Mention Vietnam and people generally think of the 1960s. The seeds of our involvement, however, were planted in the 1950s. A largely influential book of that era is now all but forgotten. That’s ...

In 1950, France tried to pull back from its exposed border positions in northern Vietnam, but the retreat along Route Coloniale 4 became a disaster that handed Võ Nguyên Giáp one of his first major ...