Includes bibliographical references (page 108).

Ages 8-12.

What was the Vietnam War? -- Where is Vietnam? -- Guerrilla warfare -- Diem's government -- Uncle Ho -- JFK -- LBJ and the growing war -- War on the ground and in the air -- Protest -- 1968 -- A war at home -- Richard Nixon -- the end of the war -- A bitter homecoming -- The Vietnam Veterans Memorial -- A final word.

"Learn how the United States ended up fighting for twenty years in a remote country on the other side of the world. The Vietnam War was as much a part of the tumultuous Sixties as Flower Power and the Civil Rights Movement. Five US presidents were convinced that American troops could end a war in the small, divided country of Vietnam and stop Communism from spreading in Southeast Asia. But they were wrong, and the result was the death of 58,000 American troops. Presenting all sides of a complicated and tragic chapter in recent history, Jim O'Connor explains why the US got involved, what the human cost was, and how defeat in Vietnam left a lasting scar on America"--