LitPick Review
On January 30, 1968, during the early morning hours of the most important Vietnamese holiday of the year, the North Vietnam forces invaded South Vietnam in a campaign later called the Tet Offensive. Besides the war in Vietnam, a lot happened during the year 1968. Written by a New York Times writer, the book "1968" describes all of these events in great detail. Readers will be pleasantly surprised by the stunning visual references and the easy-to-understand format. The book features a collection of ten major events that occurred in 1968, from the Tet invasion in January to the Apollo 11 moon landing in December. It also covers everything in between, from the Dr. King assassination to the Paris protests and the Mexico City Summer Olympics. The last section of the book contains many news articles from that year regarding those events. "1968" is a must-read for history enthusiasts or for people who just want to learn a bit about what happened during that exciting year.
Opinion:
This book is not a textbook and definitely does not read like one. It is designed to be easy to understand while at the same time, presents all of the facts and aspects of the events that happened. The visual references are great and help to better understand the story. Although the book contains a collection of about 10 major events that occurred during 1968, it does not cover everything. It does an excellent job, however, explaining each event in detail. After reading about the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, I felt that I knew everything about that particular subject. Some events are covered less thoroughly than others. For example, only a few pages cover the presidential election of 1968. It does not cover any broader idea or event that can applied towards an earlier or later year. For instance, using this book to learn about the important events that occurred in the Vietnam War would not be very effective. Nevertheless, if you want to know the major events that happened during 1968, this is an excellent book to read.
