Rating: 
Summary: Tiresome, negative, and unenlightening bore
Review: I bought this book with hopes of learning more about Vietnam. Instead, I waded through Templer's completely negative portrayal of the country and its people. His writing style is dull, and while he tries to support his views with many references, I learned little from this book other than that the author has a very bleak view of Vietnam. One wonders why he spent any amount of time in a place he so obviously detests ... This book was so bad I couldn't even finish it, an extremely rare occurence for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful
Review: I have read and reread this book many times and still find it one of the most interesting and balanced books on postwar Vietnam. The author, born in England, spent three years in Vietnam as a correspondent for France press.He characterized general Giap as "ferociously driven, vain, indifferent to battle losses and to the suffering of his people". He talked about "the poisoned and scorch earth left by American bombings", the sepulchral world of the Communist Party of Vietnam with "its wild menagerie of fiefdioms, provincial power bases..." and about greed, graft, and nepotism in Hanoi. He also mentioned about "the melancholy tribe" of the overseas Vietnamese and noticed Hanoi was "never magnanimous in victory and tried to erase the very existence of South Vietnam." When the communist Party claimed to represent the people he talked about "an absurd act of ventriloquism" and noted that communist Vietnam was slowly drifting into senescence. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: One of Two Great books on Vietnam!
Review: I read this book because it was recommended in the back of my favorite book on Vietnam: The Bamboo Chest: An Adventure in Healing the Trauma of War
After reading this book I can understand why Mr. Graham recommended it in his book The Bamboo Chest, and why there are so many who've read both The Bamboo Chest: An Adventure in Healing the Trauma of War and Shadows And Wind and consider them the two best books on Vietnam in recent years. As a Vietnamese-American I can definitely attest to the both authors' understanding of the topic of Vietnam: one author gained his through living and reporting on Vietnam for three years, and the other through living in Vietnam during the worst years of the War, and spending eleven months in a re-education camp, just like my uncle!
Get The Bamboo Chest and Shadows and Wind and you'll have a complete understanding of Vietnam and its people!
Rating:
Summary: This book shows the real Vietnam
Review: I think anyone who has spent any time in Vietnam will recognise so much in this book. I went back to what I used to think of as my homeland but now I no longer feel at home there and this book made me understand why. This beautiful cultured country is laboring under a system that still tries to crush people rather than help them. This book sometimes paints a gloomy picture of what the communist party has done but it also captures the spirit of the Vietnamese in the chapters on food, arts and religion. Those reviewers who have attacked this book seem to be people who have never been to Vietnam and are no position to know whether the book is accurate or not. Their aggressive attacks are motivated more by ignorance and spite than any knowledge of the country. One strangely complains that Mr. Templer says he knows everything because he is lived in the country three years but this is from a person who has clearly never been there and knows nothing about the country. This books is detailed and a little dense but no other book available today comes close to giving a sense of life in Vietnam and an understanding of the culture and people and government. Read this if you really want to know about the country.
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Summary: Read this if you are going to Vietnam
Review: I'd recommend this book for anyone visiting Vietnam -- it gives you real insight into the country and covers so many aspects of the society there. It is packed full of stories about what is happening in Vietnam today and what has happened there since the war. There are so many books about the war and so few about the Vietnamese people. If you visit Vietnam this is the best way to familiarise yourself with the country, the people and the culture before you go. A great read, packed full of new information.
Rating: 
Summary: Some comments on the book from Vietnamese readers
Review: More important to me than the good reviews that this book has received has been the very positive reaction from many Vietnamese, in Vietnam and around the world, and from those who know the country well. Here are some extracts from letters I have received about the book. "I would like to show my deep thanks for what you have done by writing an impressive book on Vietnam, where I was born and where I spent half my life before I came to the U.S some years ago. There are a lot of things worth talking about , but first and foremost, I am deeply struck by the authenticity of details which I felt everyday when I was in Vietnam but for many reasons, could not express them with such clarity and such quiet strength. I think that you achieved this because you are not a participant on any side during the war: You came to the site with virgin eyes, never polluted by any prejudices. But I also have a strong feeling that you lent a sympathetic ear to the small stories of ordinary people who are living with and against the strains of an existence which, to outsiders, seem to be in great harmony." "After 23 years, I finally found a writer who really sees and understands the reality of Vietnam, especially that of today's, and describes it so eloquently." "I've just finished reading the two excerpts from Shadows and Wind published in Destination Vietnam, and I find it the best writing on modern Vietnam I've seen. Really terrific. I'm looking forward to the book with great anticipation. I'm sure my wife, a native of Hanoi, will appreciate it as well."
Rating:
Summary: A windbag errant
Review: Persuasive only to the unknowledgeable reader this is journalism at its slippery worst. Close examination of the references shows many inaccuracies which make even a junior scholar of Vietnam cringe.It is clear that Mr Templer has no real knowledge of the Vietnamese language and his social and political commentrary is very much a scissors and paste selection from various news agencies. Even more disappointing is his obvious bias which seems to have been the result of perceived attacks on his personal vanity. He is far from a dispassionate observer and this book will only reinforce the prejudices of readers who are parti pris. One is saddened to think that the naive should be so easily drawn to such self-opinionated stuff, when there are books like Neil Jamieson's "Understanding Vietnam" available.
Rating: 
Summary: Corruption, communism and creeping capitalism
Review: Robert Templer, the author, is a young British journalist who wasraised in Asia. In 1994 he spent three years as a correspondent forthe Agence France-Presse and this book, published in 1998, is a wellresearched account of a the creeping capitalism, corrupt government,and historical struggles of the Vietnamese people.More than half ofVietnam's population today were born after the war and are moreinterested in consumerism than communism. But in spite of theirsmuggled videos and make-believe motor bikes (which are all chrome andglitz and have tiny motors), they live in a culture where corruptionis a way of life, the judicial system is almost non-existent, andwriters are persecuted and forbidden to portray Vietnam without a rosymyth.The extent of the corruption is everywhere. If you are sickyou have to pay extra to get the most basic medical care, even if youhave government insurance. If you want your children to pass theirexams, you have to pay teachers for "private tuition". Ifyou want to move, change jobs or leave the country, you have to paysomeone. The police can arbitrarily rob street vendors or requirepayoffs from anyone at whim. And, as foreign investors have found,unlike other Asian countries, the pay-offs do not necessarily obtainthe results desired.There's a history of famine in Vietnam andmemories of starvation. There are also food practices that Westernersfind abhorrent. Yes. The Vietnamese do eat dogs and cats andrestaurants get big bucks for serving meat that is on the endangeredspecies list. I know that I should try to not be judgmental, but theancient practice of beating a dog to death over several hours in orderto tenderize the meat particularly disturbs me.The book is densewith facts and slow reading. And some of the sections were difficultto follow, especially when the author went into great detail about thecomplexities of corruption in the Vietnamese Communist party where oneleader after another would fall into disfavor with the party, bethrown into prison, his family denied any employment and his childrenforbidden to attend school.To raise money from tourists, especiallyfrom Americans who return to Vietnam with a sense of guilt about thewar, several war museums have been erected. The fact that many of theexhibits are not authentic does not stop people from visiting them.There is even a museum that re-creates the infamous tunnels used bythe Viet Cong although they had to be made larger to accommodate thelarger size American tourists. There is even a make-believe minefield with firecrackers that explode when a wire is tripped.For theVietnamese who now live in other parts of the world, returning isdifficult. They are considered rich foreigners and intruders and itis extremely rare for any of them to come back to settlepermanently.It was a bit of a struggle for me to read this book. Ilearned a lot but cannot say I enjoyed it. There was very little tobreak the tension and the few shreds of humor were few and farbetween. And yet, for anyone who is truly interested in a seriouscomprehensive analysis of what Vietnam is today, this is a worthwhilebook and I would definitely recommend it.
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Summary: Vietnam book for a new generation
Review: Shadows and Wind is among the best books about my homeland that I've ever read. It really brings to life the country and the issues it faces and it is written with a depth of knowledge that I am surprised a non-Vietnamese could learn. This is one of the most important books about the country written in recent years and the first that views it through the eyes of Vietnamese rather than through the view of Americans and people who fought in the war. Parts of this book made me cry when I understood how much people in Vietnam still have to endure. This is a book for the post-War Vietnam, nto for those who only see the country through the war or those who still view it through the ignorant lens of Hollywood and American war books.
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Summary: A masterful understanding of Vietnam
Review: Shadows and Wind is an extraordinary book that really brings to life the trials and tribulations as well as the joys of life in Vietnam. I spent three years working there and this book captures so much of my experiences, both the frustrations with the bureaucracy and corruption of the country and also the rich cultural experience of Vietnam. The war is long over but Vietnam is a troubled country and this book reflects that -- it certainly can sometimes be depressing reading but this is not a theme park. It's a country with real problems, deep poverty, issues with human rights and a growing problem of HIV. If you want the purely romantic tourist vision, look elsewhere (Daniel Steele, perhaps, she wrote a book called Nam) but this is the most honest, most thorough book about Vietnam to come out in years. If you really want to read a book by someone who understands the country, read this. It is an excellently written book that beats all others into distant second. Its depth of knowledge about Vietnam is unparalled.
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