflict. When the war divided the country, it created deep political fault lines that continue to divide us today. Now, continuing in the tradition of their critically acclaimed collaborations, the authors draw on dozens and dozens of interviews in America and Vietnam to give us the perspectives of people involved at all levels of the war: US and Vietnamese soldiers and their families, high-level officials in America and Vietnam, antiwar protestors, POWs, and many more. The book plunges us into the chaos and intensity of combat, even as it explains the rationale that got us into Vietnam and kept us there for so many years. Rather than taking sides, the book seeks to understand why the war happened the way it did, and to clarify its complicated legacy. Beautifully written, this is a tour de force that is certain to launch a new national conversation.
©2017 Geoffrey C. Ward (P)2017 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the US in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.
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A more nuanced view than Ken Burns' companion book
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Here is the audio companion to the magnificent seven-part PBS series. The individuals featured in this audiobook are not historians or scholars. They are ordinary men and women who experienced - and helped to win - the most devastating war in history, in which between 50 and 60 million lives were lost.
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Good book, poor audiobook
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It was the first war we could not win. At no other time since World War II have two superpowers met in battle. Max Hastings, preeminent military historian, takes us back to the bloody, bitter struggle to restore South Korean independence after the Communist invasion of June 1950.
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John Plaster’s riveting account of his covert activities as a member of a special operations team during the Vietnam War is “a true insider’s account...this eye-opening report will leave readers feeling as if they’ve been given a hot scoop on a highly classified project” (Publishers Weekly). Code-named the Studies and Observations Group, SOG was the most secret elite US military unit to serve in the Vietnam War - so secret that its very existence was denied by the government.
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More, give me more.
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Vietnam
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- By: Max Hastings
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- Length: 33 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the US in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.
-
-
A more nuanced view than Ken Burns' companion book
- By Vu on 10-21-18
By: Max Hastings
-
The War
- An Intimate History: 1941-1945
- By: Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns
- Narrated by: Ken Burns, Tom Hanks, Josh Lucas, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the audio companion to the magnificent seven-part PBS series. The individuals featured in this audiobook are not historians or scholars. They are ordinary men and women who experienced - and helped to win - the most devastating war in history, in which between 50 and 60 million lives were lost.
-
-
Good book, poor audiobook
- By Stewart Gooderman on 09-26-07
By: Geoffrey C. Ward, and others
-
The National Parks
- America's Best Idea
- By: Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns
- Narrated by: Ken Burns
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America's national parks spring from an idea as radical as the Declaration of Independence: that the nation's most magnificent and sacred places should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone. In this evocative narrative, Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan delve into the history of the park idea.
-
-
"See America First", and often...
- By Christopher on 09-17-09
By: Dayton Duncan, and others
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The Korean War
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 17 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
It was the first war we could not win. At no other time since World War II have two superpowers met in battle. Max Hastings, preeminent military historian, takes us back to the bloody, bitter struggle to restore South Korean independence after the Communist invasion of June 1950.
-
-
Inspiring and Hard Hitting
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- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1804, at the behest of President oThomas Jefferson, a party of explorers called the Corps of Discovery crossed the Mississippi River and started up the Missouri, heading west into the newly acquired Louisiana Territory.
-
-
Brilliant history and so exciting
- By DSR WALK on 02-16-17
By: Ken Burns, and others
-
SOG
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- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Plaster’s riveting account of his covert activities as a member of a special operations team during the Vietnam War is “a true insider’s account...this eye-opening report will leave readers feeling as if they’ve been given a hot scoop on a highly classified project” (Publishers Weekly). Code-named the Studies and Observations Group, SOG was the most secret elite US military unit to serve in the Vietnam War - so secret that its very existence was denied by the government.
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More, give me more.
- By LEE on 03-06-19
By: John L. Plaster
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One of the most acclaimed books of our time - the definitive Vietnam War exposé and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. When he came to Vietnam in 1962, Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Vann was the one clear-sighted participant in an enterprise riddled with arrogance and self-deception, a charismatic soldier who put his life and career on the line in an attempt to convince his superiors that the war should be fought another way. By the time he died in 1972, Vann had embraced the follies he once decried. He died believing that the war had been won.
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Things I’ll Never Forget is the story of a young high school graduate in 1965 who faces being drafted into the Army or volunteering for the Marine Corps. These are his memories of funny times, disgusting times and deadly times. The author kept a journal for an entire year; therefore many of the dates, times and places are accurate. The rest is based on memories that are forever tattooed on his brain. This is not a pro-war book, nor is it anti-war. It is the true story of what the Marine Corps was like in the late 1960’s.
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Accurate Description
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Performance
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The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.
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OUTSTANDING! I'M PROUD TO BE A BLACK AMERICAN!!
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Stephen E. Ambrose draws from hundreds of interviews with US Army veterans and the brave Allied soldiers who fought alongside them to create this exceptional account of the day that shaped the twentieth century. D-Day is above all the epic story of men at the most demanding moment of their existence, when the horrors, complexities and triumphs of life are laid bare and courage and heroism come to the fore.
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What an epic story what great men
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What listeners say about The Vietnam War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- erik
- 08-07-23
Very helpful informative
Unbelievable, how the mightiest country in the world could let itself be fooled into entering into this war. Almost 50 years later the story is still relevant. It gives a good picture of the specific situation in the 60’s and 70’s. Not America’s finest moment but very well written
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- Gary G.
- 09-06-22
Great story
This was a very informative historical account of what and the war happened. The personal stories added the emotional side to the war. A enjoyable book.
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- J. R.
- 10-06-19
Depressing but true
It was ok. I felt this story was sad and interesting at the same time. I knew it was originally to stop the spread of communism but Westmoreland and McNamara had personal gains and ignored the lives of the solders.
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- Tony Gonzales
- 04-29-23
Great Book
Super informative, and engaging. A story is told and lessons are learned. Highly recommend this intimate history. Respect
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