David W. Levy is Professor Emeritus of the Department of History of Oklahoma University at Norman Oklahoma.

"Levy's brief but wide-ranging book offers an overview of the major cultural issues, foreign policy concerns, social movements, and political anxieties that shape debates in the United States surrounding the Vietnam War. Journal of American History Of great practical use for courses which focus on the Vietnam War or on twentieth-century American history... Levy's prose is eminently readable, his focus always clear, the connections between major points always apparent, and his tempo just right. This is a book that could be assigned with confidence that students won't put it down after ten pages of hopeless slogging. Most importantly, students and teachers alike will find it exciting and valuable because it consistently returns... to questions of how and why. -- Matthew C. Stewart American Studies International An excellent, elegantly written overview. History Today A well-documented assessment of the elements that explain our involvement and disenchantment with Vietnam. Virginia Quarterly Review

• Editor's ForewordPrefaceChapter 1. The Consensus: How Americans Reached Some General Agreements about Their Foreign PolicyChapter 2. The Contest: How Americans Got involved in a Land War in AsiaChapter 3. The Contentions: How Americans Disagreed about the War and Destroyed the ConsensesChapter 4. The Conflicts: How Americans Fought Some Small Civil Wars in Their Own CountryChapter 5. The Confrontation: How Americans Debated the War in VietnamConclusionEpilogueBibliographical EssayIndex