The Big Read 2017: "America in Vietnam"

The Big Read features Author and professor David F. Schmitz as he examines why the United States was in Vietnam and the state of the war when Tim O'Brien fought. In the process Schmitz will place O'Brien's The Things They Carried in its historical context to illuminate some of the key themes in the work. David Schmitz is a Whitman College professor of history and a widely published author on the Vietnam era. He teaches The Things They Carried at Whitman and is an articulate and entertaining presenter.

David F. Schmitz is a specialist in 20th century United States history and American foreign policy. He teaches courses on United States Foreign Policy, America in Vietnam, Twentieth Century U.S. History, and the History and Sociology of Rock 'n' Roll, the 1960s. He is the author of Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War: The End of the American Century, Brent Scowcroft: Internationalism and Post-Vietnam War American Foreign Policy;  The United States and Right-Wing Dictatorships, 1965-1989; The Tet Offensive: Politics, War, and Public Opinion; Henry L. Stimson: The First Wise Man; Thank God They're on Our Side: The United States and Right-Wing Dictatorships, 1921-1965 among many others.