Estimates include both civilian and military deaths in north and south vietnam, laos, and cambodia the war persisted from 1955 to 1975 and most of the fighting took place in south vietnam. These include winners of national book awards and pulitzer prizes, both fiction and nonfiction. Fresh out of officers candidate school, 20yearold oklahoman gary bray arrived in vietnam in late august 1969. Didnt you see the body count numbers on cbs last night. William westmoreland played a key role as general in expanding u. He decided to conduct of a war of attrition, using search and destroy tactics, in which the measure of merit was body count.
What the corps represents and what its men in combat have to go through. May 15, 2019 body count is more than a thriller set at the 1967 turning point of the vietnam war. The nightly body counts from vietnam on the evening news with walter cronkite. There are issues around killing and counting unarmed civilians noncombatants as enemy combatants, as well as inflating the number of actual enemy who were killed in action kia. How accurate are the body count figures during the vietnam. Civilians and the vietnam war in a new book, nick turse says the pressure on u. The vietnam war has scarred, transformed and inspired countless writers and art practitioners. But what he did was he interviewed the people he was treating and it was one of the great examples of breaking through the statistics. The body count was the data point that defined an era.
Body count in vietnam a second lieutenant assigned to lead the infamous platoon responsible for the my lai massacre recalls the bitter reality behind vietnam s measurement of a second lieutenant assigned to lead the infamous platoon responsible for the my lai massacre recalls the bitter reality behind vietnam. A body count is the total number of people killed in a particular event. Body counts by yen le espiritu paperback university of. Body count is more than a thriller set at the 1967 turning point of the vietnam war. Its success triggers an explosive conflict between the cia backed buddhists and saigons special forces who are supported by the american military command led by colonel stennride, to put an end to the buddhist rebellion and continue with a strategy of body count. Body count was their most important product the new york times.
It is a shame that this book was passed over or other books. The body count was one aspect of the war of attrition a strategy devised to kill more north vietnam army and viet cong nvavc soldiers in south vietnam than the drv could replace. The vietnam war was fought by the body count system. This was a book i read before i went to vietnam and it was written by an army doctor who wasnt even there. The vietnam war body count controversy centers on the counting of enemy dead by the united states armed forces during the vietnam war 19551975. The vietnam war is the commonly used name for the second indochina war, 19541975.
Often used in reference to military combat, the term can also refer to any situation involving multiple killings, such as the actions of death squads or serial killers. After we posted this article, times readers weighed in with their favorite books on the vietnam war. Oct 11, 20 woe unto any commander who did not have a consistently high count. Americas wars have inspired some of the worlds best literature, and the vietnam war is no exception. One study revealed that american commanders exaggerated body counts by 100 percent. Vietnam war is a very strange war, no border, no lines, which make body count was the primary measure of progress. By body count im not sure what you mean, i think its individual us military unit reports the ones hollywood loves to say were highly distorted. Thats one of the more grisly aspects of the vietnam war that the u. Accordingly, i use this very term, body counts, as the books title in order to expose the wars costs borne by the vietnamese and to insist that bodiesvietnamese bodiesshould count. A vietnam war thriller by richter watkins goodreads. Body count had its origin from baron antoine henri jomini, a napoleonic military strategist who theorized that war could best be understood in terms of mathematics, in terms of things that can be. In a war in which commanding generals rewarded american troops for generating high enemy body count and punished those slackers who didnt kill enough of the enemy, small wonder that vietnam became an american killing field and a breeding ground for atrocity.
The final book on your list of books about the vietnam war is 365 days. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Ken burns never knew how wrong he was about the vietnam war. The body count approach in vietnam was based on the judgment of general william westmoreland, the american commander until after the tet offensive of 1968, that the north vietnamese and viet cong would not be able to continue the struggle once the war reached the crossover point, the point at which the u. Focusing on the politics of war memory and commemoration, this book retheorizes the connections among history, memory, and power and. The author points out in his forward that, this is a work of fiction and as such is not meant to depict the literal truth of characters and events, but rather the deeper meanings of what happened and why.
Oct 25, 2017 given how large the canon of vietnam war photojournalism is and the level of infamy much of it has achieved, it may be surprising to learn that a wellspring of vietnam war photos from a source other than photojournalists has been largely ignored. A vietnam war thriller kindle edition by watkins, richter. Focusing on the politics of war memory and commemoration, this book. The nightly body counts from vietnam on the evening news. Life and death in vietnams television war consortiumnews. The vietnam war opposition in america finds meaning dummies. Oct 21, 1990 the vietnam war ranks among the most bizarre episodes of this century. The vietnam war body count controversy centers on the counting of enemy dead by the united. Usually it refers to the period when the united states and other members of the seato southeast asia treaty organization joined the forces with the republic of south vietnam to contest communist forces, comprised of south vietnamese guerrillas and regular. Appy, professor of history at umass amherst, has written a new and telling book on the vietnam war. The best vietnam war books five books expert recommendations.
It is a shame that this book was passed over or other books on the subject. Among the most positive is an abundance of topnotch books, many written by veterans of the conflict. The vietnam war and militarized refugees examines how the vietnam. The vietnam war and militarized refugeesexamines how the vietnam war has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up of american imperialist adventure and for the reproduction of american and vietnamese american identities. The only way to obtain that body count was to find em, then destroy em. Accordingly, i use this very term, body counts, as the books title in order to expose the war s costs borne by the vietnamese and to insist that bodiesvietnamese bodiesshould count. A vietnam war thriller by richter watkins available from rakuten kobo. Body count by richter watkins book cover, description, publication history. The vietnam war was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of north vietnam against south vietnam and its principal ally, the united states. An epic history of a divisive war 19451975 and over 8 million other books are available for amazon kindle. The leader of the american campaign in vietnam, general william westmoreland and secretary mcnamara decided to start measuring the progress of the war based on the number of enemy forces killed. If you look at wiki which derives the majority of its information fron us records its 890,000 ki. There were 10 million americans under arms during the war.
The body count was a measurement of adversarys manpower losses. The nightly body counts from vietnam on the evening news with. Browse the amazon editors picks for the best books of 2019, featuring our favorite. I watched the body counti would be so happy when there were fewer dead. This is an unknown and overlooked book about the marine corps in vietnam. To invade the north risked involving stronger communist powers into play. In the midst of a deteriorating war in 1967 a senior cia operative seekin.
May 31, 20 the body count was published daily in the newspapers. Is your subtitle the general who lost vietnam fair. The vietnam war and militarized refugeesexamines how the vietnam war has. It is historical fiction, a genre perhaps not fully appreciated.
One of the best military novels ive read, about vietnam or any other war, and as a marine who. While i have always considered this one of the best novels on the vietnam war i suppose i should read it again. Body counts the vietnam war and militarized refugees. I constantly find myself drawn to the past that my father insists i forget about. Army employed body countsthe number of confirmed vietnamese killsto chart u. In lewis sorleys book a better war, published in 1999 after studies of voluminous previouslysecret papers of creighton abrams, he writes. Focusing on the politics of war memory and commemoration, this book retheorizes. In combat, a body count is often based on the number of confirmed kills, but occasionally only an estimate. Try searching on jstor for other items related to this book. Readers weighed in on the best books about the vietnam war. I first encountered the very well written body count back when i was a lad during the early 1980s when vietnam war message movies still werent quite the rage just yet, probably in my sophomore year in high school. Our homeland is the united states my father would say at every family dinner. These 10 books, in addition to the ones below, were recommended multiple times. Edward lansdale an the american tragedy in vietnam max boot vietnam war books.
The tet offensive was a coordinated series of north vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in south vietnam. Fishermen had to feed their families, even if the war was exploding all around them. Im glad for the memory loss since it was a very fine read. Its a vietnam story not about the rights and wrongs of the war, but the marine corps itself. But it isnt only applied to america but north vietnam use body count as well. And yet, there were some nights when it was quiet for a while, beautiful for a while, and the fishermen floated on the sea between the land and me, standing watch on my warship. Hey, everyone knows that everyone knows that were winning the war in vietnam. Body counts and success in the vietnam and korean wars. While the list of books about this conflict includes hundreds of enlightening works, we pick ten of the best texts offering illuminating perspectives on the war, its context and the effects it had on vietnam. Body count was an aspect of the attrition based war that took place in vietnam. Oct 17, 2017 body count figures were grossly exaggerated throughout the vietnam war due to several factors. Herring explained, in a war without front lines and territorial objectives, where attriting the enemy was a major goal, the body. If this second read of body count is any indication a return to webbs book should be refreshing and enjoyable. Army employed body counts the number of confirmed vietnamese killsto chart u.
Us used these numbers to convince the public that they were winning the war because they were killing more of the enemy, however the vietnamese were fighting a war of independence so they had unlimited man power because they had a good reason to fight. How accurate are the body count figures during the vietnam war. Accordingly, i use this very term, body counts, as the book s title in order to expose the wars costs borne by the vietnamese and to insist that bodiesvietnamese bodiesshould count. From 1965 to 1967, he was instrumental in raising the level of u. General westmoreland had complete freedom of action in deciding how to prosecute the war within south vietnam. Nick turse, in his 20 book, kill anything that moves, argues that a relentless drive toward higher body counts, a widespread use of freefire zones, rules of engagement where civilians who ran from soldiers or helicopters could be viewed as vc, and a widespread disdain for vietnamese civilians led to massive civilian casualties and endemic war crimes inflicted by u. The daily body count of killed and wounded north vietnamese soldiers was, in epsilon theoryspeak, a cartoon an abstraction of an abstraction in service to the creation of common knowledge. Us military intervention initially prioritized propping up the unstable south to create a strong buffer against reunification efforts from the north. The author points out in his forward that, this is a work of fiction and as such is not meant to depict the literal truth of characters and events, but rather the deeper meanings of what. In response to westmorelands requests for more forces, the american presence in vietnam grew to well over 500,000 troops. Firstly, the communist fighters vietcongnorth vietnamese army vcnva understood that body count was important to u.
Estimates of casualties of the vietnam war vary widely. The vietnam war and militarized refugees examines how the vietnam war has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up of american imperialist adventure and for the reproduction of american and vietnamese american identities. Of the casualties listed on the wall approximatley 1,300 remain missing in action still. Sep 30, 2011 is your subtitle the general who lost vietnam fair. Body count for the vietnam war in 19541975 answers.
The vietnam war and our national identity new york, viking press. Hist 102 chapter 28 multiple choice flashcards quizlet. Winner of the 2016 pulitzer prize for fiction, this debut novel could fit into half a dozen genres of vietnam war books from war narrative to immigrant story, from mystery to political, from metafiction to. In the midst of a deteriorating war in 1967 a senior cia operative. The militarys reporting of the war and the response of the media enhanced the antiwar movements claims that serious difficulties were happening in vietnam. A second lieutenant assigned to lead the infamous platoon responsible for the my lai massacre recalls the bitter reality behind vietnam s measurement of combat success. Yen le espiritu this resource examines how the vietnam war has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up of american imperialist adventure and for the reproduction of american and vietnamese american. During the vietnam war why was body count used as a. Even knowing how the book would ultimately end, it was still a great read.