National Congress of Vietnamese Americans

BOOKS & REVIEWS

The following is a list of books and publications authored, edited or translated by members of the National Congress of Vietnamese Americans. Help NCVA by purchasing books and other products by using the links below.

Jackie Bong Wright

Autumn Cloud: From Vietnamese War Widow to American Activist
Le Thi Thu Van, whose first name translates as Autumn Cloud, was born in 1940 in Cambodia, where her affluent Vietnamese parents lived. She and her large family, like millions of other southern Vietnamese, were profoundly affected by the wars and civil unrest that buffeted Southeast Asia for most of the next four decades: the Japanese occupation during World War II; the First Indochina War from 1945 to 1954, which ended with the humiliating French defeat at Dien Bien Phu; and the American war, which began incrementally in the mid-'50s, peaked in the late-'60s and ended ingloriously with the Communist victory in 1975. Le Thi Thu Van's family suffered in many ways during these momentous events. The family fortune was lost; one sister abandoned the family to devote her life to the Communist revolution; a brother was killed in the American war; another brother did not survive the Communist postwar "re-education" camps. The author married a reform-minded South Vietnamese politician; he was assassinated, probably by the Vietcong. She was left with three young children. Le Thi Thu Van tells three stories in this smoothly written autobiography: her own, her family's and Vietnam's. The most effective sections are the straightforward depictions of the many and varied events of the author's life and her explanations of Vietnamese society and culture. The least successful are the sketchy historical sections and the author's staunchly anti-Communist analyses of the reasons behind the American defeat. Overall, though, the author shows very well how Le Thi Thu Van went from "being an innocent girl to a sophisticated wife, an unexpected widow, and finally a professional woman," known on three continents as Jackie Bong Wright.

Bui Diem

Vietnamese Economy and Its Transformation to an Open Market System
Incorporating current research and extensive technical analysis by leading economists from both the United States and Vietnam, this collection of original papers seeks to clarify what further steps are needed so that Vietnam can flourish. It analyzes the dramatic transformation of Vietnam's economy during the 1990s and its prospects for the future as the pace of reform has slowed. The three main sections of the book discuss Vietnam's turbulent history, recent economic reforms, and the country'e emerging role in the world economy and geopolitics. Individual chapters examine a myriad of issues, including specific reforms in agriculture, banking, and tax policy, as well as the attempts to create a business-oriented legal structure, the development of foreign trade and a viable balance of payments, and U.S. policy reactions to Vietnam's development in the last decade.

In the Jaws of History
Active in the Vietnamese nationalist movement, the nephew of Emperor Bao Dai's short-termed prime minister Tran Trong Kim, founder of the Saigon Post , and ultimately South Vietnam's ambassador to the United States, Bui Diem was both a participant in and observer of the post-World War II struggles of Vietnam. Though well written and at times illuminating, his perspective is seldom self-critical and often reveals how detached he was from the decision-making process. This may not be the most satisfying historical expose but it does serve to illustrate his central point: that when the Americans sent in troops they took over the war, exhibiting a blatant disregard of South Vietnamese interests (culminating in the forced acceptance of the Paris Accords).

Vietnam as History: Ten Years after the Paris Peace Accords
A compact authoritative "Vietnam reader" featuring work by some of the best scholars who are now re-examining the war. Contributors to the volume include Richard Betts, Larry Berman, Douglas Blaufarb, Herbert Y. Schandler, Paul Miles, Edwin Simmons, Richard Hunt, George C. Herring, Peter Rodman, Stanley Falk, Bui Diem, Douglas Pike, Stanley Karnow, Alan Gropman, Allan E. Goodman, Vincent Demma, Samuel Popkin, Harry G. Summers, Jr., Russell F. Weigley, Robert E. Osgood, John Mueller, Lawrence W. Lichty and others. Co-published with The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Nguyen Manh Hung

Vietnam: Facing the Challenge of Integration
This article presents a review of major developments in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 2003. It assesses the efforts of the Vietnamese authorities to combat corruption, reform the economy, and join the World Trade Organization in 2005. Obstacles to rapid economic growth and economic integration are identified. The governments treatment of religious and political dissidents and its response to international criticism are also examined. The chapter analyzes Vietnam's defense strategy in the new stages of development, its diplomatic activities aimed at maintaining an international environment favorable to national reconstruction and defense, and a number of important steps taken by Vietnam to build a framework for a stable and long-term partnership with the United States.

Dynamic Timing Decisions Under Uncertainty: Essays on Invention, Innovation, and Exploration in Resource Economics

Vietnamese Refugee Scholars and Vietnamese Studies in the United States, 1975-1982

Nguyen Ngoc Bich

From Enemy to Friend: A North Vietnamese Perspective on the War (Translator)
Introduction by James Webb. In a question and answer format that simulates an in-depth interview, Bui Tin, a former colonel in the North Vietnamese Army shares his insights into many aspects of the Vietnam War. Once a presidential palace guard for Ho Chi Minh and a participant in the decisive battle of the French-Indochina War at Dien Bien Phu, he later served as a frontline commander and war correspondent in the fighting against the United States. In 1973 Colonel Tin was an official spokesman for the North Vietnamese delegation that arranged the return of American POWs and rode a tank onto the presidential palace grounds in Saigon to accept the South Vietnamese surrender. In September 1990, he left Vietnam to reside in Paris, where he has become a leading critic of the Hanoi leadership.

Believing that a dialogue between old enemies is both desirable and necessary for the well being of the two nations, Bui Tin is open-minded and candid in his views about the policies and operations of the Vietnamese and U.S. governments. In the book he addresses such matters as the performance of U.S. military forces, varying strategies that might have yielded different outcomes, and the degree of involvement by the Soviet Union and Communist China along with a thought-provoking analysis of the long struggle that eventually brought his side victory but, ultimately, personal disappointment and alienation. To enhance the dialogue, some of his views are supported and others are challenged in a stimulating foreword by the Emmy Award-winning writer, former secretary of the Navy, and outspoken Vietnam War hero, James Webb. The result is a book that offers a rare glimpse into the mind of an enemy we never fully understood.

An Ocean Apart/Nghin Trung Xa Cach: Contemporary Vietnamese Art from the United States and Vietnam/My Thuat Duong Dai Viet Nam o Hoa Ky va o Viet Nam (Translator)
Published in conjunction with an exhibit of the same name--a joint venture by Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American artists--which opened at the Smithsonian Institution in 1995 and will travel through 1998. Hantover's introductory essay is presented in both English and Vietnamese, as are the captions and brief interviews with artists that accompany display (in color) of 78 works by 34 artists.

A Thousand Years of Vietnamese Poetry
This English translation features more than 100 folk poems and the contemporary works of popular Vietnamese poets.

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