| The Vietnam War is one of the most controversial subjects in American History. Scholars remain divided on a number of key questions: why did the US go to war; what American president was most responsible for how the conflict unfolded; could the US have "won" the war if it had adopted a different strategy; did public opinion and the anti-war movement play a role in ending the war; and why did some Americans support the war while others did not? This class is designed to address these questions and a multitude of others. The thesis of the course is that there is no one history of the Vietnam War, but rather a number of competing historical interpretations. In the class students will be asked will be to understand and evaluate these interpretations to that they may acquire a richer appreciation for the complexity of the Vietnam War in particular, and of history in general. |
