THE VIETNAM WAR

April 30, 2025 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. Upon the semicentennial, this special edition lecture course will reflect on the half century of scholarship and art to examine war’s history, including its origins, evolution, and conclusion, and assess its legacies today. Rather than just view the war as an event in American or Vietnamese history, this course will examine the war from a multitude of perspectives by inviting special lecturers, analyzing primary documents, dissecting novels and memoirs, screening war films, and drawing from the rich historiography of that oft-studied war. Throughout this course, we will ask questions that continue to elicit fierce debate: What brought the United States and Vietnam to war? What impact did the war have on North Vietnamese, South Vietnamese, and American politics? How did decisions made in the corridors of power on both sides of the Pacific affect everyday people on the battlefronts and homefronts? Why did it end the way it did? What lessons can we draw from the Vietnam War?

Attendance and participation in lectures and weekly discussion sections is mandatory. All the readings and episodes are available online through Butler Library (CLIO) or Canvas (C).