Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Preface ix
4. Abbreviations xiii
5. Introduction 1
6. 1. Anticolonialism in Vietnam’s Wild South 13
7. 2. The Crucible of Southern Vietnamese Nationalism and America’s Cold War 40
8. 3. “Sink or Swim with Ngo Dinh Diem” 61
9. 4. The “Sect” Crisis of 1955 and America’s Miracle Man in Vietnam 86
10. 5. Destroying the Sources of Demoralization: Ngo Dinh Diem’s National Revolution 116
11. 6. A Different Democracy: South Vietnam’s Referendum to Depose Bao Dai 146
12. 7. The Making of a Revolution in South Vietnam 173
13. Conclusion 196
14. Appendix: Select Vietnamese Names with Diacritics 205
15. Notes 207
16. Bibliography 251
17. Index 269