v. 1. The Vietnamese War: introduction -- Postlude: an overview of the three decades of war -- Prelude -- Revolution -- Resistence -- The six years of peace: 1954-59 -- The tiger wakes -- Forged by the hammer of the party -- The strong-armed fist: military expansion, 1961-63 -- "Sharing rice and clothing": land and class -- Pressed into the mold: organizing the villages -- Going for broke -- The two main links in the revolutionary chain: taxes and conscription -- v. 2. Year of the big change: 1965 -- The uncounted enemy -- Winning hearts and minds -- Battle for the villages -- Stalemate -- Tet: the untold story of the "general offensive and general uprising" -- Tragic farewell -- Holding on -- Civil War -- The final chapter.