The Vietnam War A Graphic History Author:Dwight Jon Zimmerman, Chuck Horner When Senator Edward Kennedy declared, ?Iraq is George Bush?s Vietnam,? everyone understood. The Vietnam War has become the touchstone for U.S. military misadventures?a war lost on the home front although never truly lost on the battlefront. During the pivotal decade of 1962 to 1972, U.S. involvement rose from a few hundred advisers to a fighting... more » force of more than one million. This same period saw the greatest schism in American society since the Civil War, a generational divide pitting mothers and fathers against sons and daughters who protested the country?s ever-growing military involvement in Vietnam. Meanwhile, well-intentioned decisions in Washington became operational orders with tragic outcomes in the rice paddies, jungles, and villages of Southeast Asia. Through beautifully rendered artwork, The Vietnam War: A Graphic History depicts the course of the war from its initial expansion in the early 1960s through the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, and what transpired at home, from the antiwar movement and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. to the Watergate break-in and the resignation of a president. Dwight Jon Zimmerman has written on military subjects for the Naval Institute Press, Vietnam magazine, and the Faircount Publication?s ongoing series of military-themed magazines, and has served as the co?executive producer of the Discovery Channel?s miniseries First Command, which was based on his book of the same name. His The Book of War won the 2009 Gold Award for Reference by the Military Writers Society of America. Zimmerman has served as an editor at Byron Preiss Visual Publications, Topps Comics, and Marvel Comics.
Wayne Vansant served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War before earning his degree from the Atlanta College of Art. Vansant oversaw Marvel?s Vietnam War comic The ?Nam, which he worked on for approximately five years, illustrating more than fifty issues. Since working on The ?Nam, he has scripted and illustrated countless graphic books on the subject of military history, from the American Civil War to the Korean War. An American Library Association Great Graphic Novel for Teens Nominee
The Vietnam War has become the touchstone for U.S. military misadventures?a war lost on the home front although never truly lost on the battlefront. During the pivotal decade of 1962 to 1972, U.S. involvement rose from a few hundred advisers to a fighting force of more than one million. This same period saw the greatest schism in American society since the Civil War, a generational divide pitting mothers and fathers against sons and daughters who protested the country?s ever-growing military involvement in Vietnam. Meanwhile, well-intentioned decisions in Washington became operational orders with tragic outcomes in the rice paddies, jungles, and villages of Southeast Asia. Through beautifully rendered artwork, The Vietnam War: A Graphic History depicts the course of the war from its initial expansion in the early 1960s through the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, and what transpired at home, from the antiwar movement and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. to the Watergate break-in and the resignation of a president. "There have been other graphic histories on other wars, but it must have been especially challenging to portray the Vietnam years with all their complexities, to convey not only how we became entangled in such a war and how we ultimately left it, but how we felt about it then and how we feel about it today. Zimmerman and Vansant do a memorable job, and when they feel their subject becoming too unwieldy for illustration and dialogue, they create text-only primers at the bottom of the page (mostly they contain background on the draft, the role of the news media and such major players as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara or Gen. William Westmoreland). The result is a painstaking and even-handed tour of the politics and the strategic mistakes, the battles and the protests, the lives lost and the lessons learned."?The Arizona Republic "Perhaps this is how, eventually, children will explore and come to know the past, through the reductive balancing act known as the 'graphic history.' There have been other graphic histories on other wars, but it must have been especially challenging to portray the Vietnam years with all their complexities, to convey not only how we became entangled in such a war and how we ultimately left it, but how we felt about it then and how we feel about it today. Zimmerman and Vansant do a memorable job, and when they feel their subject becoming too unwieldy for illustration and dialogue, they create text-only primers at the bottom of the page (mostly they contain background on the draft, the role of the news media and such major players as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara or Gen. William Westmoreland). The result is a painstaking and even-handed tour of the politics and the strategic mistakes, the battles and the protests, the lives lost and the lessons learned."?The Arizona Republic "The Vietnam War: A Graphic History is out now, and I hope you run out to pick it up along with Wasteland. Like most everyone born in the '70s, I grew up in the shadow of the Vietnam War. It was discussed very often. It was understood (by me) very little. This book has not only answered so many questions for me, but it has encapsulated the entire scope of the war into such easily digested segments without ever once feeling pedantic. I?m loving it for being so ambitious and respecting it for accomplishing it with such aplomb. I would have that what writer Dwight Jon Zimmerman and artist Wayne Vansant have done would be incredibly difficult, but they make it look quite easy . . . Highly recommended."?John Hogan, Graphic Novel Reporter
"Boy, talk about setting yourself up for a no-win scenario. If the U.S. weren't currently embroiled in Iraq, you'd find few Americans who?d argue?whether they supported it or not?that the Vietnam War is the single most contentious conflict in the history of U.S. military actions. Tackling the history of that conflict in a fair and even manner simply isn't possible in 140 pages . . . At the open, Zimmerman focuses effectively on the influence of the Cold War and Lyndon Johnson's tenuous arrival in the Oval Office following John F. Kennedy?s assassination. The political thorn bushes?the so-called domino theory of Communism's global threat, the U.S. military's inability to cross the DMZ, and the 'neutrality' of the Ho Chi Minh Trail?are all laid out clearly and without overt judgement . . . Wayne Vansant's powerful illustrations capture the necessary likenesses of the historical figures, and his solid visual storytelling keeps all the dates, personnel, locations and technology in order. Using maps and other visual aids, Vansant keeps readers enmeshed in the unfolding timeline, and his gritty illustrations suit the mood and struggle of the soldiers mired down in the conflict . . . Zimmerman's solid scripting and Vansant's powerful illustrations keep it much closer to the bulls eye than The Vietnam War: A Graphic History had much right to be. It?s a broad overview of a war with a million individual perspectives, and taken as such, the book works very well as a summary of the Vietnam experience."« less
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