If only I could recommend a book on the history of Vietnam, and in particular on the time of the war against the united States, my recommendation would be The Vietnam war: An epic tragedy, 1945-1975. This book tells the story of Vietnam on the whole, while focusing primarily on the period from 1945 to 1975, the stage of which occurred in both the war against the French as a war against the united States, and whose events have left their mark both in Vietnam as a country as well as in the universal history.

A just right book

The first reason that I recommend this book because its author, Max Hastings, who was a correspondent based in Saigon during the Vietnam war, brings us an alternative perspective to both the communist vision of the war as in the united states. As someone who has read this wonderful book, nothing less than 2 times, I can confirm that it sets out the arguments, desires, reasons, and excesses of all sides, which is something that as a reader I appreciate that. In this sense, I’ve seen criticism of this book, in which they accuse the author of both to be an anti-communist exacerbated as focusing too much on the war crimes committed by the U.S. in the conflict. In my opinion, the fact that those who are on the ends to criticize the true ideological positioning of the author is, without a doubt, a very good sign.

Tells the perspective of normal people of the era

Something that makes the book very enjoyable is the fact that Hastings brings us to the point of view of so many of the people that were involved in the conflict, How the people lived normal of the time? How do the peasants of the north looked to the USA? What was it like to be a prisoner of war by the Viet Cong? and what an engineer of the Soviet Union, serving in North Vietnam? What was it like to be an american pilot, or a prostitute in Saigon? Hastings brings us stories from personal diaries, memoirs, interviews and other sources, so that we can, beyond the historical facts, understanding people of flesh and blood who lived and suffered from the conflicts that took place between 1945 and 1975 in Vietnam.

Account disputed facts in detail

Max Hastings does not pass unnoticed by the events most controversial in the history of Vietnam. A clear example is the story of how the US helped to produce a knock of state in south Vietnam to a president when they were supposedly supporting. In this case, in addition, Hastings describes how you ran this shot in a way tremendously entertaining and rigorous, including shootings, negotiations, persecution, and delusions. In this sense, a virtue of the book of Hastings is the fact that many parts of the book are not only interesting but also very fun to read.

Where to get the book?