Items marked (ER) are on Electronic Reserve in Clapp Library in printable format. Please do not print more than 1 copy of each of these readings! Items marked (R) are on Reserve in hard copy only. The readings are listed in the order in which it is recommended that they be done.

Jan. 31: Introduction to the Course

Thomas H. Greene, Comparative Revolutionary Movements, chs. 2, 10, 11. (R)

Isaac Kramnick, "Reflections on Revolution," History and Theory, IX.2 (1972), pp. 26-35 (handout)

James DeFronzo, Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, pp. 7-25. (R)

Theda Skocpol (with Jeff Goodwin), "Explaining Revolutions in the Contemporary Third World, in Theda Skocpol, Social Revolutions in the Modern World, pp. 259- 278. (ER)

William H. Friedland, Revolutionary Theory, pp. 1-33, 63-79 (ER)

Suggested background reading: Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto (R), Lenin, "What Is To Be Done?"; and Mao Zedong, "Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan [Province]" in Selected Readings...Mao Tsetung (I). (R)

In-class video: "Battle of Algiers" (excerpts)

Greene, Comparative Revolutionary Movements, chs. 4-9. (R)

Friedland, Revolutionary Theory, pp. 113-124, 169-185. (ER)

Mark Selden, "People's War in China and Vietnam," in Lawrence Kaplan, ed., in Revolutions: A Comparative Study, pp. 369-386. (ER)

Sir Robert Thompson, Defeating Communist Insurgency, chs. 3, 4, 10, 11. (ER)

Robert Mortimer, "Algerian War of Independence," in Joel Krieger, ed.,The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World, p. 18. (handout)

Suggested background readings: James DeFronzo, "The Russian Revolution" pp. 27-47, and "Revolution in China," pp. 61-84, in James DeFronzo, Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements; (R); Mao, "Be Concerned with the Well Being of the Masses," and "What is Guerrilla Warfare," in Selected Readings...Mao Tsetung (I). (R)

Video assignment: Recommended: "Burn" (113 mins.)

William J. Duiker, "The Land and the People," in William J. Duiker, Vietnam: Revolution in Transition, pp. 1-14. (ER)

• Political map of Vietnam and Southeast Asia
• Physical map of Vietnam and Southeast Asia

"Religion and Language," in Vietnam: A Lonely Planet Survival Kit, pp. 58-66. (handout)

• Listen to some spoken Vietnamese
• Learn more about Caodaism, a religion indigenous to Vietnam

Stanley Karnow, Vietnam: A History, chs. 2, 3. (ER)

James Trullinger, Village at War, chs. 1, 2.

Christine Pelzer White, "The Vietnamese Revolutionary Alliance: Intellectuals, Workers, and Peasants," in John W. Lewis, ed. Peasant Rebellion and Communist Revolution in Asia, pp. 77-95. (ER)

Tran Tu Binh, The Red Earth, all.

Sarah Womack, "The Uncertain Weapon: Collaboration and Revolution in the Garde Indigene of Indochina," Wellesley College Senior Honors Thesis in International Relations (1996), chs. 1-3. (ER)

Internet assignment: Take a Virtual Tour of Vietnam at one of the following web sites accessible via the "Vietnam Links" on the instructor's homepage:

• Vietnam Photographs by Catherine Karnow (@tlas)
• Around Vietnam Photo Album by Russell Gilbert
• Vietnam Present Day Photo Album
• Hitchhiking Vietnam

Video assignment: Required: "Indochine" (158 mins.). Recommended: "Vietnam: A Television History," Episode 1: "The Roots of War" (60 mins.).

James Trullinger, Village at War, chs. 3-5.

Marilyn Young, The Vietnam Wars, 1945-1990, chs. 1-3 (to p. 46).

Bernard Fall, Street Without Joy, chs. 4, 6, 11. (ER)

Graham Greene, The Quiet American, all.

Internet assignment:

• The Geneva Peace Accords, http://students.vassar.edu/~vietnam/doc2.html
• US Response to the Accords, http://students.vassar.edu/~vietnam/doc3.html

Video assignment: Recommended: "Vietnam: A Television History," Episode 2: "The First Vietnam War, 1946-1954." (60 mins.)

In-class video: "Why Vietnam?"

Marilyn Young,The Vietnam Wars, chs. 3 (from p. 46), 4-7.

James Trullinger, Village at War, chs. 6-8.

D. Michael Shafer, "Vietnam: Reaping the Whirlwind, "in D. Michael Shafer, Deadly Paradigms: The Failure Of U. S. Counterinsurgency Policy, pp. 240-275. (ER)

William Duiker, "Waging Revolutionary War: The Evolution of Hanoi's Strategy in the South, 1959-1965," in Jayne S. Werner and Luu Doan Huynh, The Vietnam War: Vietnamese and American Perspectives, pp. 24-36. (ER)

Video assignment: Recommended: "Vietnam: A Television History," Episode 3: "America's Mandarin, 1954-1963." (60 mins.)

In-class video: "Hearts and Minds"

Marilyn Young, The Vietnam Wars, chs. 8-14.

James Trullinger, Village at War, chs. 9-Epilogue.

David W. P. Elliot, "Hanoi's Strategy in the Second Indochina War," in Werner and Huynh, The Vietnam War, pp. 66-94. (ER)

Guenter Lewy, America in Vietnam, Epilogue. (ER)

Internet assignment:

• George G. Church, "Saigon: The Final 10 Days," Time, April 25, 1995.
• Conversation with Col. Harry G. Summers, "The Case of Vietnam" and "The Lessons of Vietnam," Part of the Conversations with History Project, University of California at Berkeley. Note: Some of this interview is presented as text; and some is in audio-video format for which you will need RealPlayer software. This software is available free and may be downloaded either from the Wellesley server (Flicka/Shareware for Macs) or from www.realnetworks.com (for Macs or PCs).

Video assignment: Recommended: "Vietnam: A Television History," Episode 4: "LBJ Goes To War, 1964-1965"; Episode 5: "America Takes Charge, 1965-1967"; ," Episode 7: "Têt, 1968"; Episode 8: "Vietnamizing The War, 1969-1973;Episode 10: "Peace Is At Hand, 1968-1973"; Episode 12: "The End of the Tunnel, 1973-1975" (60 mins. each).

March 27: Insurgent Vietnam

In-class video: "Vietnam: A Television History," Episode 6: "America's Enemy"

Mark Selden, "People's War in China and Vietnam," pp. 386-402. (ER--see Feb. 14th)

Guenter Lewy, American in Vietnam, ch. 8, pp. 271-279. (R)

Nguyen Thi Dinh, No Other Road To Take: The Memoir Of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dinh , all. (R)

Bao Ninh, The Sorrow of War, all.

Internet assignment: Author unknown, "Viet-Cong Repression: Control and Polarization of the Populace" from soc.culture.vietnamese.

Video Assignment: Recommended: "Rising Above: The Women of Vietnam," which includes a profile of Nguyen Thi Dinh. (50 minutes)

In-class video: "Four Hours in My Lai"

James William Gibson, The Perfect War: Technowar in Vietnam, ch. 5. (ER)

James P. Harrison, "History's Heaviest Bombing," in Werner and Huynh, The Vietnam War, pp. 132-139. (ER)

Jerold M. Starr and Christopher W. Wilkens, "When War Becomes a Crime: The Case of My Lai," ch. 8 in Jerold M. Starr, ed., Lessons of the Vietnam War, pp. 145-173. (R)

Susan Brownmiller, section on Vietnam, in Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, pp. 87-118. (ER)

Guenter Lewy, America in Vietnam, chs. 7, 8 (279-306), 9. (R)

Christian G. Appy, Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers in Vietnam, ch. 1. (ER)

Jerold M. Starr, "Who Fought for the U. S.?", ch. 4 in Jerold M. Starr, ed.,Lessons of the Vietnam War, pp. 89-116. (R)

Mary E. Haas, "Women's Perspectives on the Vietnam War," ch. 9 in Jerold M. Starr, ed., Lessons of the Vietnam War, pp. 233-260. (R)

Tim O'Brien, If I Die in a Combat Zone, all.

Video assignment: Required: "No Time For Tears. Vietnam: the Women who Served" (59 minutes). Recommended: "The Anderson Platoon" (64 mins.); "Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam" (84 mins.)

Arnold R. Isaacs, "The Pawns," Part II, in Arnold R. Isaacs, Without Honor: Defeat in Vietnam and Cambodia. (R)

Kate G. Frieson, "Revolution and Rural Response in Cambodia: 1970-1975," in Ben Kiernan, ed., Genocide and Democracy in Cambodia, pp. 33-50. (ER)

Sydney H. Schanberg, The Death and Life of Dith Pran, all. (R)

Internet assignment: Cambodian Holocaust Digital Archive

• Photos and essay: www.cybercambodia.com/dachs/killings/one.html
• Read a couple of "Survivor's Stories": www.cybercambodia.com/dachs/stories/story.html

Video assignment: Recommended: "Vietnam: A Television History," Episode 9: Cambodia and Laos" (60 mins.); Strongly Recommended: "The Killing Fields" (142 mins.)

(Note: This is a Thursday that is a Monday schedule.)

In-class video: "The War at Home"

Jerold M. Starr and Charles Di Benedetti, "Taking Sides: The War at Home," ch. 7 in Jerold M. Starr, ed., Lessons of the Vietnam War, pp. 175-201. (R)

Paul Joseph, Cracks in the Empire: State Politics in the Vietnam War, ch. 5. (ER)

David Harris, Our War: What We Did in Vietnam and What It Did to Us, chs. 1-4. (R)

Paul Hollander, "Alienation and Judgments About the United States and its Adversaries," in John Norton Moore, ed., The Vietnam Debate: A Fresh Look at the Arguments, pp. 289-298. (ER)

Video assignment: Recommended: "Vietnam: A Television History," Episode 11: "Homefront USA" (60 mins.)

Marilyn Young, The Vietnam Wars, ch. 15.

Jacqueline Desbarats and Karl Jackson, "Vietnam 1975-1982: The Cruel Peace," in Washington Quarterly, Fall 1985, pp. 169-182. (ER)

Gareth Porter and James Roberts, "Creating a Bloodbath by Statistical Manipulation," in Pacific Affairs, Summer 1988, pp. 303-310. (ER)

Arnold R. Isaacs, Vietnam Shadows, ch. 8, "Ghosts." (R)

Robert Dreyfuss, "Agent Orange: The Next Generation," in Mother Jones, January-February 2000. (ON LINE)

Susan Brownmiller, "Women of Vietnam: After Socialism, Fighting Sexism," in The Nation, July 18, 1994, pp. 82-84. (ER)

Michael Paterniti, "The Laptop Colonialists" in The New York Times Magazine, January 12, 1997. (handout)

Video assignment: Recommended: "Vietnam: The Secret Agent" (on Agent Orange) (57 mins.); "Hitchhiking Vietnam" (55 minutes).

In-class video: "Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision" (excerpts)

Marilyn Young, The Vietnam Wars, Epilogue.

Fred Wilcox and Jerold M. Starr, "The Wounds of War and the Process of Healing," ch. 10 in Jerold M. Starr, ed., Lessons of the Vietnam War, pp. 261-291. (R)

Tim O'Brien, "The Vietnam In Me," from New York Times Magazine, October 23, 1994, on-line at www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/20/specials/obrien-vietnam.html

Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Jr. and Elmo Zumwalt III, "Agent Orange and the Anguish of an American Family," in The New York Times Magazine, August 24, 1986 " and the obituary for Elmo Zumwalt III, The New York Times, August 14, 1988. (handout)

Robert S. McNamara, "We Were Wrong, Terribly Wrong," Newsweek, April 17, 1995. (ER)

Read one (or both!) of the following:

• W. W. Rostow, "The Case for the Vietnam War," Parameters, Winter 1996-97, pp. 39-50, on-line at http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/96winter/rostow.htm
• Michael Lind, Vietnam: The Necessary War, Preface, on-line at http://www.simonsays.com/excerpt.cfm?isbn=0684842548

Marilyn B. Young, "The Vietnam War in American Memory," in Werner and Huynh, The Vietnam War, pp. 248-257. (ER)

Luu Doan Huynh, "The American War in Vietnamese Memory," in Werner and Huynh, The Vietnam War, pp. 243-247. (ER)

Martha Kendall Winnacker, "War Crimes and Heroism in Vietnamese Commemorations of the U. S. War," in Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, 27:2 (1995), pp. 67-73. (ER)

Internet assignment: Virtual tour of the Vietnam War Memorial at the National Park Service homepage: http://www.nps.gov/vive/index2.htm

Video assignment: Required: "Regret to Inform" (72 minutes). Recommended: "Vietnam: A Television History," Episode 13: "Legacies" (60 mins.); "Television's Vietnam" (a conservative critique of the PBS series) (116 mins.)

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