Vietnam: The Complete Story of the Australian War by Bruce Davies with Gary McKay

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Ex library copy with no external stickers. Partial date due slip on inside page now covered with blank ex libris bookplate sticker. Wear to book corners and edges. Pages are sunned. Dust jacket has light creasing at edges and spine. Interior and binding are also very good.

Thirty years after the end of the Vietnam War comes an objective analysis of Australia's involvement. The book shows the extent of Australia's engagement in the Vietnam war and its contribution compared to its allies.

Take a journey back to the front line with two Australian veterans as they retrace the footsteps of soldiers and politicians, villagers and the enemy in a meticulously researched new history of the Vietnam War. For Australians, Vietnam remains one of the most difficult-and controversial-wars we have fought.

On the fiftieth anniversary of Australia's first involvement comes Vietnam: The Complete Story of the Australian War, for anyone who wishes to understand why Australia went to war, and who wants to make sense of the intensely unrelenting warfare.

For Bruce Davies and Gary McKay, the history of Vietnam - its wars, colonial domination, its search for freedom and its subsequent loss - speaks to an Australian anxiety of a very small population far away from the centre of an empire to which it was firmly committed. The rise of Japan, the war in the Pacific and the postcolonial independence of the peoples of southeast Asia, coupled with the mercurial influence of Ho Chi Minh and the rise of communism, form the background to the commitment of Australian forces.

Vietnam takes the reader to the front line, describing the experiences of soldier, politician, villager, enemy; and into the war room to unpick the military and political strategies. We see the challenges the Australians faced against not only a dogged enemy, but also those by the allies in the quest to defeat a powerful counterinsurgency.