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Title: The Lowdown: A Short History of the Origins of the Vietnam War

Author: David Anderson

Narrator: Lorelei King

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-23-11

Publisher: Creative Content Ltd

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

A concise history of the origins of The Vietnam War for a new generation.

On September 2, 1945, Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chi Minh boldly proclaimed his countrys independence. Just as Americans had done almost two centuries earlier in defiance of the British, Ho declared that Vietnamese patriots were, after many decades of French domination, affirming that all the peoples on the earth are equal from birth and have a right to live and to be happy and free.

Among the cheering Vietnamese assembled for this auspicious announcement were American military officers, who had worked with Ho and his Vietminh political front to defeat the Japanese imperial forces that had occupied Indochina and had replaced French authority for the previous four years.

Envisioning this dramatic scene and not knowing the tragic saga that would follow; someone might assume that Americans and Vietnamese had much in common on which to build a harmonious international relationship. In reality, however, the two nations were destined to collide in a war that would ultimately cost more than two million Vietnamese and more than 58,000 American lives.

How could it have happened? This fascinating story of how the Vietnamese people resisted external control and moved outward like pioneer settlers to occupy the country that became Vietnam, creating a unified and independent government, is in many ways like the story of early America.

In this concise history of the origins of the Vietnam War, Dr David Anderson, Professor of History at California State University, Monterey Bay, examines the events that led to one of the most controversial wars the US has ever known and succinctly explains, for a new generation, why this conflict still matters today.

Members Reviews:

Delivers What It Promises

Published by Creative Content Ltd in 2011.

Narrated by Lorelei King

Duration: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Creative Content has a whole series of short audiobooks and kindle books in its "The Lowdown" series. The main feature of the series is that they are short (a little more than an hour or about 35 "pages" on the Kindle) and give the reader a quick look at a topic.

In this case, the topic is the origin of the Vietnam War. Note, this is not a history of the entire war, but if you ever wondered just how the United States got involved in the Vietnam War, this nifty little history will do the job just fine.

Anderson roots his history in the aftermath of World War II. There are two major factors at play. The first is the desire of the French to re-establish their pre-war colonial empire and re-assert themselves as a major player on the world scene despite their being conquered by the Germans at the beginning of World War II. The second factor is America's determination to contain Soviet Communism. Anderson traces these two movements and demonstrates that they led to a collision with Ho Chi Minh's anti-colonial communist movement in Vietnam. He follows them through the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson administrations. He ends with the Tonkin Gulf Resolution that was widely interpreted to give Johnson permission to act in Vietnam as he saw fit.

This is an easy to digest history. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know a little more about the Vietnam War or for use in any class that is looking for a relatively short reading (or listen) in a 20th Century American history class.