# Any good historical books on Vietnam or North Korea?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-historical-books-on-vietnam-or-north-korea/276378>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 23, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-historical-books-on-vietnam-or-north-korea/276378 "2004-11-23T23:35:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DVsickgirlDV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@DVsickgirlDV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DVsickgirlDV)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-historical-books-on-vietnam-or-north-korea/276378/1 "2004-11-23T23:35:18Z")

</div>

As winter break approaches, I was wondering if anyone knew of any good historical books concerning Vietnam or North Korea. I mainly intersted in the modern histories of both countries, like 1900 - present. Both countries interest me although I do not know too much about them. Preferably a book that is educational, but not boring (for example, I would not want to read a textbook) would be great. Thanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-historical-books-on-vietnam-or-north-korea/276378/2 "2004-11-24T00:44:00Z")

</div>

Try:

**Vietnam: A History** - Stanley Karnow  
**The Smaller Dragon** - Joseph Buttinger

**North Korea: Another Country** - Bruce Cumings  
**The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History** - Don Oberdorfer

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-historical-books-on-vietnam-or-north-korea/276378/3 "2004-11-24T05:36:51Z")

</div>

A second for Karnow (which is the companion to [this miniseries](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001WTWOC/qid=1101274825/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-3233724-1751104) [which is oddly missing two episodes in its current incarnation])

[A Rumor of War](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/080504695X/qid=1101274971/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/104-3233724-1751104) by Philip Caputo- probably the most famous memoir of the war

[Fire in the Lake](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316159190/qid=1101275020/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/104-3233724-1751104) by Frances Fitzgerald- delves more into the culture of Vietnam than most books.

The DVD of [Fog of War](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001L3LUE/qid=1101275086/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-3233724-1751104?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846) (an extended 21st century interview with Robert McNamara) is a must view.

I haven’t read this book, but [Conflict: the History of the Korean War 1950-53](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0306807165/qid=1101275201/sr=1-10/ref=sr_1_10/104-3233724-1751104?v=glance&s=books) is by Robert Leckie, an extremely readable popular historian whose other books I’ve enjoyed as general overviews. (Leckie is a Korean veteran himself.)