From The Publisher

In this vital work the author offers a fresh, insightful look at today's Vietnam - a country struggling, still in its Communist thrall, with its own identity and future. The Vietnam War is obviously part of the story, but Kamm places it in its proper perspective in the context of Vietnam's rich history. This book lets us see and understand Vietnam through the eyes of the Vietnamese themselves. The author's countless contacts enable him to strip away the clichés and take us behind the scenes, into the homes and the offices of the political leaders, the military, the economic reformers, the writers, the businessmen, the ordinary shopkeepers and farmers, and the country's solitary - and immensely brave - dissident, Duong Thu Huong. Henry Kamm's rich mosaic will radically alter our current conceptions - or misconceptions - about Vietnam. It will also leave no reader unmoved.

Reviews
From Joe Collins - BookList  
Americans routinely refer to the country's experience fighting the war in Vietnam simply as "Vietnam," and "New York Times" correspondent Kamm's sobering look at Vietnam's people today is highly instructive in pointing out the differences and the similarities between the two cultures of then and now. Kamm's first stop is My Lai, where the worst massacre of civilians by GIs took place, and despite constant reminders of the killings, the native Vietnamese are philosophical, almost forgiving. From there it's on to Saigon and Hanoi, where Kamm deftly contrasts the burgeoning capitalism and the communism that's hanging on. Kamm speaks with Vietnamese people in the cities and in the tiny hamlets, where the locals live in poverty as their ancestors did centuries ago, oblivious to the benefits of the Communist revolution. The author's take on U.S. involvement and lack of cultural awareness of the Vietnamese people is hard to argue, whatever your view on the war, and Kamm's prose is flavored with exactly the right amounts of straightforward journalism and passion.
 
From School Library Journal  
YAThe Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist has produced a clearly written, accurate, personal account of Vietnam, yesterday and today. He presents a historical look at the country in order to examine and understand what is happening now. Kamm not only has first-hand knowledge of the political, social, and economic situation, but through a variety of contacts, he has a mosaic awareness of the current state of affairs. A brief but sufficient chronology introduces the book, providing an overview of this country's history and the role of China, Japan, France, and the U.S. in it. Four simple maps of Vietnam and Southeast Asia provide background information. Photographs include well-known Vietnamese figures prominent in literature, politics, journalism, and art. The text is smooth and straightforward. For libraries that want an unbiased, well-rounded collection of international materials, this book is a valuable addition. Dottie Kraft, formerly at Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
 
From Library Journal  
The diplomatic normalization between the United States and Vietnam achieved in June 1995 will thaw the war-bred hostility between the two nations, notes veteran New York Times foreign correspondent Kamm. He presents here a vivid and insightful analysis of that nation of 73 million people and places the war with the United States into the broader perspective of Vietnamese history. He introduces the reader to a broad spectrum of Vietnamese and presents this national portrait through their eyes. This is journalism at its best. The work is recommended for all academic and large public libraries, for it will not date soon as the most accessible introduction to the nation and people of Vietnam.-James Rhodes, Luther Coll., Decorah, Ia.
 
From Publisher's Weekly - Publishers Weekly  
Kamm, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent for the New York Times who has been reporting from Southeast Asia for more than a quarter century, here explores Vietnam, its resilient people, its history and its likely future. The men and women he introduces us to include General Tran Cong Man, unofficial spokesman for the Communist Party; Duong Thu Huong, a dissident whose defiance of unjust authority landed her in solitary confinement; Duong Quynh Hoa, one of the founders of the National Liberation Front, whose comments reflect the disillusionment many Southerners feel toward Hanoi's postwar policies; and Pham Xuan An, who worked as a Time correspondent during the war while secretly serving as a Viet Cong colonel. In his interviews, including those with survivors of the My Lai massacre, Kamm notes the astonishing absence of postwar hostility toward the Americans. On the other hand, there is little forgiveness toward veterans of the defeated ``puppet army''; Kamm reports that Saigon's National Cemetery, with its thousands of ARVN dead, has been razed. He concludes that Vietnam, standing on its own after the collapse of the Soviet Union, is a stable country and that its heightened confidence seems justified. Photos. (Feb.)
 

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Last Updated: 05/04/07