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[ndlr] Nous avions annoncé dans un court billet sur le renouveau historiographique dans les recherches sur le régime de Ngo Dinh Diem, la parution prochaine de l'ouvrage de l'historien américain Edward Miller. L'ouvrage est désormais paru chez Harvard University Press et, selon les premiers avis, se présente déjà comme une étude incontournable sur l'homme d'État, son projet de construction nationale et la Première République du Viêt-Nam (1955-1963). Présentation de l'éditeur ci-dessous.In the annals of Vietnam War history, no figure has been more controversial than Ngo Dinh Diem. During the 1950s, U.S. leaders hailed Diem as “the miracle man of Southeast Asia” and funneled huge amounts of aid to his South Vietnamese government. But in 1963 Diem was ousted and assassinated in a coup endorsed by President John F. Kennedy. Diem’s alliance with Washington has long been seen as a Cold War relationship gone bad, undone either by American arrogance or by Diem’s stubbornness. In Misalliance, Edward Miller provides a convincing new explanation for Diem’s downfall and the larger tragedy of South Vietnam.For Diem and U.S. leaders, Miller argues, the alliance was more than just a joint effort to contain communism. It was also a means for each side to pursue its plans for nation building in South Vietnam. Miller’s definitive portrait of Diem—based on extensive research in Vietnamese, French, and American archives—demonstrates that the South Vietnamese leader was neither Washington’s pawn nor a tradition-bound mandarin. Rather, he was a shrewd and ruthless operator with his own vision for Vietnam’s modernization. In 1963, allied clashes over development and reform, combined with rising internal resistance to Diem’s nation building programs, fractured the alliance and changed the course of the Vietnam War.In depicting the rise and fall of the U.S.–Diem partnership, Misalliance shows how America’s fate in Vietnam was written not only on the battlefield but also in Washington’s dealings with its Vietnamese allies.Edward Miller is Associate Professor of History at Dartmouth College.Reviews:“A monumental contribution to our understanding of America’s misguided intervention in Vietnam. Great books advance knowledge as well as historical debate, and this is exactly what Miller achieves. Misalliance could easily be the best new book of the year.”—Larry Berman, author of Zumwalt: The Life and Times of Admiral Elmo Russell “Bud” Zumwalt, Jr.“An extraordinary book, brilliantly conceived and cogently argued. Miller transcends the scholarly and political polemics of Vietnam War literature, presenting readers with a fresh and original take on Ngo Dinh Diem and South Vietnam’s relationship with the U.S. Misalliance is sure to be greeted with widespread acclaim.”—Andrew Preston, author of The War Council: McGeorge Bundy, the NSC, and Vietnam“Miller rejects the simplistic and partisan interpretations that have dominated earlier accounts of America’s partnership with Vietnam. Misalliance will be not only a major advance in our understanding of Ngo Dinh Diem and U.S.–Vietnamese relations, it will fundamentally alter the direction of scholarship on the Vietnam War.”—Keith Weller Taylor, author of The Birth of Vietnam“An exemplary work of research and scholarship. Miller dispels in definitive fashion the myth that Ngo Dinh Diem owed his appointment as prime minister of a nascent South Vietnam to American intercession or that he was ever a ‘tool’ of the Americans.”—Rufus Phillips, author of Why Vietnam Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not LearnedTable of Contents:Map 1. Indochina after the Geneva Conference of 1954Map 2. The headquarters of militia commanders in southern Vietnam, 1954–1955Introduction1. Man of Faith2. New Beginnings3. The Making of an Alliance4. Revolutions and Republics5. Settlers and Engineers6. Countering Insurgents7. Limited Partners8. Mixed Signals9. The Unmaking of an AllianceConclusionAbbreviationsPublished Collections of Government DocumentsNotesAcknowledgmentsIndexRéf. : Edward Miller, Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and the Fate of South Vietnam, Harvard, Harvard University Press, 2013, 432 p.Source : Harvard University Press