Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 200
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-0-7425-4532-8 • Paperback • July 2007 • $38.00 • (£30.00)
978-0-7425-6951-5 • eBook • July 2007 • $36.00 • (£30.00)
James E. Westheider is associate professor of American history and interim chair of the Humanities Division at the University of Cincinnati-Clermont College and a faculty member there since 1998. He is the author of Fighting on Two Fronts: African-Americans and the Vietnam War.
Introduction
Chapter 1: African Americans in the Armed Forces before Vietnam
Chapter 2: American Involvement in Vietnam and the Draft
Chapter 3: The Black Military Experience in the Vietnam Era
Chapter 4: Anti-War Sentiment and Black Disillusionment
Chapter 5: Racial Violence in the Military and the Military Response
Chapter 6: Vietnamization and Going Home
Appendixes
Documents
Bibliographic Essay
Westheider analyzes the intersection of racial politics at home and in Vietnam, Civil Rights and the antiwar movement, the promise of equality with the reality of continued discrimination, and ultimately, the attempts to remedy those problems. This is both an excellent introduction to the topic, and a great addition to anyone who has begun studying Blacks in the military. Again, Westheider has provided us with an outstanding resource.
— Bob Buzzanco, University of Houston
This is a work that any serious African American history class or African American studies class will need. Westheider does a masterful job of analyzing how African American soldiers met the challenges of racism in the services and shaped African American culture. Westheider's expertise shines through a beautifully crafted, well-researched book. Scholars and students will appreciate this contribution to the field.
— Selika M. Ducksworth-Lawton, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Westheider reminds us why he is the pre-eminent authority on the history of the African American experience in Vietnam. Alongside a detailed assessment of the relationship between African Americans and their nation's armed forces, and of the racism confronting African Americans during the Vietnam era, he provides a nuanced analysis of Black responses to the hardships they encountered during this turbulent period of American history. In clear and accessible language Westheider tells a story of both adversity and achievement that will appeal to specialists and non-specialists alike.
— Chris Dixon, University of Queensland
A well written book. . . . The African American Experience in Vietnam is . . . excellent.
— Journal of Military History
Westheider offers a short, detail-rich analysis of the African American experience in Vietnam and in the antiwar movement. Students will learn much from these details of discrimination that informed the changes made by the military after the war to create a more truly integrated and meritocratic fighting force. The document set at the end of the book includes Medal of Honor citations, GI letters, and an excellent oral history interview that will let students do their own primary source analysis.
— Journal of American Ethnic History
James Westheider has used groundbreaking research and thoughtful historical chronology to tell a story within a story; that of the African American experience in the Vietnam War. He brings to the surface issues and concerns that have been long forgotten or hidden from the American conscious. From this work we can rewrite the history of the Vietnam War and include, as a central part, the experience of African Americans.
— Samuel W. Black, editor of Soul Soldiers and curator of African American Collections, Heinz History Center
[This book] can be used as an introductory text in courses on the history of African Americans in the modern U.S. military and offers a detailed account of the black military experience during the civil rights era.
— The Journal of African American History
One of the few scholarly works to examine both the Vietnam War and the critical issue of race relations in the armed forces in wartime
Provides a history and chronology of African American participation in the armed forces prior to the Vietnam war
Features a selection of images that bring the past to life
Detailed appendices provide students with historiographical resources including primary documents from the U.S. Army, the Civil Rights Movement, and key legal documents