Thirty years after he covered the war as a young combat correspondent, David Lamb returned to Vietnam to cover the peace. He moved into an apartment in downtown Hanoi, the city he once viewed as the "enemy" capital, and began exploring the new Vietnam, a country emerging from years of political and economic isolation.

For four years Lamb crisscrossed the country, interviewing personalities from Vietnam's dark days - figures such as the legendary general, Vo Nguyen Giap, and the wartime voice of Hanoi's propaganda machine, Hanoi Hannah - and scores of uncelebrated Vietnamese students, former soldiers, shopkeepers, Communist Party members, and returning boat people. He roamed from Sapa on the Chinese border to Dien Bein Phu, Khe Sanh, and Can Tho in the depths of the Mekong Delta. He met with young engineers on the Ho Chi Minh trail, once the world's deadliest road. He joined a group of former Viet Cong and American GIs seeking reconciliation at the very fire support base where they had fought deadly battles. He explored the charming back alleyways of Hanoi and tasted the giddy excitement of a booming Saigon.

An extraordinary rich portrait of post-war Vietnam, a country just emerging from years of political and economic isolation, by a journalist who covered the war and returned thirty years later to cover the peace. Vietnam is run by one of the world's last communist governments but great changes are sweeping the country. It is moving, if with caution and fear, toward a free-market economy. It is slowly lifting many of the civil restrictions that burden its 80 million inhabitants. It is divorcing itself from the isolation that followed the end of the Vietnam War and in return is being rewarded with an influx of Western tourists, foreign investors, and international aid workers who often ask: "What is Vietnam and who are the Vietnamese?" David Lamb answers that question. For four years he explored the "new" Vietnam, wandering from the Chinese border to the depths of the Mekong Delta. He encountered many of the personalities from America's distant, dark days-the legendary general, Vo Nguyen Giap; Hanoi Hannah, once the propaganda voice of North Vietnam; a trusted Vietnamese journalist for Time magazine who turned out to be a Viet Cong agent. But more importantly, he brings us into the lives of scores of uncelebrated Vietnamese-students, former soldiers, shopkeepers, Communist Party members and unabashed capitalists-who share their memories of the wartime past and their hopes for the peacetime future. What emerges is a moving portrait of a remarkable country and a resolute people. This is a personal journey that will change the way we think of Vietnam, and perhaps the war as well.

Vietnam is run by one of the world's last communist governments, but great changes are sweeping the country. It is moving, if with caution and fear, toward a free-market economy. It is slowly lifting many of the civil restrictions that burden its 80 million inhabitants. It is divorcing itself from the isolation that followed the end of the Vietnam War and in return is being rewarded with an influx of Western tourists, foreign investors, and international aid workers who often ask: "What is Vietnam and who are the Vietnamese?"

David Lamb answers that question. For four years he explored the "new" Vietnam, wandering from the Chinese border to the depths of the Mekong Delta. He encountered many of the personalities from America's distant, dark days — the legendary general, Vo Nguyen Giap; Hanoi Hannah, once the propaganda voice of North Vietnam; a trusted Vietnamese journalist for Time magazine who turned out to be a Viet Cong agent. But more importantly, he brings us into the lives of scores of uncelebrated Vietnamese — students, former soldiers, shopkeepers, Communist Party members and unabashed capitalists — who share their memories of the wartime past and their hopes for the peacetime future. What emerges is a moving portrait of a remarkable country and a resolute people. This is a personal journey that will change the way we think of Vietnam, and perhaps the war as well.

For most Americans, writes veteran correspondent David Lamb, "Vietnam was a war, not a country"--even worse, it was sometimes merely "an adjective, usually with a negative connotation." The author was practically a cub reporter when he covered the war a generation ago; in Vietnam, Now, he returns to it, bringing with him a sharp analytic eye developed over the ensuing years. His key observations include the unexpected fact that "the Vietnamese liked Americans.... They had put the war behind them in a way that many Americans hadn't." This is not to say that things have gone swimmingly for the Vietnamese, especially in an economic sense: "Vietnam was like a racehorse whose jockey kept yanking on the reins rather than giving the animal its head to find full stride." And lingering still is the divide between North and South: "The officially articulated policy was always that all Vietnamese were equal; it's just that it didn't turn out that way. Ironically, the communist leadership [in Hanoi] found it easier to reach out to its former enemy in Washington than to its own brethren in the South." Vietnam, Now is an ideal book for anybody interested in Southeast Asia, perhaps especially veterans who wonder whatever happened to that place where they fought so hard for so long.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--John Miller

"Part memoir, part historical narrative, part travelogue, part journalism, Lamb's worthy effort is a personality-driven look at Vietnam today."

Thirty years after he covered the Vietnam War as a young combat correspondent, Lamb returned to live in Vietnam for four years to document the country's recovery from war. Through intimate stories of personal encounters with students, former soldiers, shopkeepers, Communist Party members, and returning boat people, he gives insight into how Vietnam has managed to bury the residue of war and why the Vietnamese now welcome Americans. B&w photos are included. The author has written five previous books on diverse topics.

David Lamb is the only newspaper correspondent from the Vietnam War to later live in peacetime Hanoi. A distinguished Los Angeles Times journalist, he is the author of five previous books. He has been a Nieman Fellow, an Alicia Patterson Fellow, a Pew Fellow, and a writer-in-residence at the University of Southern California's School of Journalism.

Height (cm) 24.4　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Width (cm) 16.3