Open-access edition of Footprints of War: Militarized Landscapes in Vietnam, by David Biggs

FAIN: DR-278009-21

University of Washington (Seattle, WA 98195-1016)
Nicole F. Mitchell (Project Director: August 2020 to October 2022)

Footprints of War by David Biggs (FA-57319-13) traces the long history of conflict-produced spaces in Vietnam, from the French colonial invasion in 1885 through the collapse of the Saigon government in 1975. The result is a richly textured history of militarized landscapes that reveals the spatial logic and social impact of key battles. It also explores how the militarized landscapes here, as in many historic conflict zones, continue to shape post-war land-use politics. We published a hardcover edition in 2018 and propose to publish an open-access edition with a Creative Commons license. We will post it on leading OA repositories including JSTOR, MUSE Open, OAPEN, Internet Archive, and HathiTrust. We are also piloting the Manifold platform, which will enable the author to link additional resources to the book for further research and teaching purposes. We will promote the OA edition at professional conferences and via direct mail and social media. We will pay the author a $500 royalty.

Associated Products

Single Publication (Open Access eBook or Collection)
Publication Type: Single Publication
Title: Footprints of War: Militarized Landscapes in Vietnam
Year: 2022
ISBN: 9780295743875
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Author: David Biggs
Abstract: When American forces arrived in Vietnam, they found themselves embedded in historic village and frontier spaces already shaped by many past conflicts. American bases and bombing targets followed spatial and political logics influenced by the footprints of past wars in central Vietnam. The militarized landscapes here, like many in the world’s historic conflict zones, continue to shape post-war land-use politics. Footprints of War traces the long history of conflict-produced spaces in Vietnam, beginning with early modern wars and the French colonial invasion in 1885 and continuing through the collapse of the Saigon government in 1975. The result is a richly textured history of militarized landscapes that reveals the spatial logic of key battles such as the Tet Offensive. Drawing on extensive archival work and years of interviews and fieldwork in the hills and villages around the city of Hue to illuminate war’s footprints, David Biggs also integrates historical Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data, using aerial, high-altitude, and satellite imagery to render otherwise placeless sites into living, multidimensional spaces. This personal and multilayered approach yields an innovative history of the lasting traces of war in Vietnam and a model for understanding other militarized landscapes.
Primary URL: https://uw.manifoldapp.org/projects/footprints-of-war
Primary URL Description: University of Wisconsin Press Manifold
Secondary URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvcwnk0c
Secondary URL Description: JSTOR

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