For the United States, the Vietnam War has long been embroiled in debate and analysis, propagated by the war’s three-decade duration, disputed status, and tremendous toll on human life.

The war has continued to resonate within our country’s politics and culture, though America's Vietnam War narrative is often identified apart from its international historical context.

With the help of previously untapped diplomatic archives, historian Fredrik Logevall's new book, "Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam," traces the history of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War from the end of World War I leading up to America’s direct troop intervention in 1965.