Examining the Myths of the Vietnam War
SESSION 10

Teach-In 2004

Day Two -- Tuesday, July 27, 2004 Evening Session 1800-whenever (Click to see the Video) (Click Here to see transcript)

Teach-in (panelists and audience) [Keith Taylor, & others] Student questions about the Vietnam War answered. During this session any one with a student ID card will be admitted subject to available seating and some overflow may be accommodated in the satellite classrooms. Students will be permitted to present questions for discussion by the panelists.

Moderator: Keith W. Taylor

Moderator's Biographical Information: Obtained B.A. in history from George Washington University in 1968 and subsequently served with the US Army in Vietnam in the 525 MI Group, rank of Sergeant; completed Ph.D. in Vietnamese history at the University of Michigan in 1976; taught at Meiji University in Tokyo (1976-79), at the National University of Singapore (1981-87), and at Hope College (1987-89) before taking a position at Cornell University in 1989; lived in Hanoi for two years (1992-94); now teaches about Vietnamese history and literature and the US-Vietnam War. Professor of Asian Studies and of Vietnamese Cultural Studies. He has published widely on Vietnamese history and culture. His current work is on Han-Nom texts and Vietnamese historiography.

Recent Publications: (1)"A Southern Remembrance of Cao Bien," in P.P. Papier & J. Heinen (eds.), LiberAmicorum: Melanges effects on Professor Phan Huy Le (Hanoi: EFEO, 1999), pp.241-258; (2) "In Search of Vietnamese Classical Moments," in G. Holst-Warhft & D.R. McCann (eds.), The Classical Moment: Views from Seven Literatures (NY: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999), pp. 117-129; (3) "Surface Orientations in Vietnam: Beyond Histories of Nation and Region," Journal of Asian Studies 57, 4 (Nov. 1998): 949-978; (4) "Nguyen Hoang and the Beginning of Vietnam’s Southward expansion," in A. Redi (ed.), Southeast Asia In the Modern Era (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993), pp. 42-85; (5) "China and Vietnam: Looking for a new version of an old relationship," in J. warnder and Lun Doon Huynh (eds.), The Vietnam War: Vietnamese and American Perspectives (NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1993), pp. 271-285; (6) "Voice Within and Without: Tales from stone and paper about Do Anh Vu," in K.W. Taylor and J.D. Whitmore (eds.), Essay into Vietnamese Pasts (Ithaca: SEAP, 1995), pp. 59-80; (7) "Perceptions of encounter in Shui Ching Chu 37," Asia Journal (Seoul National University, Korea) 2, 1 (June 1995): 29-54

Website: http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/southeastasia/directory/faculty_bio.asp?name=taylor

Email: 

Discussion Forum: Click here to discuss Session 10

Video: Ambassador William Colby on studying the Vietnam War (requires Windows Media Player)

Articles of Interest:

Press Release
Ford, Dan, Why were We in Vietnam
Keith Taylor, How I began to Teach the Vietnam War

Suggested Reading:

Davidson, Phillip B, Lt. Gen, USA (Ret), Secrets of the Vietnam War, Presidio Press, 1990

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"They were simply young and enjoyed the idea of turning the university upside down.

"It was a compelling idea - standing a society on its head, putting children in charge, declaring a ten-year holiday, jailing and tormenting parents and authority figures, painting the streets red, chanting, settling scores with old enemies and refusing to study. But it does not take longer than a few second to see that it is totally impractical, not to say dangerous, and that any society having to endure it would become stupider, more brutish, slower, less subtle, backward and insecure."

Paul Theroux [On the Sixties in China], Riding the Iron Rooster, G.P Putnam' Sons, 1988, p 142