num_pages: 1172
description: "Dommen's book promises to be the definitive political history ofIndochina during the Franco-American era." -- William M. Leary, E. MertonCoulter Professor of History, University of GeorgiaThismagisterial study by Arthur J. Dommen sets the Indochina wars 'French and American'in perspective as no book that has come before. He summarizes the history of thepeninsula from the Vietnamese War of Independence from China in 930-39 through thefirst French military actions in 1858, when the struggle of the peoples of Indochinawith Western powers began.Dommen details the crucial episodes inthe colonization of Indochina by the French and the indigenous reaction to it. Thestruggle for national sovereignty reached an acute state at the end of World War II, when independent governments rapidly assumed power in Vietnam and Cambodia. When theFrench returned, the struggle became one of open warfare, with Nationalists andCommunists gripped in a contest for ascendancy in Vietnam, while the rulers ofCambodia and Laos sought to obtain independence bynegotiation.The withdrawal of the French after their defeat atDien Bien Phu brought the Indochinese face-to-face, whether as friends or asenemies, with the Americans. In spite of an armistice in 1954, the war between Hanoiand Saigon resumed as each enlisted the help of foreign allies, which led to therenewed loss of sovereignty as a result of alliances and an increasingly heavy lossof lives. Meticulous and detailed, Dommen's telling of this complicated story isalways judicious. Nevertheless, many people will find his analysis of the Diem coupa disturbing account of American plotting and murder.This is anessential book for anyone who wants to understand Vietnam and the people who foughtagainst the United States and won.
language: English
title: The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans: Nationalism and Communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam
titlecomplete: The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans: Nationalism and Communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam
genres: History
ratings_count: 9
publisher: Indiana University Press