Book Review: A Vietcong Memoir by Truong Nhu Tang
Truong Nhu Tang's A Vietcong Memoir is an easy read IF you're familiar with Vietnam's lengthy colonial history.
Prior to reading A Vietcong Memoir, I read several books on Vietnam: The Pentagon Papers, The Sacred Willow (Four Generations in the Life of Vietnamese Family), and a history book that began in the 5th Century.
The history book was particularly important because it chronicled Vietnam's constant battle with invaders: the Spanish, the French, the Chinese, the Japanese, the French again, and the Americans.
The aforementioned books help illuminate Tang's work. Vietcong Memoir is gripping because it depicts an elite part of the communist party by an individual who was born into wealth and educated at the Sorbonne in France, but chose to leave his corporate position to fight against his own people.
I think too many readers focus on the effects of the Vietnam War (Marxism), as opposed to the cause. After all -- Would communism have occurred if Vietnam had been left alone?
#VietnamWar #Vietcong #Memoir #Colonialsm #Nationalism #Marxism #French #UnitedStates #Democracy #Interventionism #Isolation #Indepdendence #Libertarianism
Prior to reading A Vietcong Memoir, I read several books on Vietnam: The Pentagon Papers, The Sacred Willow (Four Generations in the Life of Vietnamese Family), and a history book that began in the 5th Century.
The history book was particularly important because it chronicled Vietnam's constant battle with invaders: the Spanish, the French, the Chinese, the Japanese, the French again, and the Americans.
The aforementioned books help illuminate Tang's work. Vietcong Memoir is gripping because it depicts an elite part of the communist party by an individual who was born into wealth and educated at the Sorbonne in France, but chose to leave his corporate position to fight against his own people.
I think too many readers focus on the effects of the Vietnam War (Marxism), as opposed to the cause. After all -- Would communism have occurred if Vietnam had been left alone?
#VietnamWar #Vietcong #Memoir #Colonialsm #Nationalism #Marxism #French #UnitedStates #Democracy #Interventionism #Isolation #Indepdendence #Libertarianism
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