Customer Reviews

Vietnam Today: A Guide to a Nation at a Crossroads

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As a Vietnamese-American living in the US for 26 years, I consider this book one of the best ever written about Vietnam nowadays undergoing great changes. Very insightful,honest, fair,well balanced, non bias and not influenced by,for the better or worse, the American experience in Vietnam. Only a few corrections are recommended for next editions. First the Chams ( not Chans), are a malay group of minorities.The group living in Central Vietnam are mainly hinduist while the other group living in the Delta ( province of An Giang ) are mainly muslim.They never consider themselves as Vietnamese but Chams whose civilization was destroyed by the Vietnamese. The name of the late President of South Vietnam missed the middle name. He is Ngo "dinh" Diem, still highly revered by the majority of Vietnamese overseas. I appreciate very much the fact that the author use the abbreviation HCM City for Saigon instead of the full name which is anathema for many Vietnamese. Very clever and sensitive. The quotation about letting the windows open will let a few flies and mosquitoes flying in is one of the famous quotation of Deng Xiao Ping which changed the history of China. The sub title " a Guide " can mislead a few readers to think that this book is just another touristic travel book about Vietnam ( most of them not well written and superficial). This book is much more valuable and insightful than all the recent books about Vietnam. Congratulations !!!

Vietnam Today, A Guide to a Nation at a Crossroads is a unique guide to Vietnamese life and history for anyone who is interested in succeeding in a business or endeavor in modern Vietnam. If you are willing to spend a little time understanding the cultural influences on personal and business interactions in Vietnam, this book will be very helpful in your endeavors.

Much of Vietnam Today focuses on cultural interactions between Vietnamese people and Vietnamese and foreigners, especially Americans. It aptly explores the differences between societal expectations and unspoken rules between the two somewhat disparate cultures. Several chapters are devoted to explaining Vietnamese culture and manners in the context of business and society. Anyone working with Vietnamese people or staying long term in Vietnam will find these discussions and examples enlightening.

VietNam is land full of promise and potential -- yet is faced with pressing political and economic challenges. VIETNAM TODAY provides a valuable picture of VietNam, past and present, and defines the issues and trends of today. It is a very practical guide that captures the culture, politics and complexity of today's VietNam - a nation of 80+ million - the thirteenth most populous country - with the second fastest growing economy.
It is significant to note that more than two-thirds of Vietnamese were born after the last American GI left in 1975. This book describes the 21st Century VietNam where, for the first time in more than 100 years, a generation has grown into adulthood not experiencing war or foreign domination.
VIETNAM TODAY was written for those who will visit VietNam on business, as well as for travelers who come on holiday also who want to know something about the country they are visiting. Furthermore, it should be read by Americans who want to understand VietNam as a country - not the name of a war.
It provides chapters on geography, demographics, politics, economy and business, history, changes since the war, cultural differences and offers invaluable tips for dealing with Vietnamese. It describes how to work with the fact that VietNam is a relationship-based society in which everyone is tapped into a network. It makes the observation that mavericks and lone wolves are likely to fail in making inroads here.
Particularly helpful is Chapter 7, "How the Vietnamese See Westerners." It presents impressions and reflections - positive, negative and constructively critical - from Vietnamese who have worked with foreigners for many years.
Don't let the subtitle "a Guide . ." mislead you into thinking that this book is simply your basic travel book (for that, I recommend The Rough Guide to VietNam and National Geographic Traveler's new VietNam guidebook).
VIETNAM TODAY offers a vivid, compassionate view of a people and a land that captured my heart two-and-a-half decades before Ashwill set foot in the country. It helped provide a context for me to understand numerous things that I had observed but hadn't been able to fully comprehend. This book will not only change the way you think about VietNam, it may cause you to reflect upon how you view the world. That's a lot to get from a travel guide!

For its compact size, this book is the most comprehensive and useful guide available to understanding and dealing with the nation and culture of Vietnam. It's only four years old, so it's quite up-to-date. It covers Vietnamese history, geography, government, economics, education, communication, cultural values, common problems, and the process of building personal and business relationships.

This is no tourist guide; rather, it offers assistance in dealing with the Vietnamese as a people and a nation. It's ideal for those planning to live and work in Vietnam, or for those who work with Vietnamese living overseas, both temporary visitors and permanent residents. Highly recommended.

Vietnam is a country that is changing extremely rapidly in both economic and social spheres, adding to the bewilderment that many Westerners feel when dealing with the country and its inhabitants. This book provides a historical, demographic, economic and political background which explains many of the present cultural stances of the Vietnamese and the effects that has on business dealings.

This is not a travel guide in the conventional sense -- it caters for people who want to make more in-depth inquiry into the nature of the country, the people and its systems. As such, it is written in an academic tone, backed up by numerous references from previous authors and illuminated by examples of interactions between people from communal high-context cultures like Vietnam and individualistic low-context cultures as seen in the West.

The scholarship is impressive and valuable, and only occasionally glosses over important points -- the explanation of the Asian notion of face as a simple desire to maintain harmony, is perhaps worth expanding into the concept of the deep-rooted fear among people with a communal and high-context mindset of being expelled from "the group".

There are many nuggets of wisdom in here -- businessmen in particular will find engrossing detail in the section dealing with endemic corruption, and the sly ways in which its true nature is often concealed. Trends in modern-day Vietnam are examined thoroughly, although the country continues to change at such a rate that what was true when this book was published in 2004 may be less so now, especially after the unforeseen economic problems which struck the country in 2008. The basic insights, however, remain as true as ever.

This is an extremely worthwhile book for people with a serious interest in Vietnam and the Vietnamese people.

Because I grew up when the Viet Nam war was going on, heard the controversy during the war and since its controversy still continues, I wanted to know more about this country. This book does provide some insights about the country, the people, their thoughts about everyone who comes to do business with them and their general temperment.

The young lady who does my nails is from Viet Nam and I see many other immigrants from this country and feel foolish because all I know about it is the fact of the war that took place there. This motivated me to get this book and it was quite an eye opener. As a people, the Vietnamese have been subjugated, as they say, "By the Chinese for 1,000 years, by the French for 100 years and by the Americans for 10 years." The book provides an insight about their values: do not judge someone until you know them well, your family is always your first concern, try always to reach a decision that accomodates the most people without placing blame.

This is not the perfect book about Viet Nam, but it is very good and worth the read!

This book provided an excellent overview of the culture of Vietnam. I'd recommend it to anyone traveling to Vietnam on business or for pleasure.

Spent the $16, what a let down. Read it in an afternoon, okay if you are applying for a job gig in Vietnam, otherwise, give it a pass.

I spent 3 weeks in Hanoi and 3 weeks in 3 HCM City and this guide was and is a wash. If you like milquetoast, then buy this book. Or stick to the Lonely Planet Series. If one spends several hours reading a book and doesn not glean anything new, then there's a problem.

Written from the format of a term paper, this politically-correct guide to Vietnam is great if you haven't a clue as to how to travel in SE Asia.
The author's tips were so generic, it could've applied to any city on the planet. Lacks sauce, verve, punch.
Sorry I fell for the other reviews.
Give this book a skip!