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Rating: 
Summary: A tad more "Then" than "Now"
Review: For anyone trying to ford the quagmire of myth and fact that surrounds the Vietnam conflict, this book is a necessary buoy. Mr. Lamb-whose current coverage of Vietnam for the Los Angeles Times is superb, though it is often soft-gives a voice and character to post-1975 Vietnam that has been significantly lacking in American literature. He discusses the war, Vietnam-American politics and the ruling Communist party with Vietnamese veterans and the younger generation as well. These conversations reveal a view of the war that contrasts entirely with the American view; as Mr. Lamb writes, the Vietnamese do not mourn the war as Americans do. Instead, they see it as proof of their national pride and perseverance. Nevertheless, Mr. Lamb provides disturbing detail of how the war tore apart the physical and social fabric of Vietnam, and how politics and old weapons still wreak their havoc today. Though brilliant, this book deals a lot with the war, both as a history of past days and the lingering effects. Mr. Lamb does go into detail about Vietnam's growing presence on the world market, burgening political reform and the somewhat restless and idealistic views of the country's youth. Yet, these themes, much like the whole of Mr. Lamb's book, always revert back to the war, as it was then and is today, so that nary a chapter is free from its mention. Thus, Mr. Lamb shows that even Americans who try to get over that bloody period can't.
Rating:
Summary: back to vietnam
Review: I don't think there's any American who can hear the word "Vietnam" and not have feelings about the awful conflict that divided a nation and ushered in a new way of looking at war. However, most of these recollections go back thirty years. It's different now. And that is the theme of this book by journalist David Lamb, who covered the Vietnam War as a young reporter in the late 1960s. Then, in 1997, the Los Angeles Times sent him to Hanoi for four years. This book is a result of his observations. One of his remarkable discoveries is that in spite of the war, the Vietnamese people like Americans and he was treated well wherever he went. Vietnam is now Communist, but it is not the same communism that was typical of the cold war and the Soviet Union. Through the years, the hard line has softened, small businesses are thriving and the standard of living has improved. And the younger generation finds it is not necessary to join the Communist party in order to get into school or get a job, which was formerly the case. The history of Vietnam is long and sad. Mostly, they were conquered by one country after another. When the French moved out, the Americans moved in to South Vietnam. They were trying to protect it from Communism but the people in the North really loved their leader and wanted to unify the country. The war was bitter and more than one out of every ten Vietnamese died. Then, after the War, the South Vietnamese were treated badly. They were sent to re-education camps for years and even when they came out, they could no longer get jobs. There are interviews with South Vietnamese in the book and they have somehow reconciled themselves to this. It is the younger generation who have the opportunities. In the North, the people who fought are treated better. The cemeteries are well kept and widows and mothers get a pension. This is not true in the South. Former North Vietnamese soldiers talked to the author about the will of the people to endure in order to win. They are proud of the fact that they won and unified their country. The younger generation of Vietnamese who fled after the war are coming back. They have been educated in Australia or America, are taller and heavier their Vietnamese relatives, and speak English better than they do Vietnamese. Life is hard for them in Vietnam and they have to adjust to constantly changing laws and a communist government, but they are starting new businesses and beginning to flourish. This is an easy book to read. The interviews are short and connected in a way that illustrates the realities of what Vietnam is today. It is also Mr. Lamb's own story. And that of some American Vietnam veterans who are now traveling back to this place which holds so many memories. I've read several books about Vietnam. Mostly, they were about the War. But this one brought me right up to date. Definitely recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The realities of Vietnam as it is today
Review: I don't think there's any American who can hear the word "Vietnam" and not have feelings about the awful conflict that divided a nation and ushered in a new way of looking at war. However, most of these recollections go back thirty years. It's different now. And that is the theme of this book by journalist David Lamb, who covered the Vietnam War as a young reporter in the late 1960s. Then, in 1997, the Los Angeles Times sent him to Hanoi for four years. This book is a result of his observations. One of his remarkable discoveries is that in spite of the war, the Vietnamese people like Americans and he was treated well wherever he went. Vietnam is now Communist, but it is not the same communism that was typical of the cold war and the Soviet Union. Through the years, the hard line has softened, small businesses are thriving and the standard of living has improved. And the younger generation finds it is not necessary to join the Communist party in order to get into school or get a job, which was formerly the case. The history of Vietnam is long and sad. Mostly, they were conquered by one country after another. When the French moved out, the Americans moved in to South Vietnam. They were trying to protect it from Communism but the people in the North really loved their leader and wanted to unify the country. The war was bitter and more than one out of every ten Vietnamese died. Then, after the War, the South Vietnamese were treated badly. They were sent to re-education camps for years and even when they came out, they could no longer get jobs. There are interviews with South Vietnamese in the book and they have somehow reconciled themselves to this. It is the younger generation who have the opportunities. In the North, the people who fought are treated better. The cemeteries are well kept and widows and mothers get a pension. This is not true in the South. Former North Vietnamese soldiers talked to the author about the will of the people to endure in order to win. They are proud of the fact that they won and unified their country. The younger generation of Vietnamese who fled after the war are coming back. They have been educated in Australia or America, are taller and heavier their Vietnamese relatives, and speak English better than they do Vietnamese. Life is hard for them in Vietnam and they have to adjust to constantly changing laws and a communist government, but they are starting new businesses and beginning to flourish. This is an easy book to read. The interviews are short and connected in a way that illustrates the realities of what Vietnam is today. It is also Mr. Lamb's own story. And that of some American Vietnam veterans who are now traveling back to this place which holds so many memories. I've read several books about Vietnam. Mostly, they were about the War. But this one brought me right up to date. Definitely recommended.
Rating:
Summary: I love this book!
Review: I had the good fortune to be able to visit Vietnam for three weeks recently. Mr. Lamb was able to give me a far greater understanding of what I experienced there. The book is very personal and heartfelt , but also seems to be well balanced in providing a historical perspective. Mr. Lamb did a great job of capturing the spirit of the Vietnamese people and their history. For anyone interested in going there, I heartily recommend this book. A wonderful read!
Rating: 
Summary: Not Another pat on Hanoi's back from a guilty American!
Review: If I am forced by my college professor to read another book by a journalist who went back and saw how great life is in Vietnam because America (and the South Vietnamese people) lost to Hanoi, I'm going to puke.
If you want read a book by a person who actually lived there for three years after the Communist took over, and doesn't replay every played out how great it was that North Vietnam was "united" with South Vietnam, then read Shadows and Wind.
If you want to get a real understanding of Vietnam and the Vietnamese people (this is a Vietnamese writing), then read The Bamboo Chest: An Adventure in Healing the Trauma of War. I think you'll find it very refreshing: unlike Mr. Graham who almost didn't survive the experience, I don't recall Mr. Lamb ever having spent eleven months in a Hanoi-run re-education camp to get the truth about Vietnam!
Rating:
Summary: Vietnam Now - Wow!
Review: In this book, David Lamb returns to Vietnam thirty years after covering the war as a journalist. He spent four years living in Hanoi and during this time he explores Vietnam and interviews many people including well-known figures of the war such as the Vietnamese Radio Personality Hanoi Hannah and General Vo Nguyen Gap. Lamb also interviews numerous Vietnamese citizens and also tags along with a group of former American and Viet Cong soldiers who are searching for reconciliation. In Vietnam, Now, Mr. Lamb draws comparisons and contrasts and in doing so paints a vivid picture of what Vietnam of the 1960's versus what Vietnam now is like. As he states in the introduction to his book: "The Vietnam I experienced was really two different countries, and neither had much to do with the other. The first was the Vietnam of the American War, as the Vietnamese call it... It was the Vietnam of body counts and illusionary lights at the end of the tunnel. It was a Vietnam that, I now realize, I understood shamefully little about, being largely ignorant of the country's history, culture, and people..." "The other Vietnam is the one that wove the spell and teased me of the ghosts of a bygone Indochina... This is the postwar Vietnam, where for the first time in more than 100 years a generation has grown into adulthood not knowing foreign domination of the sound of battle... I stayed four years, far longer than I had intended, and during that time I found that nothing was quite as I had expected it to be." It is the country, the people, and the history, that David Lamb discovers during his four year return to Vietnam, and it is the stories of this country, its people, and its history that Mr. Lamb weaves into all 270 pages of Vietnam, Now. Even though I hadn't been born yet, the writing and description in this book transported me back to the era of war and fighting now known as the Vietnam War Era. This book also did a magnificent job of placing me in Mr. Lamb's shoes during peacetime in Vietnam. I recommend this book to anyone looking to gain knowledge about the country and people and history of Vietnam as a whole, not just as a war seen through American history books. Pick up a copy of Vietnam, Now. After reading this book you will be left with one adjective to describe it - "Wow."
Rating:
Summary: Moving, informative, and timely
Review: The author spent four years, 1996 to 2000, in Vietnam and his book is filled with information and is not fiction like Nelson deMille's Up Country, which is also an account of present-day
Vietnam. I think the points that Lamb makes about the men who fought in Vietnam are informative and little known--drug use in Vietnam was about the same as in the U.S at the time, the suicide rate was similar, the honorable discharge rate the same as before the war, etc. The account of men who returned to Vietnam to visit is full of poignancy. I thought this was a moving and thoughtful and poignant book, and much more attention-holding than I expected. No bibliography, though.
Rating:
Summary: It's a country, not a war...
Review: Vietnam is a country of 78 million living in an area a bit larger than the size of Italy. The people and the landscapes of this nation are both extremely diverse. But to many, Vietnam is simply a war, a chapter of history, a place of terrible memories. Lamb does an excellent job of showing, through his words, Vietnam's beauty and diversity. During his travels from Hanoi to Saigon (HCMC), he interviews Vietnamese people from all walks of life. Some remember the war vividly, some were not born yet, some could care less. For most Vietnamese, the American War is something that has long passed. Lamb illustrates what Vietnam really is, an amazing country with some of the FRIENDLIEST people on Earth. If you can not go to Vietnam (but by all means, GO! I just returned and I found it to be most amazing!), please read this book. I think you will quickly learn that there is a LOT more to Vietnam than the American War.
Rating: 
Summary: Eye-opener
Review: Vietnam, Now, by David Lamb, is truly an eye-opener. This novels consists of David Lamb's accounts of visiting Vietnam both when he was a soldier during the Vietnam war, and later again about 30 years post- war. He compares and contrasts the two different time periods when he visited, with much detail, using unique writing techniques that transport the reader into Lamb's shoes. Vietnam, Now eliminates many misconceived notions of Vietnam held by many Americans today. Overall, this is a well written book and an excellent read for anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Eye-opener
Review: Vietnam, Now, by David Lamb, is truly an eye-opener. This novels consists of David Lamb's accounts of visiting Vietnam both when he was a soldier during the Vietnam war, and later again about 30 years post- war. He compares and contrasts the two different time periods when he visited, with much detail, using unique writing techniques that transport the reader into Lamb's shoes. Vietnam, Now eliminates many misconceived notions of Vietnam held by many Americans today. Overall, this is a well written book and an excellent read for anyone.
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