{"product_id":"to-build-as-well-as-destroy-american-nation-building-in-south-vietnam-hardback-9781501712807","title":"To Build As Well As Destroy; American Nation Building in South Vietnam (Hardback) 9781501712807","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eTo Build As Well As Destroy\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eAmerican Nation Building in South Vietnam\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eAndrew J. Gawthorpe (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781501712807\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 15 December 2018\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e258 pages, 9 b\u0026amp;w halftones, 1 map - 9 Halftones, black and white - 1 Maps\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.907 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eGawthorpe... offers a significant, thoughtful analysis of the failed U.S. experience that spanned nearly two decades. This deeply researched book explores the earnest but futile attempt, involving at least four American presidencies, to create a viable nation-state in the southern half of Vietnam. Possibly no previous author has so doggedly focused on the nation-building endeavor that was beset by a lack of public support, in Vietnam and the U.S.; inadequate knowledge by American operatives of conditions on the ground; and the relentless nature of the communist leadership.\u003c\/p\u003e (Choice) \u003cp\u003eGawthorpe's scholarship is excellent, and he gets much right concerning the pitfalls and shortcomings of allied nation-building efforts at the local level....\u003ci\u003e To Build as Well as Destroy\u003c\/i\u003e is a useful cautionary tale.\u003c\/p\u003e (War on the Rocks) \u003cp\u003eThis fascinating book looks at the conceptual as well as the practical dimensions of American nation building.\u003c\/p\u003e (Survival: Global politics and strategy)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor years, the so-called better-war school of thought has argued that the United States built a legitimate and viable non-Communist state in South Vietnam in the latter years of the Vietnam War and that it was only the military abandonment of this state that brought down the Republic of Vietnam.\u003c\/b\u003e But Andrew J. Gawthorpe, through a detailed and incisive analysis, shows that, in fact, the United States failed in its efforts at nation building and had not established a durable state in South Vietnam.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDrawing on newly opened archival collections and previously unexamined oral histories with dozens of U.S. military officers and government officials, \u003ci\u003eTo Build as Well as Destroy \u003c\/i\u003edemonstrates that the United States never came close to achieving victory in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Gawthorpe tells a story of policy aspirations and practical failures that stretches from Washington, D.C., to the Vietnamese villages in which the United States implemented its nationbuilding strategy through the Office of Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support known as CORDS. Structural factors that could not have been overcome by the further application of military power thwarted U.S. efforts to build a viable set of non-Communist political, economic, and social institutions in South Vietnam.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eTo Build as Well as Destroy\u003c\/i\u003e provides the most comprehensive account yet of the largest and best-resourced nation-building program in U.S. history. Gawthorpe's analysis helps contemporary policy makers, diplomats, and military officers understand the reasons for this failure. At a moment in time when American strategists are grappling with military and political challenges in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, revisiting the historical lessons of Vietnam is a worthy endeavor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e Introduction: The Nation-Building Metaphor\u003cbr\u003e 1. The Diem Years\u003cbr\u003e 2. The Johnson Administration and Nation Building\u003cbr\u003e 3. Setting Up CORDS\u003cbr\u003e 4. The \"Opportunity\"\u003cbr\u003e 5. The Nixon Administration and Nation Building\u003cbr\u003e 6. CORDS and the Village System\u003cbr\u003e 7. Implementing the Village System\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion: Humility and Nation Building\u003cbr\u003e Abbreviations\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52607767118104,"sku":"9781501712807","price":36.29,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/to-build-as-well-as-destroy-american-nation-building-in-south-vietnam-hardback-9781501712807","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}