Divided into two sections, Vietnam and the Transformation ofAmerican Life begins with a history of the emergence of Ho ChiMinh and the Vietnamese nationalist movement and explains why theUnited States intervened in Vietnam despite pessimism over American military prospects there. Buzzanco then traces the repeated escalations of the war in the Johnson and Nixon years, and, finally, the causes and consequences of American defeat. Part Two focuses on the major political and social movements of the 1960s:liberalism, civil rights, women's liberation, student activist movements protesting the war, and other youth culture movements.The book demonstrates how domestic mobilization against the war changed US political and social life and these changes gave rise, in turn, to other movements and consequent changes of great significance to American society.