Tag Archives: Oxford University Press

Making Sense of the Vietnam Wars Reviewed

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The first volume of the Reinterpreting History series, published by Oxford University Press, received a great book review in the latest volume of the Journal of American History (volume 96, issue 1). The volume, entitled Making Sense of the Vietnam Wars: Local, National, and Transnational Perspectives is edited by Mark Philip Bradley and Marilyn B. Young.

Reviewer Patrick Hagopian from Lancaster University in Lancaster, England, says, “This volume gathers together a group of distinguished scholars to bring fresh perspectives to the question, ‘Why Vietnam?’ Their contributions address the factors that led the United States to intervene militarily in Vietnam and the reasons (other than military strategy and feats of arms) that the conflict developed and concluded as it did; they also demonstrate the liveliness of current historiographical debates. The emergence of new interpretations results in part from the availability of new Vietnamese-language archives, the declassification of documents in the United States, and the release of materials in China, Eastern Europe, and Russia…..

“…The new synthesis toward which this volume excitingly, although perhaps distantly, signals, will involve not just the integration of materials from various national archives but the tracing of the connections between the large-scale and finely observed local perspectives that its contributions explore. The cutting-edge research in this volume constitutes a crucial addition to the library of anyone interested in the histories of the Vietnam Wars.”

Vietnam

The full review is availabe at the  History Cooperative.  This volume, and the second volume in the series  on Atlantic History, are available for purchase through the Center’s E-Store.

Second Volume in “Reinterpreting History” Focuses on Atlantic History

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The second volume in the “Reinterpreting History” series is now available. Atlantic History: A Critical History  is edited by Jack P. Greene, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Johns Hopkins University, and Philip D. Morgan, Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University.

This book offers an incisive look at how interpretations of the Atlantic world have changed over time and from a variety of national perspectives. Atlantic history, which developed in the 1970s and has become very popular in the past several years, looks at the transnational interconnections between Europe, North America, South America, and Africa, particularly in the early modern/colonial period, rather than understanding nations/states absent a broader global context.

This volume discusses key areas of the Atlantic world, including the British, Dutch, French, Iberian, and African Atlantic, as well as the movement of ideas, peoples, and goods. It also offers critical perspectives of the concept itself, juxtaposing it with global and Continental history. The cast of contributors is stellar and international, including scholars who have been at the forefront of teaching and research in this area. Together they will create a volume that introduces inexperienced students and general readers to Atlantic history, as well as offers new perspectives for scholars. Atlantic history is taught as its own course at a variety of universities, and Atlantic perspectives are incorporated into courses on early modern Europe, British history, colonial America, colonial Latin America, and African history.

It and the first volume on Vietnam is available to purchase at the Oxford University Press.

This series of books is published by Oxford University Press. Each volume focuses on a historical topic that has been substantially reinterpreted as a result of recent scholarship. The series is designed to offer students and the public a better understanding of how and why historical thinking changes.