Title: Everyman in Vietnam :
Authors: Adas, Michael,; Gilch, Joseph J.,
Date: 2018
Publisher: Oxford University Press,
Physical description: xxiv, 264 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Language: English
LC classification: D
Abstract: "Everyman in Vietnam: A Soldier's Journey into the Quagmire by Michael Adas and Joseph Gilch interweaves a macro perspective of American foreign policy during the war, with the individual-level perspective of one of the many soldiers who lived and died in the "quagmire." This unique perspective is made possible through the personal letters of Private James "Jimmy" Gilch, the late uncle of co-author, Joseph Gilch. Throughout his time on the ground in Vietnam, Jimmy sent dozens of letters back to his family in New Jersey, which detailed everything from the brutal, callous nature of basic training to the daily life of a GI in the jungles of Vietnam. Fascinated by these letters from an early age, Joseph Gilch poured over the nearly 80 letters ravenously. A graduate student at Rutgers University, Joseph has been working with Dr. Michael Adas to situate the story of Private Jimmy Gilch into the broader narrative of the United States' involvement in Vietnam. What comes out of this perspective is a truly remarkable and extraordinary picture of one of America's defining wars through the eyes of one of its many soldiers in a generation forever marked by the conflict."--Provided by publisher.
Contents: Prologue : In the Ho Bo woods: June 28, 1966 -- Divergent trajectories: America and Vietnam after World War II -- The promise of prosperity in postwar America -- The struggle to liberate a shattered land, 1945-1954 -- Early US interventions in Indochina -- Exemplar of modernity -- Cold war convergences -- Flawed settlement at Geneva and a nation divided -- Coming of age in Cold War America -- The invention of South Vietnam -- The mounting costs of containment -- Rebel without a cause -- The making of a quagmire -- Draft decisions -- Lyndon Johnson's dilemmas -- Basic training: Fort Dix, New Jersey, September 1965 -- Renewing the war for independence -- Off to war, January 1966 -- Into the quagmire -- Angst and escalation -- Contested ground -- Arrival in Nam, February 1966 -- Terms of engagement -- In pursuit of an elusive enemy, late February 1966 -- In dubious battle -- The lessons of Ia Drang -- The good soldier, March 1966 -- Rethinking the path to liberation -- Ambivalence and disillusionment, March 1966 -- McNamara's predicament -- Finding his own mission, March-April 1966 -- The price of attrition -- Surviving the stalemate, April, 1966 -- An unwinnable war -- Losing hope, mid-April-early May 1966 -- Confounding the colossus -- Waiting for leave, June-July 1966 -- Return to Filhol, late July, 1966 -- Epilogue.
Subject headings (LCSH): Gilch, Jimmy, 1945-1966--Correspondence.; Runnemede (N.J.)--Biography.; Soldiers--United States--Biography; United States. Army--Biography.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Campaigns; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Political aspects--United States.