Essential histories

When Senator Edward Kennedy declared, “Iraq is George Bush’s Vietnam,” everyone understood. The Vietnam War has become the touchstone for U.S. military misadventures—a war lost on the home front although never truly lost on the battlefront. During the pivotal decade of 1962 to 1972, U.S. involvement rose from a few hundred advisers to a fighting force of more than one million. This same period saw the greatest schism in American society since the Civil War, a generational divide pitting mothers and fathers against sons and daughters who protested the country’s ever-growing military involvement in Vietnam. Meanwhile, well-intentioned decisions in Washington became operational orders with tragic outcomes in the rice paddies, jungles, and villages of Southeast Asia. Through beautifully rendered artwork, The Vietnam War: A Graphic History depicts the course of the war from its initial expansion in the early 1960s through the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, and what transpired at home, from the antiwar movement and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. to the Watergate break-in and the resignation of a president. Praise for The Vietnam War "The Vietnam War: A Graphic History is an innovative way to present a complex period in American history. Using actual dialogue with illustrations of the personalities involved, it brings the people and the events to life." --Philip Caputo, author of A Rumor of War "Dwight Jon Zimmerman and Wayne Vansant have created a truly graphic history of America's tragic misadventure in Vietnam. They show the mistaken assumptions, failed policies, and hubris that doomed American efforts to prevent a Communist takeover of South Vietnam. At the same time, they maintain a balanced presentation that leans to neither the prowar nor the antiwar side in this country's most divisive conflict." --James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom "An emotionally moving combination of graphics and text clearly describing the events that led up to a war and years of bloodshed, which threatened the unity of the American people." --Joe Kubert, author of Fax from Sarajevo and Yossel

Chronicles the history of the Vietnam War, discussing events the led up to the conflict, discussing the strategies of the U.S. and the North Vietnamese, follow the course of the war, and looking at its impact on the home front.

"This book covers one of the defining periods of European history. The series of wars between the Classical Greeks and the Persian Empire produced the famous battles of Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis, as well as an ill-fated attempt to overthrow the Persian king in 400 B.C., which helped to inspire the conquests of Alexander the Great. To tell the story of these momentous events, of the lives of great men and women of the societies and cultures that produced them, and to explain how and why they came into conflict was the aim of Herodotus, the 'Father of History' whose account of the wars is our principal source and the first book to be called a history."--Jacket.

"It is a testament to the fascination generated by the subject, that even today the events of the Peloponnesian War are studied for what they can teach about diplomacy, strategy and tactics. This book reveals the darker side of Classical Greek civilization. From the horrific effects of overcrowding and the plague on the population of Athens to the vicious civil strife that often erupted in cities allied with Athens or Sparta, this volume offers vivid and at times disturbing insights into the impact of warfare on the people who are celebrated as the founders of Western civilization."--BOOK JACKET.