Oral Histories of the Vietnam War

News item published on: 2015-01-21 10:22:56

The University of Southern Mississippi Libraries will sponsor a book talk and signing on on Monday, February 9, 2015, 6-7 p.m. in the Cook Library Art Gallery (LIB 105A). Dr. Andrew Wiest will discuss his acclaimed 2013 book Vietnam: A View from the Front Lines, a collection of oral histories from the Vietnam War.

In stories told by the veterans themselves, the book provides a firsthand look into the true day-to-day reality of the Vietnam War. The soldiers’ (and family members’) stories explore several different aspects of the conflict, from training and their first perceptions of the enemy to what combat was like, being wounded and returning home. While much contemporary work on Vietnam focuses on the war’s broader impact, Vietnam: A View from the Front Lines takes a closer look at the men and women who lived it.

Wiest, a distinguished professor of history at The University of Southern Mississippi and the founding director of the University’s Dale Center for the Study of War and Society, specializes in the study of World War I and Vietnam. His other books on the Vietnam War include The Boys of ’67: Charlie Company’s War in Vietnam (2012) and The Vietnam War, 1959-1975 (2002), both published by Osprey Press, and Vietnam’s Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN, published by New York University Press in 2007. Among other accolades, he was Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in the United Kingdom as well as a visiting professor in the Department of Warfighting Strategy in the United States Air Force Air War College.

Wiest received both his undergraduate and masters degrees from The University of Southern Mississippi before obtaining his PhD from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1990. Following the talk, copies of Vietnam: A View from the Front Lines will be available for purchase and signing. For more information about this book talk, contact Elena Azadbakht at or 601.266.6424.