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“The melancholy tone of Ken Burns’ voice exactly suits the mood of this history of the Vietnam War…Burns adds no false drama but always reads with a tone of respect for the front-line combatants and the earnest opponents. He varies his pace only slightly to keep listeners engaged. Overall, he lets the story speak for itself…The audio does the print version full justice. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
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The companion volume to Burns’ Vietnam War documentary series on PBS, the book stands alone as a powerful summary of the whole conflict. It tells the story of the war from every conceivable angle, including that of the young Vietnamese fighters. It’s extraordinarily well-reported and written, and filled with memorable photographs and illustrations—a reminder that the war was, perhaps for the first time, shaped as much by powerful images as written reports.
— Lancaster Online, Mark Bowden's "Ten Favorite Books on the Vietnam War"
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A vivid and often captivating volume…a valuable resource.
— David Greenberg, The New York Times Book Review
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Once again Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns deliver the grand historical goods in this feast of a book. For those too young to remember the Vietnam War, this is the essential primer. For those old enough to have Vietnam flashbacks or battle scars, read it and weep. Highly recommended!!
— Douglas Brinkley
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Lucid, flowing, and dramatic… Robustly detailed writing… Eye-opening… Powerful in its own right… In their new ‘intimate’ yet capacious history, the award-winning, audience-enthralling duo of historian and screenwriter Ward and documentarian extraordinaire Burns investigate the complex, divisive, and tragic Vietnam War from a unique plurality of perspectives… This is a vivid, affecting, definitive, and essential illustrated history.
— Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
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Lavishly illustrated…. Well-written and deeply researched, this history covers virtually every aspect of the French and American wars in Vietnam from 1945-1975, focusing mainly on military, diplomatic, and political issues…. Anyone looking for an expansive overview of the Vietnam War will find much to admire here.
— Publishers Weekly
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“Screenwriter Ward and documentarian extraordinaire Burns investigate the complex, divisive, and tragic Vietnam War from a unique plurality of perspectives…[in a] consistently lucid, flowing, and dramatic narrative…This is a vivid, affecting, definitive, and essential illustrated history.”
— Booklist (starred review)
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A sweeping, richly illustrated narrative of a conflict fast retreating in memory…Ward and Burns take a vast topic and personalize it. Regarding the Vietnam War, this involved tracking down veterans of the war and recounting their experiences to gain insight into how great events play out on the individual level—thus the “intimate” element of the subtitle…This is an outstanding, indispensable survey of the Vietnam War.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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“Well-written and deeply researched, this history covers virtually every aspect of the French and American wars in Vietnam from 1945 to 1975, focusing mainly on military, diplomatic, and political issues. Individual tales of Army infantrymen, Marine grunts, and other combatants are woven throughout the larger narrative…Anyone looking for an expansive overview of the Vietnam War will find much to admire here.”
— Publishers Weekly