Professor Seth Jacobs Writes Third Book

Cover of one of Jacobs’ recent books

Seth Jacobs, a member of the Boston College faculty since the fall of 2001, is currently taking a sabbatical to work on his third book, The Universe Unraveling: United States Policy Toward Laos, 1954-1962. Jacobs has been working to complete a first draft of his six-chapter book, slated to reach the Cornell University Press by January of 2010.

Jacobs was prompted to embark on his current project by a simple question that provoked much thought and controversy: why did President John F. Kennedy settle for a draw in Laos and fight in South Vietnam instead during the Vietnam War? History books have always claimed that it was purely due to logistics, but after diving into history archives, Jacobs learned that Laos actually had great logistical advantages. With the commonly accepted answer having now been discredited, Jacobs searched for the real reasoning behind Kennedy’s decision and found it to be racism.

Though it becomes clear within a few minutes of talking to the learned Jacobs that he has a passion for history, he claims that it wasn’t always that way. Having attended Yale University for his undergraduate education, Jacobs was not required to take a single history course and so he did not. His true passion was for theater and, because his father disapproved of him majoring in Theater, Jacobs graduated with a degree in Philosophy and Psychology.

While working as an actor in Chicago, Jacobs enrolled in a history class at the University of Illinois and after that, “was hooked.” He then went on to receive his M.A. in U.S. History at the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. at Northwestern University.

Jacobs, who usually teaches courses such as U.S. Foreign Policy and America’s War in Vietnam, is anxiously awaiting his return to teaching in the spring semester and the structure that it will bring back to his daily life. Though Jacobs enjoys the opportunities that accompany his current research, he still insists, “teaching is my favorite thing in the whole world.”

When writing books in the future, Jacobs is certain that he will continue to teach during the academic year and do the majority of his research over the summer, as he did for his earlier books, America’s Miracle Man in Vietnam: Ngo Dinh Diem; Religion, Race, and U.S. Intervention in Southeast Asia, 1950-1957; and Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of the Vietnam War, 1950- 1963.

Jacobs’ current research has allowed him to explore new parts of the country and dozens of obscure archives. Jacobs echoes the sentiments of American writer and historian, Barbara Tuchman, who once said, “Research is endlessly seductive. Writing is hard work.” Jacob’s “endlessly seductive” research has taken him and will be taking him to the Canadian National Archives, the National Archives in Washington and to Missouri to view the Tom Dooley Papers. On Monday, Jacobs traveled to Indiana to rummage through a family’s attic in search of letters written by Edgar Buell, an ordinary farmer who was stationed in Laos and became an integral member of the CIA in the 1960s. Jacobs’ tendency to conduct more research and collect more documents than needed always amounts to an excess of material that requires his books to be cut by as much as fifty percent.

Recalling the years he spent in college, when he never expected he would be writing history books in the years to come, Jacobs advises all Boston College students not to come to school with a definite plan of study. “Find someone who you think is making a real contribution to society and ask them if they knew what they wanted to do at 22.” To start, you can just ask Jacobs.

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