Recommendation for Vietnam War study
A good start for your study would be Bernard Fall's excellent books :
Street Without Joy
Hell In A Very Small Place
Revisionist history on Westmoreland versus Abrams
Andrew J. Birtle. "PROVN, Westmoreland, and the Historians: A Reappraisal." The Journal of Military History 72.4 (2008): 1213-1247.
might be of use.
It probably should be read in the context of Lewis Sorley's "A Better War," since IIRC it tends to quarrel with some its (Sorley's) claims.
OC
Vietnam Literature Cannon?
So, is there one? And what should be on it?
Not for the SAMS students (Althougth their input is welcome), but what should the recomended reading list for the average company grade officer and NCO contain? I'm sure this issue has been covered before, but evergreens are everpresent for a reason.
Background: Twice recently I have witnessed people (OK, guys) asking about specific Vietnam Wars books at my local public library; They were both asking about widely distributed works of literary merit. Needless to say, my local public library does not own either one.... (OK, I have issues with them).
So, what ten books (Fiction/Non Fiction) are most useful to understanding Vietnam in the context of American History? Let's go for a maximum of four Fiction and the rest non fiction.
And ten books is optimistic; then you have to select five that will engage the average buck seargeant....