'Vietnam': A Portrait of its People at War [Paperback]

David Chanoff (Author), Doan Van Toai (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1860640761 | ISBN-13: 978-1860640766 | Publication Date: August 15, 1996

The American experience during the Vietnam conflict is universally known: the brutalisation of the US fighting men, the drug abuse, and the trauma. Even today the very word 'Vietnam' is too often interpreted as referring to this conflict (and specifically the American perception of it) rather than to the country and its people.

The view from the other side-- the Vietcong and North Vietnamese-- has been virtually ignored. In this remarkable piece of twentieth-century oral history-- now available in paperback for the first time-- the story emerges of the ordinary people of both North and South Vietnam, of the Vietcong guerrilla fighters and terrorists, North Vietnamese soldiers and cadres, monks, opposition leaders, propaganda chiefs and village secretaries. Constructed as a series of interviews, this book provides an account of dedication and heroism at all levels, and also of the brutality and trauma faced by a people in the grip of revolution and a terrifying war.

Those featured in the book describe aspects of the war: the murderous trek down the Ho Chi Minh trail, the self-immolation of Buddhist monks, the methods of Vietcong assassination teams and life under attack from American bombs and napalm. Taken as a whole, the accounts provide a rare insight into the thinking of the 'other side.'

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

"The psychological landscape of Vietnam, like the political landscape, was full of features unsuspected by Americans when they entered the war," write Brandeis professor Chanoff and journalist Van Toai. These features included the endless war, sentiment against the French and the Americans, patriotism, ideologies, family, Buddhist-Catholic conflict, and charismatic leadership. The authors allow the country its expression through refugee accounts: central testimonials by Xuan Vu, the propaganda chief and award-winning author; Nguyen Cong Hoan, assemblyman in both Hanoi and Saigon; and Trinh Duc, soldier and leader, are supplemented with other eye-witness reports. Readers of Al Santoli's Everything We Had (1985) or Wallace Terry's Bloods (1985) will appreciate the information on the creation of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the terror it held for Vietnamese soldiers as well as on camouflage, propaganda, bombings, purges, and ethnicity. The work resonates with a special understanding of Vietnamese institutions. Highly recommended.?Margaret W. Norton, Morton West H.S., Berwyn, Ill.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"More than two decades after it was first published, Vietnam: A Portrait of Its People at War stands out as one of the most penetrating and valuable studies of the conflict that consumed the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. David Chanoff and Doan Van Toai capture the extraordinary variety of Vietnamese motives and experiences by letting Vietnamese soldiers, officials, and peasants speak for themselves. The overall effect is to bring the "other side" to life with unrivalled richness and complexity. This book remains essential reading for anyone hoping to understand the Vietnam War." --Mark Lawrence, University of Texas at Austin

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris (August 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1860640761
• ISBN-13: 978-1860640766
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,554,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Chanoff received his B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University and his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Brandeis. He has written on current affairs, foreign policy, education, refugee issues, literary history, and other subjects for such publications as The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Washington Quarterly, The American Journal of Education, The New York Review of Books, The Washington Post, and The American Scholar. He is a featured writer in the Washington Post's recently published The Writing Life and his work appears in the current Norton Reader Anthology of Non-Fiction. His academic affiliations have been with Tufts University, Harvard, Boston College, and Brandeis in fields as varied as psychology, literature, and anthropology.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Major Contribution Which Fills Many Gaps, May 26, 1998

By 

Dr. Samuel Popkin ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 'Vietnam': A Portrait of its People at War (Paperback)

This is that rare book on Vietnam which contributes new information which is essential to understanding the war and the country. Chanoff and Toai have assembled an extraordinary set of new interviews, published reminiscences, and war-time interrogation reports with northern and southern Vietnamese participants in the decades long struggle to build a unified communist country.

These are as frank and revealing a set of eyewitness interviews as anyone is ever likely to assemble. They deal honestly and painfully with the hardships of war, the combination of idealism and brutality that pervade daily life during war, and the shattered dreams of many participants during land reform, ideological purges and power grabs.

I consider this one of the 15 or 20 books that belongs on everyone's list of the ten most important books written on the war. Along with books by David Marr, Hue-Tam Ho Tai and Le Ly Hayslip, I consider it one of the essential sources on Vietnam itself. There is not just the insight of personal memoirs from well-known events, there are also many major revelations about critical events in the war -- such as the Buddhist struggles and the building of the Ho Chi Minh trail.

I have been teaching courses on the contry and the war for over 20 years at the University of California at San Diego. I expect to be using this book in class for many years.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating to hear the other perspective., January 13, 2004

By 

"politicalnut" (Naperville, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 'Vietnam': A Portrait of its People at War (Paperback)

This was quite interesting and I will use a few of the interviews for my teaching of the Vietnam War in my US History class. Nice to expose my students to the "enemy".

4.0 out of 5 stars Christopher Whybrow, December 26, 2011

By 

Christopher W. Whybrow - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vietnam: A Portrait of its People at War (Paperback)

A very interesting read. One question however does remain unanswered. Having fought so hard for the communists, why did these same people abandon Vietnam for the west?