Customer Reviews

Vietnam: Anatomy of a Peace

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Kolko reminds us that the Vietnamese were fighting _for_ something, not just against the U.S. in their tragic and destructive war. While the goal of _de jure_ independence was achieved, the dream of a just society languished. Kolko illustrates how this goal was destroyed by Communist authoritarianism, a costly war against Pol Pot, Western (and IMF) pressures, and the greed for power and money of Vietnam's new elite. In Vietnam's uncertain future, Kolko argues, only democracy and a renewed commitment to establishing social justice can win back the peace.

The book concludes with a deeply moving epilogue on the necessity and risks of resisting injustice, that everyone alive should read.

In an otherwise excellent work, Kolko fails to understand the fundamental purpose of the Vietnam War. It was not a war for an ideology, communism, as he implies but a War of National Liberation against the Japanese, the French and in its final stage the Americans. In the context of Cold War foreign aid patterns, a war against American imperialism had some communist overtones but these were not central to the movement. Kolko, a communist sympathizer, decries Vietnam's government abandoning communist economic policy arguing this hurts those who fought in the war the most. This is mere adaptation to a changing global context. Ho Chi Minh was first and foremost a nationalist.

The author is definitely very knowledgeable about the subject but his personal regret at how the communists have really screwed things up is almost always apparent. A lot of what he claims to be fact just isn't so: the author's last visit to VN was in 87. Having lived there from 92 to 97, and having worked for the local press, I am sure that things are not as apocalyptic as he makes them seem-- for the party or people of VN. Taken with the usual grain of salt required for this subject, it is nonetheless a fascinating work for the VN political junkie.