How many Vietnam War books are on your shelf?

Actually this topic has two questions.
How many books on the Vietnam War are on your shelves, including its expanded scope in Laos and Cambodia?
What book was your most spectacular find?

I have five:
Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism 1959-1969
The best and the brightest
Live From The Battlefield
Everything We Had: An Oral History of the Vietnam War
Bright, Shining Lie

I don't know if I would call it a find but Bright, Shining Lie is one of my all time favorite books.

Only have We Were Soldiers Once, and Young but have never read it.

Uh, I have absolutely no interest in books on this particular war. (In fact, I don't have much interest in wars generally. I'm more interested in reading about people than battles.)

I've read good things about Triumph Forsaken - and I beleive a follow-up is planned.

AnnaClaire, you might find Bright, Shining Lie interesting. It is a book about John Paul Vann. His time in Vietnam spanned the mid-sixties to the early seventies.

Looks interesting. I'll have to keep it in mind for my next hike to the library. (Given my reading tastes, limited shelving, and small salary, it may not be a book to buy.)

"Steal This Book" - Abbie Hoffman

"1001 ways to dodge the draft" - i forget who

"Ho Chi Minh's Prison poems" - on my want list

AnnaClaire if you want to read about people rather than battles I would suggest - First They Killed My Father, The Perfect Spy, Forgotten Hero of My Lai, I, Little Slave.

Michael Herr's Dispatches
Stanley Karnow's Vietnam, A History
Frances Fitzgerald's Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam
Daniel Ellsberg's Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers
David H. Hackworth's About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior
Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and Going After Cacciato

To name a few...

Suggest the following for a different perspective on Vietnam:

A Better War by Lewis Sorley
A Country Such As This James Webb -- yep the Senator

Sergerca You gotta read We Were Soldiers Once And Young. It's a classic. Assume you've seen the movie.

While not completely about the war itself, I can't recommend Shrapnel in the Heart: Letters and Remembrances from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial highly enough. The National Park Service collects all non-perishable objects from the base of the wall daily. In the book Laura Palmer presents a selection of these objects. Everything from old letters from soldiers in the field left by family members, recollections and reminisces from ex-soldiers, letters and tributes to the deceased from family and troop mates.

How many Vietnam War books are on your shelf?

A lot. (Not sure exactly how many, as I'm still tagging...)

What book was your most spectacular find?

Some of the Bernard Fall books were hard to find. (touchstone not working...)

That's the guy that did Street of...?

AsYouKnow_Bob,

I am getting close to 1000 books related to the Vietnam War, and I still have a lot of tagging left.

My most spectacular finds were parts of a series called Vietnamese Studies published in Hanoi in the 1960s. There are at least 43 titles; i only have a few.

Another nice find was Anatomy of a Crisis by Bernard Fall

David Maraniss's They Marched into Sunlight published a couple of years ago is a classic. Even readers whose tastes veer toward AnnaCaire's would enjoy it. I just received The Cat from Hue as a gift. Anyone have any opinions on it?

Cat from Hue was, in my opinion, a very good book. It's a book that could be reread several times. He shows that even journalists are not immune from becoming involved in combat; if only passing ammunition to gunners.

NONE!!!!!!!!!!

Just my dad's cruise books from his time in the US Navy.

USS Intrepid: CVS-11 1971
USS Yorktown: CVS-10 1969

We're still trying to locate his USS Wasp cruise book.

These are the books I have that most directly relate to the war.
The war everyone lost--and won: America's intervention in Viet Nam's twin struggles by Timothy J Lomperis
The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam by Barbara W. Tuchman
A Rumor of War by Phillip Caputo.

But the best book I've read recently was Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry, which is a great novel about the assassination of John F. Kennedy and also Vietnam.

In Jan. 2014 I began my journey into the history of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam/Indochina. It is an emotional subject I have avoided since my high school classmates were the last to pull V.N. lottery numbers. It is now June2014 with no end to my V.N. reading in sight! Each book only seems to create new questions that demand an answer. These are the books I have read listed in the order I read them, followed by books that I have glanced through and or plan to read soon. It's a complicated and sometimes contradictory history. Thanks to everyone who listed their book suggestions above. I can't wait to check them out.

BOOKS I HAVE READ OR THAT I AM CURRENTLY READING:

No Peace for Asia by Harold Isaacs 1947. (the early years by those who were there)
The Path to Vietnam: Origins of the American Commitment to Southeast Asia 1989. (economic influences)
Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam 1972 ***** (U.S. politics)
Secrets: A memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg 2003
In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam by Roert McNamara 1995
Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina by Bernard B. Fall 1961
Primer for Revolt: The Communist Takeover in Viet-Nam by Truon-Chinh 1963 -writings from earlier
The Vietnamese Revolution of 1945: Roosevelt, Ho Chi Minh and de Galulle in a World at War by Stein Tonnesson 1991
Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall 2013 (excellent writing style)
Why Viet Nam? Prelude to America's Albatross by Archimedes Patti 1980

BOOKS ON THE SHELF ABOUT V.N. THAT I HAVEN'T READ YET:

No More Vietnams by Richard Nixon 1985
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien 1990
A Bright and Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan 1988
About Face; The Odyssey of An American Warrior by Colonel David H. Hackworth 1989
To Reason Why: The Debate About the Causes of U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War by Jeffrey Kimball 1990
Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy by Robert McNamara 1999
Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War-Second Edition by Robert McMahon 1995

Operation Buffalo: Usmc Fight for the Dmz
The End of the Line: The Seige of Khe Sanh

There are a few that have the Vietnam war as topics but take place stateside.

Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour"
Miami and the siege of Chicago : An informal history of the American political conventions of 1968
They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America October 1967

There are also a few on President Johnson that, obviously, have a lot to say about the war.

Here are the books on my Vietnam War shelf. As you can see, I'm interested especially, though certainly not exclusively, in books written during the war years.
About Face: the Odyssey of an American Warrior by David Hackworth (1989)
Background to Viet-Nam by Bernard Newman (1965)
Born on the Fourth of July by Ron Kovic * (1977)
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam edited by Bernard Edelman (1985)
Death in the Rice Fields: an Eyewitness Account of Vietnam's Three Wars, 1945-1979 by Peter Scholl-Latour (1986)
Dispatches by Michael Herr * (1977)
Everything We Had: an Oral History of the Vietnam War by Al Santoli (1981)
The Fire Dream by Franklin Leib + (1990)
House of Purple Hearts: Stories of Vietnam Vets Who Find Their Way Back by Paul Solotaroff (1995)
In Retrospect: the Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam by Robert McNamara (1996)
A Life in a Year: the American Infantryman in Vietnam: 1965-1972 by James Ebert (1993)
The Lost Revolution: the U.S. in Vietnam, 1946-1966 by Robert Shaplen (1966)
The Lottery and Draft: Where Do I Stand? by David Kendall (1970)
One Very Hot Day by David Halberstam *+ (1984)
Payback: Five Marines After Vietnam by Joe Klein * (1984)
The Pentagon Papers by Neil Sheehan (1971)
The Politics of Escalation in Vietnam by Franz Schurmann (1966)
Trial by Tom Hayden (1970)
The Vietnam War: Opposing Viewpoints by David Bender (1984)
Vietnam: History, Documents, and Opinions on a Major World Crisis by Marvin Gettleman (1965)
Vietnam: Inside Story of the Guerilla War by Wifred G. Burchett (1965)

* These are books I've already read. The rest are awaiting my attention.
+ Fiction

On the subject of fiction, although it's no longer in my personal library, the best novel I ever read about the Vietnam War is The 13th Valley by John Del Vecchio.

Mission to Hanoi by Harry S. Ashmore;
How to Get out of Vietnam by John Kenneth Galbraith;
and Vietnam by Mary McCarthy.

Born on the Fourth of July by Ron Kovic. I am doing research for an oral history program I am conducting with the Purple Heart. I wish I had read this book first. He really lays it all out there. I was able to ask about the grief that these men felt about losing their childhoods, having their country turn on them and how they still see themselves as patriotic.

Here are the books I have read which have the word "Vietnam" in the title:

1737. Why We Were in Vietnam, by Norman Podhoretz (read 5 Aug 1982)
1920. The Vietnam War: Opposing Viewpoints, by David L. Bender (read 8 Apr 1985)
2758. Those Gallant Men: On Trial in Vietnam, by John Stevens Berry (read 14 Jun 1995)
3000. In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, by Robert S. McNamara with Brian VanDeMark (read 9 Aug 1997)
3062. The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam, by Barbara W. Tuchman (read 23 Mar 1998)
3180. We Were Soldiers Once...And Young Ia Drang: The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam, by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, U.S.A. (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway (read 4 May 1999) (Book of the Year)
3329. Vietnam The Necessary War A Reinterpretation of America's Most Disastrous Military Conflict, by Richard Lind (read 20 Jul 2000)
3632. The Cat From Hue: A Vietnam War Story, by John Laurence (read 29 Sep 2002)
3755. Vietnam, Now A Reporter Returns, by David Lamb (read 8 June 2003)
3759. "Father, Soldier, Son Memoir of a Platoon Leader in Vietnam, by Nathaniel Tripp (read 15 June 2003) ,
3781. Stolen Valor How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History, by B. G. Burkett (&) Glenna Whitley (read 9 Aug 2003)
3801. Catfish and Mandala A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam, by Andrew X. Pham (read 14 Sep 2003)
3816. America in Vietnam, by Guenter Lewy (read 22 Oct 2003)
4038. Vietnam Shadows The War, Its Ghosts, and Its Legacy, by Arnold R. Isaacs (read 19 June 2005)
4055. Vietnam The Valor and the Sorrow From the home front to the front lines in words and pictures, by Thomas D. Boettcher (read 8 Aug 2005)
4118. Dear America Letters Home from Vietnam Edited by Bernard Edelman (read 13 Jan 2006)
4481. We Are Soldiers Still A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam, by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (USA RET.) and Joseph L. Galloway (read 5 Sep 2008)
4520. A Grand Delusion America's Descent into Vietnam, by Robert Mann (read 29 Dec 2008)
4590. Twenty Days in May, Vietnam 1968, by John L. Mansfield (read 4 Jul 2009)
4594. Through the Valley Vietnam, 1967-1968, by James F. Humphries (read 14 Jul 2009)
4737. A Bright Shining Lie John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, by Neil Sheehan (read 10 Aug 2010) (Pulitzer Nonfiction prize in 1989) (National Book Award nonfiction prize in 1988)
4738. The First Casualty From the Crimea to Vietnam: The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker, by Phillip Knightley (read 14 Aug 2010)
4748. Matterhorn A Novel of the Vietnam War, by Karl Marlantes (read 10 Sep 2010)
4816. 365 and a Wake-Up My Year in Vietnam, by Frank Jolliff (read 14 Apr 2011)
4867. Everything We Had An Oral history of the Vietnam War by Thirty-three American Soldiers Who Fought It, by Al Santoli (read 3 Oct 2011)
4877. Chickenhawk Back in the World Life After Vietnam, by Robert Mason (read 13 Nov 2011)
5087. Embers of War The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam, by Fredrik Logevall (read 15 Nov 2013) (Pulitzer History prize in 2013) (Parkman Prize for 2013)
5209. Vietnam A History, by Stanley Karnow (read 16 Oct 2014)

No doubt there are other books on Vietnam which I have read, but they are not on this list because they don't have the word 'Vietnam' in their title.

My comment on each of these books is listed here on my site on LibraryThing.

The book which affected me most of these books was No. 3180 (these numbers are mine, and show the number the book has in my lifetime list of books read.

If there is a book you really think I should read which is not on this list I would be glad to hear from you telling me its name

I'm a little surprised to be the first to mention America's longest war by George C. Herring, a well regarded synthetic history, frequently reissued -- although the title has been rendered obsolete by the interminable U.S. war in Afghanistan, the country formerly nicknamed the Soviet Vietnam.

That's the only book I have devoted solely to the history of the Vietnam War, but Marxist historian Eric R. Wolf studied it from a comparative perspective in Peasant wars of the twentieth century, published in 1973 before the war was officially over. I guess that makes him one of the first historians to tackle the subject.

Other relevant books in my library are all America-centric:

- When Hell was in session, the campaign memoir by veteran and U.S. senator from Alabama Jeremiah Denton
- Papers on the war, a primary source, from the historic document dump by whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg
- When Heaven and Earth changed places, the autobiography of Vietnamese-American war bride Le Ly Hayslip, dealing mostly with the years after the war
- Strike from space, Phyllis Schlafly's Red-baiting 1966 pulp paperback. Vietnam and the Domino Theory figure prominently, even more so than in most of the "better dead than Red" literature I've collected from the Cold War period.
- Two, three ... many Vietnams, an anthology of articles from the radical leftist magazine Ramparts. The title echoes a famous line of Ernesto "Che" Guevara's from a 1967 speech to a "Tricontinental" conference in Havana:

"How close(ly) we could look into a bright future should two, three or many Vietnams flourish throughout the world with their share of deaths and their immense tragedies, their everyday heroism and their repeated blows against imperialism, impelled to disperse its forces under the sudden attack and the increasing hatred of all (the) peoples of the world!"

Whatever you say, Che.

I have some books about interpreting U.S. history that deal incidentally with the Vietnam War, e.g., Lies my teacher told me. Also some fiction. But the last one I'll mention is The war prayer by Mark Twain, written to condemn the violent U.S. suppression of the "insurrection" in the occupied Philippines, 1899-1902. Never published during his lifetime, this short and bitter work gained a new lease on life during the Vietnam War, being reissued in 1967 with grisly line drawings (by John Groth) to illustrate human suffering and despair. It's not about the war, but the war is the reason it exists.

I didn't realise I had quite so many but there are 30 works (http://www.librarything.com/catalog/bernsad&deepsearch=vietnam) in my library that have some mention of the Vietnam war.