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The cover of Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam

Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam

Frances FitzGerald

Why did American ambitions in Vietnam clash with the political and social reality of the Vietnamese?

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At a glance

Author
Frances FitzGerald

Why read it

  • You will see how an outside power can misread the society it is trying to shape
  • You will learn to ask what a war means to people living in it, not only to the powers fighting it
  • You will know what happens when decision makers do little serious work to understand the people they act on

Who it is for

  • A veteran of the Vietnam War still asking why it was lost
  • A policy student studying why interventions fail
  • A traveler to Vietnam wanting deeper context

Contents

  1. Note on the Title
  2. Preface
  3. I. The Vietnamese
  4. 1. States of Mind
  5. 2. Nations and Empires
  6. 3. The Sovereign of Discord
  7. 4. The National Liberation Front
  8. II. The Americans and the Saigon Government
  9. 5. Mise en scène
  10. 6. Politicians and Generals
  11. 7. The United States Enters the War
  12. 8. The Buddhist Crisis
  13. 9. Prospero, Caliban, and Ariel
  14. 10. Bad Puppets
  15. 11. Elections
  16. 12. The Downward Spiral
  17. 13. Prospero
  18. 14. Guerrillas
  19. 15. The Tet Offensive
  20. III. Conclusion
  21. 16. Nixon's War
  22. 17. Fire in the Lake
  23. Afterword

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