From: CNguyen.osbu_north@xerox.com
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Subject: Re: [POL/HIS] Some books on Viet Nam [was: Some books: Hoang Van Chi]
Date: 17 Dec 92 00:41:49 GMT
Organization: SCV Relay
Originator: anh@media-lab.media.mit.edu


From: EEMOISE%CLEMSON.BITNET@pucc.princeton:edu
On Tue, 15 Dec 1992 21:59:59 GMT Hien Doky <doky@UDA.DGCD.DOC.CA> said:
. . .
>> The history of our country is unique. Her relation of Cambodia is
complicated
>> (it went back to thousands of bloody fighting years), so rely on Sihanook's
>> autobiography as your sole source is as dangerous as holding the knife by
>> the blade :) But do read it, do read from all sides to draw your own
>> conclusions
>> because only you, yourself a free citizen of a free country, should decide
for
>> your ownself.
>>
>> Here are the books:
>>
>>         1) "From Colonialism to Communism" by Hoa\ng Va(n Chi' ("Tu+\
>>         thu+.c da^n dde^'n co^.ng sa?n"):
>>>>
>>         In this book, Mr Hoa\ng referenced to the book "J'ai vecu dans
>> l'Enfer Communiste du Nord Vietnam" by Gerard Tongas to show that
>> the number of Vietnamese died in the "land-reform", staged by the
>> communists, were 100000.
>>
>>         Also anh Tra^\n Tha'i Linh had sourced several publications by
Bernard
>> Fall, Wesley Fishel, Douglas Pike and James Banerian to back up this
>> number given by Gerard Tongas.
>
>
>...
>Dear Hie^?n
>
>     I have read "From Colonialism to Communism" and found it most
>unreliable.  The mistranslations from "Nhan Dan" are the most
>famous errors in this book; see pages 210 and 225 of the American
>edition of the book, where among other things Chi uses the word
>"executed" in English translations of passages that had not, in
>the original Vietnamese, mentioned executions (the page numbers
>would be different in the edition published in India).  Among the
>other striking errors is the claim on page 163 that the land reform
>was temporarily halted in late 1954 and early 1955, a period when
>in fact the program was not halted but accelerated.  In general,
>I would place no faith in this book.
>>
>     Could you please provide more details on the publications
>that Tra^\n Tha'i Linh has sourced?

Have you all read Anh T. Nguyen and Chieu N. Vu ??? Beside various works
produced individually these two Vietnamese historians had a book "Another
school for the young Nguyen Tat Thanh" which digged out from a French library
the hand written letter by Ho chi Minh to apply for acceptance to the French
colonial school when he freshly came to France. Also in this book these two men
also tried to find the real reason why Ho turned to communism. Mr. Vu last year
published the 1st book in a series, written in Vietnamese, about Ho Chi Minh.
Its title was "Ho Chi Minh: con nguoi va huyen thoai, 1989-1945, tap I (Ho Chi
Minh: the man and the myths, 1989-1945, book I.) A very good book in my
opinion. All arguments based on facts and logically discussed. His latest book
is about the French's plot to bring back the late Vietnamese king Duy Tan, who
then was confined to the French's colonized island of Madagasca, Africa, to
play some role in the 1945 plan of coming back to its colony, Viet Nam. During
the flight back to French, King Duy Tan's plane crashed in the jungle and he
died.

I'm surprise that nobody mentioned about these two authors. Dr. Vu got his PhD
from University of Wisconsin, USA; and Dr. Nguyen had a very solid record. Is
the Vietnamese proverb "Bu.t nha\ kho>ng thie>ng" well justified in this case ?
;-)

/cuong


P.S.
	Would someone please translate the proverb "Bu.t nha\ kho>ng thie>ng"
for me ??? I can't !