New Zealand and the Vietnam War will be published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of New Zealand combat troops leaving for Vietnam. The Vietnam War provoked a major crisis in New Zealand attitudes to foreign policy, breaking for the first time the almost universal consensus about how the country should handle political and military issues beyond its shores. The despatch of troops to assist the US in Vietnam divided the country, enraged a generation and forced the government to publicly defend its policy. This is the first major study of these events and is the fruit of many years of detailed research which draws on government archives, newspapers, records of the protest movement and a range of other sources. Starting with the first Indochina War in the 1950s it covers the story of New Zealand's relations with Vietnam up to the end of the Vietnam War in the 1970s. It explores the diplomatic history of the engagement, which is not well known or understood, and shows that officials and politicians in fact entered the war with extreme reluctance. Its account of the passionate domestic politics provoked by the war will also be of wide interest.Author BiographyRoberto Rabel, previously in the history department at the University of Otago, is now director of the International Office at that university. His published work includes Between East and West: Trieste, the United States, and the Cold War, 1941-1954 (Duke University Press, 1988). He has edited several books including, The American century?: in retrospect and prospect (Praeger, 2002). He has contributed chapters to various works such as, A Fair Sort of Battering: New Zealanders Remember the Italian Campaign, Megan

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