Genealogy Books - Understanding Vietnam

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Customer Rating:

Summary: Outstanding.
Comment: This is a somewhat difficult book to understand, although it turns out to be a gem.

The
author sets out to demonstrate that Vietnamese society, history, and culture from 1700 to 1990
revolve around the yin and yang system. While harmony derives from a balance between these two
elements, an imbalance on the other hand results in revolution and war. The forces, which have been
pulling the Vietnamese community apart since 1920, came to a head-on battle in 1945-50.

During the
1954-1975 war, the northern yang being stronger and more refined than the southern one led to a
northern invasion and collapse of South Vietnam. The hegemony and repression of the north, however,
caused a violent reaction of the southern yin during the post 1975 years: exodus of hundreds of
thousands of boat people, and refusal of farmers to participate in the collectivization of the
agriculture causing a decrease in productivity. Those who could not escape survived by peddling
their belongings at flea markets, which over a period of time grew into a vibrant capitalistic
system thanks in part to the money sent home by relatives abroad, especially in the U.S. A decade
later, the southern economy rebounded while the northern counterpart floundered. This led to a
reversal of the dogmatic northern policy and implementation of the "doi moi" policy in 1985.

The
author also suggests that happiness and prosperity cannot come to Vietnam unless true freedom and
basic human rights are respected.

The American Library Association has voted "Understanding
Vietnam" the 1994 Outstanding Academic Book.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Excellent analysis, and it reads like a novel!
Comment: The author explores the cultural values of the Vietnamese and traces the transitions in thinking
which took place over the past several decades: from the introduction of Western ideas and values
under the French, to the various Vietnamese responses and reactions to Western thinking, the
humiliating aspects of colonialism, and the subsequent struggle for independence. I have read
other histories of Vietnam, but none has so clearly described the underlying cultural dynamics
which drove the events. I feel like I understand for the first time what the Vietnam war was all
about, from the perspective of the Vietnamese themselves; the conflict between North and South
Vietnam over the nature of the nation and society which would emerge from independence.

The best
part of the book for me was the extensive use of excerpts from Vietnamese literature and editorial
pieces to illustrate Vietnamese thought. This gave life to the concepts he was describing, it gave
me a first hand account by letting me hear from the Vietnamese people themselves.

The author's
overall thesis, relating societal changes to the oriental concept of yin and yang --a continually
adjusted balance between structure and feeling, duty and compassion -- is clearly delineated
throughout the story (yes, it really reads like a story), and is quite compelling. By all means,
read this book!

Customer Rating:

Summary: The Vietnamese experience explored through literature
Comment: I bought my first copy of this book in 1994 in Hanoi from a book stall outside the Museum of
History. I read that copy at least three times, and I've since bought about five more for friends
visiting or working in Vietnam. It helped me enormously to enjoy my time working there, and to
appreciate and understand my Vietnamese colleagues. The author is one of those tremendously gifted
and committed people who has spent decades learning and thinking about Vietnam as experienced by
Vietnamese. Some might criticize the approach as too simplistic - as if the life of a nation and
culture could be so easily explicated through the history of its literature! - but for me it was
immediate, insightful, and engaging. Like Fitzgerald's much earlier "Fire in the Lake", it is one of
the very few books on Vietnam that addresses issues raised by the American war (Jamieson first went
to Vietnam for the USG during the early "advisor" phase) through a serious exploration of the
Vietnamese perspective.

During my time in Hanoi, Jamieson's office was just down the street - I
wish I had gone in, as I often thought of doing, and said thanks for the great book.

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