Everyman in Vietnam

A Soldier's Journey into the Quagmire

Michael Adas and Joseph J. Gilch

Based on an exceptional collection of letters written by an American soldier during his tour of duty, Everyman in Vietnam: A Soldier's Journey into the Quagmire provides a gripping and multi-dimensional way to understand the nature and enduring significance of the Vietnam conflict. The book's vivid, intimate, and accessible account of Jimmy Gilch, an ordinary American soldier in Vietnam, offers a unique glimpse into the complexities and contradictions of the American intervention there. The movement back and forth between the larger history of the war and the experiences of Gilch fighting in a very particular place at a particular time gives readers a sense of the concrete nature of the war in Vietnam that is often absent in more general treatments. Offering an instructive example of the craft of history in action, Everyman in Vietnam explores the history of the multinational and global processes that led to the U.S. interventions, the political calculations on opposing sides that shaped successive decisions for military escalation, and Vietnamese perspectives on the conflict.

Everyman in Vietnam

A Soldier's Journey into the Quagmire

Michael Adas and Joseph J. Gilch

Description

Based on an exceptional collection of letters written by an American soldier during his tour of duty, Everyman in Vietnam: A Soldier's Journey into the Quagmire provides a gripping and multi-dimensional way to understand the nature and enduring significance of the Vietnam conflict. The book's vivid, intimate, and accessible account of Jimmy Gilch, an ordinary American soldier in Vietnam, offers a unique glimpse into the complexities and contradictions of the American intervention there. The movement back and forth between the larger history of the war and the experiences of Gilch fighting in a very particular place at a particular time gives readers a sense of the concrete nature of the war in Vietnam that is often absent in more general treatments. Offering an instructive example of the craft of history in action, Everyman in Vietnam explores the history of the multinational and global processes that led to the U.S. interventions, the political calculations on opposing sides that shaped successive decisions for military escalation, and Vietnamese perspectives on the conflict.

Everyman in Vietnam

A Soldier's Journey into the Quagmire

Michael Adas and Joseph J. Gilch

List of Maps
Acronyms and Key Terms
Acknowledgements
About the Authors

Prologue: In the Ho Bo Woods: June 28, 1966

Introduction

Chapter One: Divergent Trajectories: America and Vietnam after World War II
The Promise of Prosperity
Struggle to Liberate a Shattered Land
Early U.S. Interventions in Indochina
Exemplar of Modernity

Chapter Two: Cold War Convergences
Flawed Settlement and a Nation Divided
Coming of Age in Cold War America
The Invention of South Vietnam
The Mounting Costs of Containment
Rebel Without A Cause

Chapter Three: The Making of a Quagmire
Draft Decisions
Lyndon Johnson's Dilemmas
Basic Training: Fort Dix, New Jersey, September 1965
Renewing the War for Independence
Off to War, January 1966

Chapter Four: Into the Quagmire
Angst and Escalation
Contested Ground
Arrival in Nam, February 1966
Terms of Engagement
In Pursuit of an Elusive Enemy, Late February 1966

Chapter Five: In Dubious Battle
The Lessons of Ia Drang
The Good Soldier, March 1966
Rethinking the Path to Liberation
Ambivalence and Disillusionment, March1966
McNamara's Predicament
Finding His Own Mission, March - April 1966

Chapter Six: The Price of Attrition
Surviving the Stalemate, April, 1966
An Unwinnable War
Losing Hope, Mid-April - Early May
Confounding the Colossus
Waiting for Leave, June - July 1966

Chapter Seven: Return to Filhol, Late July, 1966

Epilogue

Timeline
Sample Letters
Notes
Selected Sources Consulted
Credits
Index

Everyman in Vietnam

A Soldier's Journey into the Quagmire

Michael Adas and Joseph J. Gilch

Author Information

Michael Adas is the Abraham E. Voorhees Professor Emeritus and Board of Governors' Chair at Rutgers University. Adas was awarded the Toynbee Prize for his contributions to global history in 2013. His writings have been translated into seven languages.

Joseph J. Gilch is currently working to complete his graduate degree in Global and Comparative History at Rutgers University.

Everyman in Vietnam

A Soldier's Journey into the Quagmire

Michael Adas and Joseph J. Gilch

Reviews and Awards

"Everyman in Vietnam is the most intimate account of the Vietnam War available today. Written with great artistry and power, the author's story of Jimmy Gilch and his family's encounter with one of America's most vicious wars casts a powerful light not just on the conflict but on the entire social fabric of the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a perfect vehicle for teaching the current generation--so fully protected from the experience of war--what Vietnam was all about."--Marilyn Young, New York University

"In this compelling and moving book, two master historians help us understand the real tragedy of the American war in Vietnam as they bring to life the service of Private Jimmy Gilch against the sweep of American, Vietnamese, and global histories of the mid-twentieth century."--Mark Bradley, The University of Chicago