The Vietnam War

Semester and Year	SP 2011
Course Number	IDSEM-UG1589
Section	001
Instructor	Hannah Gurman
Days	Tue,Thu
Time	4:55 PM - 6:10 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement	HUM, GLOBAL

Description

The Vietnam War occupies a special place in U.S history and foreign relations. It was America's longest war, the only war it ever lost, a war that shattered Americans' faith in their government and spawned a culture of protests that divided one generation from another. It has been said that Vietnam was the "most traumatic experience for the United States in the twentieth century." In this course, we will examine the Vietnam War through the lens of literature, film, official documents, memoirs, and historical analysis, under the premise that each of these sources offers different, yet important insights into the cause, experience, and effect of the war. In addition to considering the war from the U.S. perspective, we will also read texts that offer insights into the Vietnamese experience. Texts will include novels, films, and poetry of Eugene Burdick, Norman Mailer, Yusef Komunyaaka, and Tim O’Brien, official documents written by Robert McNamara, George Ball, and Daniel Ellsberg, and scholarship by Leslie Gelb, David Elliott, and Marilyn Young.

Course Type

Interdisciplinary Seminars (IDSEM-UG)