Citation

Hager RP. Democr. Secur. 2017; 13(4): 304-335.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/17419166.2017.1353422

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This work examines how the American role in the Vietnam War has been portrayed in standard college- and university-level textbooks dealing with American foreign policy. It argues that this topic has been presented in a manner that leaves an incomplete understanding. This conclusion is based on scholarship that has been available for decades as well as much Cold War historiography that has appeared since 1975. I conclude that the distortions need to be addressed for several reasons. Their propagation produces bad scholarship, gratuitously alienates Americans from their institutions of government, and justifies anti-Americanism and authoritarianism elsewhere.

Language: en

Keywords

Communism; United States; Vietnam; war