The Vietnam War has spawned more than its fair share of scholarly anthologies (including one co-edited by me). So many edited collections have rolled off the presses, in fact, that one can easily discern subcategories. There are collections focused on political, international, military, cultural, and social dimensions. Others zero in on origins or legacies of the war or various time periods in between. A few ambitious anthologies, including projects undertaken in recent years by Columbia University Press and Cambridge University Press, attempt to do everything—to provide, that is, a comprehensive overview of the war via contributions from eminent scholars writing in their areas of expertise.
Geoffrey W. Jensen and Matthew M. Stith deserve credit for finding their own niche in this crowded field. Beyond the Quagmire pulls together thirteen essays on a disconnected array of topics chosen not because they cohere around any particular theme but because they suggest fresh...