A Vietcong Memoir: An Inside Account of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath

Original Title in English 
by Vietnamese Author: Truong Nhu Tang
Publisher: Vintage, 1st edition (March 12, 1986)

Reviews:
(by Publishers Weekly)
Tang, a founding member of the Vietcong who now lives in exile in Paris, charges that a national democratic revolution in South Vietnam was made impossible both by North Vietnamese Communist Party ideologues and the U.S. militarization of the conflict at the expense of a political settlement. PW called this political memoir a "thoughtful and tragic account of the Vietnam War."

Hồi ký Trần Độ (Tran Do, A Biography)

Original Title in Vietnamese by Author Trần Độ
Proposed English Title: Tran Do, A Biography
About the Author: Ltd Col. Tran Do, army officer and politician, born 1924, married Nguyen Thi Phuc Hang (four sons, one daughter), died Hanoi 9 August 2002. Tran Do was regarded as one of the most outstanding generals in the Peoples' Army of Vietnam in fighting against both the French and the Americans. He was expelled from the VNCP, and his death was ignored by the officially controlled Vietnamese press, his funeral was marked by anti-government demonstrations. In 2007, five years after his death, Quân Đội Nhân Dân Publishers published a book paying tribute to his contribution as a war hero, a politician and writer, entitled Chuyện Tướng Độ. He was among the first to propose reforms and invitatiion to foreign investors from the western world.

The Origins of Vietnam War

Original Title in English: The Origins of Vietnam War
Author: Fredrik Logevall
Vietnamese Title: Nguồn gốc Chiến tranh Việt Nam 
Translator: undisclosed
Publisher: Longman, 2001, ISBN: 9780582319189

About the book: 

The war in Vietnam was a seminal event in post-1945 world affairs. The conflict had a profound and lasting impact on the politics and society of Vietnam and the United States, but also shaped the larger international system in critical ways. This volume provides an authoritative and accessible introduction to the origins of the war. It situates the developments from the French colonial period to the eruption of major war in 1965 in their larger global setting - how Vietnamese affairs were shaped by - and in turn shaped - developments outside Vietnam. 

The Origins of theVietnam War looks at:

• Why France colonized Indochina in the late 19th century, and why that colonial venture ended in defeat at the hands of Ho Chi Minh's Vietminh in 1954.
• Why the 1954 Geneva Agreement failed to bring long-term peace to Indochina.
• Why the United States opted to make a commitment to the creation of an   independent, non-communist South Vietnam.
• Why a major war developed in 1965, with the US and South Vietnam on one side  and the National Liberation Front and North Vietnam, backed by China and the Soviet Union on the other.
• Whether the war could have been avoided.

Containing a Guide to Characters, Chronology and detailed Bibliography, The Origins of the Vietnam War provides an indispensable introduction to one of the most important events in recent history.

About the Author: Fredrik Logevall is Associate Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara.

China - Vietnam War 1979 ( Battle of Cao Bang)

Original Title : China - Vietnam War 1979 ( Battle of Cao Bang) 
Some Facts - A Power Point Presentation

View Video on YouTube: click here

Comments

China Casualties:

Chinese claim: 6,954 killed, 14,800 wounded.[4]

Western source: 26,000 killed, 37,000 wounded and 420 tanks destroyed

Vietnam Casualties:

Vietnam claims: 10,000 civilians killed, no figures of military

Western source: 20,000 killed, 32,000 wounded and 185 tanks destroyed

Chiến tranh Đông dương 3 - The Third Indochina War

Original Title in Vietnamese by Author: Hoàng Dung
Chiến tranh Đông dương 3 - Chiến tranh biên giới Hoa Việt, Miên Việt 1979.
Proposed translation of Title in English:The Third Indochina War or The 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War.

About the Author: 
A medical doctor who served the South-Vietnam Army, the author underwent re-education camp in post-war Vietnam. After his imprisonment, he left for the US and has been practicing medecine there since. During the conflicts with China and Cambodia, he was still living in Vietnam and had been studying the evolution of the situation. In his US residence, as a hobby, he later started extensive research on the subject.
Indochina III - is an analysis of the post-1975 Sino-Vietnamese conflict. Parts 1 to P6 present an introduction on Cambodia's history, pre-1975 Vietnam-Cambodia conflict, and reveal the foundation of the Cambodian Communist Party, the post-1975 relationship between Vietnam, Cambodia and China, SRVN's and China's efforts to establish diplomatic relations with US. Parts 7-9 cover the conflicts between Vietnam and China. Parts 10-13 present an overview of Chinese politics and diplomatic relations with Vietnam, its objectives and strategy in preparing the war against Vietnam in 1979. Parts 14 is a valuable description of the main historical characters during this period. Note: Cf. also list on Stanley Karnow's book (Vietnam: A History). The conclusion gives a brief description of how infantry troops of the SRVN's People's Army are organised.

The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam

Original title in Vietnamese by Vietnamese Author: Bảo Ninh
Vietnamese Title: Nỗi Buồn Chiến Tranh
English translator: Phan Thanh Hao, Frank Palmos
Publisher: Riverhead Books (April 1, 1996)






Review: (by Publishers Weekly)

Kien, the protagonist of this rambling and sometimes nearly incoherent but emotionally gripping account of the Vietnam war, is a 10-year veteran whose experiences bear a striking similarity to those of the author, a Hanoi writer who fought with the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade. The novel opens just after the war, with Kien working in a unit that recovers soldiers' corpses. Revisiting the sites of battles raises emotional ghosts for him, "a parade of horrific memories" that threatens his sanity, and he finds that writing about those years is the only way to purge them. Juxtaposing battle scenes with dreams and childhood remembrances as well as events in Kien's postwar life, the book builds to a climax of brutality. A trip to the front with Kien's childhood sweetheart ends with her noble act of sacrifice, and it becomes clear to the reader that, in Vietnam, purity and innocence exist only to be besmirched. Covering some of the same physical and thematic terrain as Novel Without a Name (see above), The Sorrow of War is often as chaotic in construction as the events it describes. In fact, it is untidy and uncontrolled, like the battlefield it conveys. The point of view slips willy-nilly from the third person to the first, without any clear semblance of organization. The inclusion of a deaf mute who falls for Kien, and acts for a while as a witness to his life, seems gratuitous. The faults of this book are also its strengths, however. Its raggedness aptly evokes the narrator's feverish view of a dangerous and unpredictable world. And its language possesses a ferocity of expression that strikes the reader with all the subtlety of a gut-punch. Polishing this rough jewel would, strangely, make it less precious.

Vietnamese version online: click here