Vinh-The Lam, M.L.S.
Librarian Emeritus
University of Saskatchewan
CANADA
It is safe to say that the Americans, not the
Vietnamese, that have produced the most writings about the Vietnam War. The volume of documents written in English by
the Americans on the Vietnam War is monumental.
The contributions by the Vietnamese authors were quite modest. Today, the American authors are divided
clearly into two schools of thought: 1) The majority belongs to the “orthodox”
school; and, 2) The minority belongs to the “revisionist” school. In general terms, their positions are totally
opposite: for the “orthodox” authors, “the Vietnam War was an unwinnable
war” while the “revisionist” authors believe that the Vietnam War could
have been won and at a much lower cost had the U.S employed a more appropriate
strategy. This Chapter is an effort to
understand, analyze, and evaluate that judgment by the “orthodox” authors that “the
Vietnam War was an unwinnable war.”
