Why Vietnam? (Hardback)

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5 out of 5 stars

Why Vietnam? Reflections on the Effect of War, by Margaret Colbert Brown, is a moving journey through the war that deeply impacted both America and Vietnam. Margaret, throughout the book, didn’t seem to merely show the facts to me, but rather she took me along the unsaid talk that America has had with itself for a long time, which is a talk about responsibility, memory, and the human cost of political decisions.

Her first move was to find logic in the war that keeps throwing questions rather than answers. I thought it was great that she did not simplify the Vietnam War and that she did not consider it as a problem with a straightforward solution. On the contrary, she devotes the time to such topics as the Cold War era, the Red Scare, and the pressure on leaders to act in line with the American way of life. I could see from my reading that the country can be thus taken to war almost unnoticed, as it happened then to be under the influence of terror, duty, and pride.

And that was, in fact, the main point for Margaret: throughout the book, the voices of soldiers, their fight, and their pain. Vietnam War poems and the reflections of the veterans are among her inclusions, and these particular works give the conflict its emotional core. The verses of these people spoke about the anxiety, bravery, and bewilderment of them and even the weird kind of laughing that the soldiers could have in order to endure what was beyond human power. Foreign soldiers don't get a chance to talk for themselves in wars; they are usually misrepresented in the propaganda. Here in Margaret's book of Extracts from the Vietnam War, she draws the line at such things by allowing them to bring forth their view, not in her place but theirs. So I was going through the book when I kept fitting myself to different moments in the poetry and thinking about the sighs hidden in verses and getting to know the war in far more than a factual way.

Also, the book's point on the war culture is another of its merits. The visual, centred approach to the matter really helps the reader grasp the war in question more and get the details. In addition, she depicts the terminology the troop members used for each other and the importance of the words used, which is why. This enabled me to see how they formed a different world for themselves, one where language was their weapon as well as a safety measure against fear; for instance, the culture of not saluting one's superior to avoid being murdered by them. What I liked the most was the aspect of understanding the way through the common language; the fighters became close, though they were from different worlds, and suddenly found themselves amidst the same struggle. A war doesn't end when shots cease to be fired; through Margaret's musings, I was brought to that realisation. Her account of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the way its architecture brought both the debate and the resolve, made me weigh how a country decides to take a look at its yesteryears.

The author's method of writing is an excellent one, both from an instructional and from a humane point of view. She makes the complicated historical background easy for the reader and gives respect to each issue. Also, I liked how the book did not push me to embrace one particular standpoint. Rather, it opens up for deliberation, and the author supplied enough data, participants, and points of view for the readers to arrive at their own decision.

Had I encountered a problem in reading, it would have been because the book touches upon interconnected domains such as politics, culture, and the history of the war, and emotions related to the matter were such that I sometimes had to close the book, and everything would sink into my mind. Later on, I even thought this was not a drawback. It reflected the nature of the Vietnam War itself: being a total mess of issues, feelings, and things that were not easily reconciled.

This book is a powerful and well-journaled take on the war that influenced the coming generations. What makes Margaret different from others is her mastery of combining research with the human side. The matter of the war is much clearer to me now, not by memorising the dates and the battle tactics, but because of hearing the voices of the people who experienced, shared the pain, and took it back home, as she allowed me to. Thus, I rate the book 5 out of 5 stars. It's an insightful and indelible ride that I will take the liberty of recommending to people who are into history, humanity, and the aftereffects of ‌war. The book is also exceptionally well-edited.

OnlineBookClub.org

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This is such a powerful book. It covers many questions pertinent to the Vietnam Conflict, such as: Why were we there? What did we hope to accomplish there? Why did we lose? Or did we lose? What did the "grunts" experience there? How did these experiences affect them? The author poses all of these questions and gives honest, thoughtful answers.

This book strikes a good balance between pro-war and anti-war sentiment, as seen through the experiences of the Vietnam veteran.

To any student of the Vietnam Conflict, or to anyone having questions or concerns about the conflict, this book is required reading.

Dan, Amazon US

Why Vietnam? will certainly be of interest to Vietnam veterans—especially those who served as grunts—the families of those veterans, those who lived during the period of war, and readers and students interested in the history of the wars that raged across Southeast Asia during the mid-20th century.

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Military Writers Society of America

“While you certainly get a sense of military impact, the cultural and political impact remains at the forefront.”

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Historical Miniatures Gaming Society

“Veterans will appreciate the chapter, ‘Who is a Vietnam vet?’ It puts to rest many myths, some of which are condescending. It also seeks to identify the war’s lasting effects on American society.”

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The VVA Veteran

Review as featured in

Historical Miniatures Gaming Society, April 2025

As featured in

Dispatches

Why Vietnam: Reflections on the Effect of War, by Margaret Colbert Brown, is a very unique book, nothing like any book written on the Vietnam War in the past. At heart, I think the author is a poet. The book is filled with poetry written by soldiers, The US Army psychological Operations troops for the Vietnamese civilians and Viet Cong, and of course the Viet Cong themselves. She will often look at a subject, discuss it is some depth, and then add a poem that has some connection to the subject. This is not a poetry book; this is a history of the war mostly written by those who fought it. The poetry is used to show the tremendous emotion felt by those that were there and lived it. Maggie worked for several years with a lot of Vietnam vets at the Department of English and the Honors Program at Radford University, and that gave her opportunity to teach several honors sections of “Research and Reading” on the Vietnam War, and a good deal of the book is stories and anecdotes told by those veterans. She listened to them. She dug in and got to the core of their beliefs, fears and hopes. If you want to look at Vietnam from an entirely different viewpoint, that of a female academic professor with great feeling for the soldiers she taught and listened to, this could be your book.

Herb Friedman, Veteran and military historian