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The Vietnam War: History in an Hour

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The Vietnam War: History in an Hour

By: Neil Smith
Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
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About this listen

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.

‘War, what is it good for?’ THE VIETNAM WAR: HISTORY IN AN HOUR gives a gripping account of the most important Cold War-era conflict, fought between the United States and the Viet Cong, the Vietnam People’s Army and their Communist allies. It was one of the most traumatic military conflicts America has ever been involved in – and provoked a backlash of anti-war protests at home.

Here are the key events leading up to the Vietnam War, the deadly guerrilla warfare of the Viet Cong, the domestic anti-war movement and the fall of Saigon. THE VIETNAM WAR: HISTORY IN AN HOUR is essential reading for anyone interested in post-war history.

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour…

©2012 Neil Smith (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Americas Military United States Vietnam War War Cold War

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Critic reviews

"If the past is a foreign country, History in an Hour is like a high-class tour operator, offering delightfully enjoyable short breaks in the rich and diverse continent of our shared past." (Dominic Sandbrook)
"The practice of History is ever-evolving, and the History In An Hour idea brings it back up to date for the digital age." (Andrew Roberts, Bookseller)
"This is genius." (MacWorld.com)
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Any additional comments?

This is a political timetable of the main issues which tells you very little about the war itself.

The briefest of descriptions

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Although the narrative chops around a bit too much, it's due to the sheer weight and detail that the subject covers, it's one that needs several listens just to take it all in...but worth it.

Fact packed

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The audiobook does a reasonably good job of providing a basic introduction to the war, although it does far too much backtracking at times. A section will go on to 1970, say, and then the next will go back to 1967 and cover different events. This makes the chronology, and the narrative of the war, harder to follow. There also seems to be a significant focus on the US and its politics, and much less on the Vietnamese and the actual ground campaign - in particular, little is discussed of the tactics employed by both sides in the jungle, and no mention at all (from what I recall) of the use of napalm and other defoliants.

Keeble is as excellent a narrator as he always is, reading with a measured pace and tone that maintains good comprehension (although the accents can sometimes be a bit distracting!), but the fragmented approach taken by the author and the omissions made means I would rate this lower than other History in an Hour audiobooks I have purchased before now.

Bounces a bit too much around the timeline

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a good brief introduction, however i feel the topic is a little to complex to cover in an hour. the time line is a little confusing near the end and the is no reflection on the aftermath of this war.

reasonable introduction to the vietnam war

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This booked focused more on the politics and wasn’t a chronological story of what happened. Not as enjoyable as other books in the series

Too much focus on the politics

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I have previously listened to the World War One and the Korean War in an hour books. This war was something I had no knowledge about coming in as I'm not an American. Having said that I found it much more confusing to follow than I did the stories I had more knowledge on originally.

How it jumps about from area of focus to area of focus rather than following a timeline makes it very difficult to understand what's going on in my opinion. I did have this on in the background when I was doing other things so it may well be my fault but I'm not left with an good knowledge of the Vietnam conflict having listened to it.

Also there was very little military tactical coverage. Most of the story is about the politics involved.

The narration was dry but solid like the other History in an Hour audiobooks.

Lack of chronology make story confusing.

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This ludicrous account of a devastating war is told exclusively through the lens of hard right US politics, there's hardly a sentence exploring the war from the perspective of the long suffering Vietnamese themselves and no account of the tactics which outmanoeuvred the most deadly and powerful military machine on earth ! Atrocities are glossed over.

Not a shred of human compassion or insight. it's as if the author is describing a retarded child playing with toy soldiers: his conclusion being that USA would have won had it been even more brutal and slaughtered even more of the pesky foreigners.

Trump seal of approval for dumb propaganda!

Bizarre!

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