cover image Vietnam

Vietnam

Dorothy Hoobler. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, $17.95 (196pp) ISBN 978-0-394-81943-3

In this lucid and eloquent overview of American involvement in Vietnam, the Hooblers ( The Trenches: Fighting on the Western Front in World War I ) encourage readers to question and learn from history. Explaining the origins of the conflict, the authors report on Vietnamese subjugation by the French and Japanese, point out that Ho Chi Minh aided the U.S. during WW II, and analyze the series of tragic mistakes made by U.S. presidents, generals, intelligence agents and diplomats that eventually led to the long war. The valor of U.S. combat troops is cited; the My Lai massacre, too, is documented. The context and the influence of the domestic peace movement are also clearly presented. Occasionally, an oversimplification invades the otherwise excellent text (describing how the McCarthyism of the 1950s left a legacy of fear, the authors conclude: ``The main reason why American presidents of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s sent military aid to South Vietnam was that they did not want to face the question, `Who lost Vietnam?' ''). Well-chosen photographs, generously interspersed throughout, heighten the immediacy and force of the authors' arguments. Ages 10-up. (Oct.)