War
Stories: The Taylor-Buzzanco Debate and the Future of Vietnam War Studies
Edward Miller, Dartmouth College
This talk will be a discussion of an article which will appear in the
inaugural issue of the Journal of Vietnamese Studies. The paper
examines the recent debate between historians Keith Taylor and Robert
Buzzanco over the interpretation of the Vietnam War, and considers the
implications of the debate for the future of Vietnam War studies. Miller
analyzes Taylor and Buzzanco's differences over the origins and evolution
of the war, and finds that both historians rely too heavily on the Cold
War to explain the motives and actions of leaders and groups who participated
in the conflict. The paper concludes with a proposal to reconceptualize
the war as a contest among the multiple ways of thinking about modernization.
For a copy Dr. Miller's paper, please contact the Yale Southeast Asia
Studies office at seas@yale.edu
Edward Miller is an Assistant Professor of History at Dartmouth
College. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 2004, an MA from
the University of Michigan in 1997, and his B.A. from Swarthmore College
in 1991. Besides serving on the editorial advisory board for the new Journal
of Vietnamese Studies, he is a member of the Executive Council of
the AAS-Vietnamese Studies Group, and the Academic Advisory Council of
the Vietnam Center at Texas Tech University (the largest US archive of
Vietnam War-related materials outside of the National Archive system).
Dr. Miller is an active member of the American Historical Association,
the AAS, and the Society for Historians of AMerican Foreign Relations.
For
current Yale SEAS Seminars and Events schedule, see: http://www.yale.edu/seas/Seminars.htm