Conclusions

Going into this project I knew next to nothing about the Vietnam War. While my knowledge is greater now, I realize I still do not know all that much about it. All I have is one historian's interpretation of the war, and it is a radical one at that. I also realized that reading three primary sources on the subject is not enough to let me argue for or against Kolko's interpretation. I simply do not have enough information.

That being said, I do feel this was a useful project. First, I was able to refine my search techniques. It is interesting how different search terms, browsers, advanced features can give dramatically different results. Clearly, research requires patience and practice. I also think that the types of materials historians find greatly influences their finished work.

The project also made me re-evaluate my understanding of Vietnam. I was born after the war and so did not experience the protest movements. My parents do not talk about Vietnam unless asked, but I know they they were not supporters of it. (They also were not involved in protest movements.) My grade schools and high school always told me it was about communism and left it at that.

I do not have enough information to say if Kolko is correct in his interpretation. Having read some of Ho Chi Minh's writings, I am inclined to think, at this point, that the communists at least saw America's involvement in Vietnam as an imperialistic/colonial attempt to control the country. I would have to read United States' documents to determine if that is what America intended. In other words, I think that Kolko may be correct, but his obvious bias makes me want to do more research into the subject before coming to any definite conclusions.

I did notice one problem with my sources. First, it was obvious at Marxists.org that there are at least three volumes of primary sources by Ho Chi Minh, but there are only around thirty-eight on the website. The sources also end in 1960, but Kolko says Ho Chi Minh died in 1969. When did he stop writing? Who chose the sources on Marxist.Org? Why did they choose the ones they did? Does that shape my understanding of Ho Chi Minh? The obvious answer is yes. I am already limited by the sources available to me. In addition, I picked the sources that interested me. That adds another layer onto my understanding of the Communist leader.

This short project has shown me how difficult it would be to ever find the "truth" of any historical event. Even if the historian was completely without bias, an impossibility, s/he would still be limited by the sources s/he found or were available.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Prof. Andrew Hartman for letting me take an unconventional approach with this project. I would also like to thank my mother, Dr. Susan Anderson-Freed, for discussing the Vietnam War with me and for teaching me how to make rollovers.

In Case of Inclement Weather...

I plan to give an explanation of this project in my presentation, but if the University shuts down, I wanted this information to be written down.

This project is intended for a research class. Perhaps it would be a class team-taught with a librarian and historian. The curriculum would probably include lessons in searching databases, catalogs, printed works, online resources, etc. The students would learn how to evaluate resources as well as find them.

The project itself would be an end of semester project that would take them through the research process step by step, and then allow them to look at some of the resources. The focus of the project is not Kolko's Anatomy of a War; the focus of the project is finding and understanding the primary sources. Kolko's book would, hopefully, give the students one perspective on Vietnam. I hope it would challenge their understanding of the war.

The other point of the project is to have the "students" practice their web designing skills. (Knowing HTML and Dreamweaver is a useful skill these days.) Unlike many of my library science classes, I would not assume they know how to program. I would presumably have taught them how to code in HTML and use Dreamweaver. I would have shown them good and bad webpages and given them guidelines in webpage design. For example, do not use light text on a light background or dark text on a dark background as this makes the text completely illegible. I would also have taught them how to make webpages for people with disabilities. For example, flashing text can cause seizures, people who are color blind cannot read red text, and the blind need "alt" tags in the image source tags so their browsers can "read" them.

I also strongly believe it is never too early to have a basic understanding of copyright law. It is tempting to take images off the internet and use them freely. However, while one can use them for academic purposes, it is not a good idea to use images on webpages that are not your own. Therefore, I suggested to my "students" that they search creative commons for pictures. Creative commons is a charitable corporation that includes free sharing of images online. It is a wonderful resource for students designing webpages.

As for my own reasons for choosing this project, I was actually curious about how many collections of primary sources were online and whether or not I could find them. I am fascinated by the kinds of information is out there and the techniques I have to use to find it. I also always look for any opportunity I can to practice my programming skills. It admittedly took me around four hours, with my mother's help, to get the buttons on the left working. (It was worth it, though, because they look really cool.) No doubt that knowledge will help me in the future.