This was not a completely balanced account of post war Vietnam. It is obvious the author was seduced by the Communist authorities when he visited Vietnam in 1989. I say that because when he talks of the effects of war on the south, he mentions the white terror of Diem without mentioning the red terror of the Viet Cong. The red terror targeted not military targets but teachers and bureaucrats. Sheehan does not mention that but Diem's terror campaign, which was mild compared to the red terror. Also when he talks of the 1963 coup against Diem, he terms it the American led coup. Again another fallacy since the coup leaderes had Washington's blessings, but was not led by Americans. Another small lie was the Cambodia invasion by Vietanm. Sheehan wants us to believe that Hanoi was not interested in dominating Cambodia. Most analysts would view this an incorrect statement. If you can read through Sheehan's opinions, it gives those interested in the war some perspective of what happened after the war. Caution is in order for Sheehan's opinions.

Neil Sheehan adds a short addendum to his Pulitzer Prize "A Bright Shining Lie," one of the most interesting books out of the many written about this debacle. The primary locations of this book are Hanoi and the north and Saigon and south. Sheehan also takes a look into other places he spent time at as a journalist in the 1960s and 70s, and how they've transformed or changed, and/or haven't, up to 1990. He notes some relevant points from his previous book, including the prophetic Ap Bac battle that took place in the early 1960s.

He returns to many of the places of conflict and speaks with the people. His time in Vietnam and the relationships he had there had an enormous influence on him. His return seems to be a mix of catharthism and a quest for objective observation and curiosity. It should be up to a nation's own people to decide how to do things, but in one regard he could have been more critical and questioning of the policies of the post-1975 Vietnamese government. 100,000 people were sent to "re-education" prisons. Southern supporters and participants of the NVA (Viet-Cong) were forced out to be dominated by northerners: The communists were very repressive.

The title does make one wonder. "After the War Was Over," was written 14 years after the fall of Saigon. Another Vietnam "War" book? Not really, and that is good. It discusses the lives and conditions of those who participated in the drawn-out conflict from not just both, but the many sides that actually existed, and where these people are at today in their lives.

Some of the post-war communistic economic policies and later reforms were described, which are interesting. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, De Luan and the communists in Vietnam tried to collectivise agriculture. A proven disaster 50 years before in the Soviet Union, and then again in Maoist China. Collectivization was an outright failure in Vietnam as well. In addition to collectivization policies, the Northern Cadres forced the northern concept of central planning on the entrepreneurial South Vietnamese, which again, just simply doesn't work, being so contrary to human nature. It doesn't spur efficient production nor proper means of distribution of resources and goods. Did the Vietnamese communists learn anything? Yes, they did--after the fact. Now they claim to be the "first ones" to have departed (in 1986) from the moribund Soviet model. A patriotic communist Nguyen Van Linh, was reformist minded and his positions on policy within the government have labled him as the Vietnamese "Gorbachev." He had ideas that were considered by the post-75ers to be "right wing" or radical, but in the end he had their ear, showing some of the ways the South Vietnamese did things, which were objectively speaking, successful.

In this piece two cities are described, Hanoi and Saigon. Street addresses are mentioned and you can learn where significant happenings took place in both cities if you are going there. Many modern buildings, houses, and hotels are noted also. If someone is coming to Hanoi or Saigon, this book can be useful to learn about where things happened. I discovered that I work in the same building where the Pentagon press briefings called the "five o'clock follies" took place.

Some of Sheehan's coverage of Vietnamese history noted how the Vietnamese drove out the Mongols in the 13th Century, and have been invaded by the Chinese no less than 17 times prior to the 20th century. This book can be knocked off in a day.

Gordon Steinbrook uses old letters written home to recall the day to day events of his year in Vietnam. Steinbrook has one of the truly unique experiences of the war, serving with both US and Australian forces primarily as a forward observer and fire direction officer in artillery. Although his account does not include much 'combat', it does, none the less, give one a true picture of the way it was for many of us. .."long periods of extreme boredom punctuated by short intervals of extreme 'urgency'". I can personally testify to the accuracy of this work.

As an American participant in the association with the Australians and New Zealanders, and being a named individual in this book, I can attest to the accuracy and authentic descriptions of the events described by Steinbrook. The professional relationships established by this unique association of nationalities fostered friendships and respect that has endured for over 30 years despite the fact that many have not seen each other in that time. It was a magnificent undertaking by Steinbrook to record his observations during the most vivid and rewarding period of my military career and to mark for history a true example of on-the-scene bonding of individuals, most of whom were not career soldiers, dedicated to accomplishing a very difficult task.

Thailand is a place with lots of tourists, no doubt, and many people speak English (and other languages too: French, Japanese, etc.); moreover, when shopping in streets, they'll show you the prices using a calculator, so you shouldn't care for buying a book like this one.

However, when I was dinning in a popular restaurant in a small town, the waitress didn't understand English, so this book helped me to know what to order (English translation of the menu is not enough, sometimes), and so on, even to ask for the bill.

You don't have to do any effort about the pronunciation, just show the phrase written in Thai to the other person.

It has also useful information for tourists, related to each of the topics the book is divided into (meals, transportation, etc.).

I missed it very much when I forgot it in the hotel and I had no way to tell to the taxi driver how to reach the place I wanted to. I had to wait 10 minutes to get a taxi with an English speaking driver.

I am new to Thailand, new to Thai. My first introduction was the above book, and when it told me that "garuna" was used for please I believed it. Unfortunately, as is the case with any language, there are local variations. Living in Bangkok has afforded me the chance to practice the 90% of this book that is right on target and be thrown off by the rest. I'll start out with the good. I have referred to this book, especially the handy and essential "basic expressions" section, countless times. It is very well organized, with color coded sections for shopping, eating, reference, etc. The phrasebook section is very complete and has numerous "real life" phrases that I've put to use over and over again. The book not only gives the appropriate words but includes many cultural explanations, descriptions of Thai food, for instance. There are handy boxes with sayings a Thai person might need to respond with; you can show them the book and they point. The words are written in English, Thai, and Thai- English, aka the English alphabet with Thai pronunciation. This is good because almost no beginner can read Thai, but often times a foreinger's pronunciation will be so bad that the Thai have to look in the book to see what you're trying to say. Which brings me to the bads. As I mentioned earlier, there are several common deviations between spoken Thai and what's printed in the book. Words as basic as yes and please differ from what I was first told; if you're planning on going there, ask what's used in the area you visit. You'll probably have to have Thai people pronounce the words and phrases for you quite a bit at first; the key in the book isn't very clear despite the long explanation. Trying to read doesn't help as the printed alphabet in the book is missing a letter. Finally, the book focuses more on phrases than on words. When you are trying to figure out what a single verb is, for instance, or even construct your own sentence, it's difficult. The book is a good beginning, but if you are serious about learning Thai, you may be better off with James Higbie's Learning Thai from English book, put out by the Bangkok Post. (It teaches grammar and has a fuller dictionary.) Nonetheless, this book is a small enough size to carry anywhere and is more manageable, especially for the short term visitors. I would highly reccommend it. As long as one is aware of it's short-comings, one would benefit from it greatly while visiting or living in Thailand. I know from experience-- it's saved my life more than once.

I've been very happy with other Footprint Handbooks, particularly the Pakistan Handbook, but this one falls short of the mark. Maybe it is because this is only the 2nd edition and there has been too little feedback from users. The background info is very well done (that part is worth 4.5 stars) regarding history and religion, but the description of sights is only mediocre. I thought Lonely Planet described things better, and the Moon Handbook was the best of the three. I could have done without bringing this guidebook.

I have never read a travel guide book like this. It gives you the overall and detailed picture on Cambodia. Besides history, politics, peoples, places of interests and the information any travel offers, the authors, gives abundant knowledge related to Cambodia, like Buddha's footprint, Pol Pot's life, ruby and saphire... The Ankor area map is the most detailed i have ever seen. Without deep affection to Cambodia, it is impossible to write such an detailed travel guide book.

Composed of passages from historical prose, short poems and songs and classic epics, the "Cambodian Literary Reader" is exactly what the title claims. The material presented therein holds little practical application for the vast majority of native American students of the language, but could be of great interest to ethnic Cambodian-Americans and professional linguists. Huffman's intermediate level reader is a far better choice for the typical student after material which can be put to use in the field in Cambodia. That said, those seeking to pursue the type of material presented in this collection have nowhere else to go, and will no doubt be pleased with the quality of Frank Huffman and Im Proum's work.

This book is a treasure. There is nothing else like it written in English. Anyone who wants to learn Khmer, truly learn Khmer, must own a copy of this book. Within its pages there are samples of all of the major literary genres which make written Khmer so rich. Once you own a copy you will treasure it.

In the introduction to this scholarly and impassive, but very interesting, study of China's relations with Vietnam during the height of the Cold War, Author Qiang Zhai, professor of history at Auburn University Montgomery in Alabama, explains his rationale for writing this book: "The rise and fall of the Sino-Vietnamese alliance is one of the most crucial developments in the history of the Cold War in Asia in general and Chinese foreign relations in particular." According to Zhai, he drew on "fresh Chinese documents to present a full-length treatment of the evolution of the Sino-DRV relationship between the two Indochina wars, focusing on its strategic, political, and military aspects." During the course of his research, Zhai found "a complex blend of motives behind Beijing's Indochina policy," and one of his main premises is that the "Beijing-Hanoi relationship was composed of both agreements and contradictions, cooperation and confrontation."

China and Vietnam had a complicated relationship long before the Indochina wars of the mid-20th century. According to Zhai, the Vietnamese "had a tradition of looking to China for models and inspirations," but there also were "historical animosities between the two countries as a result of China's interventions in Vietnam." Zhai writes that Mao Zedong was "eager to aid Ho Chi Minh in 1950" because Mao believed "Indochina constituted one of the three fronts (the others being Korea and Taiwan) that Mao perceived as vulnerable to an invasion by imperialist countries headed by the United States." When the Viet Minh army headed toward the decisive battle at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, they were accompanied by a Chinese "general military adviser," and China furnished the PAVN with antiaircraft guns, as well as engineering experts and large quantities of ammunition. The Viet Minh won the battle but were bitterly disappointed by the peace which followed. According to Zhai, China's approach to the Geneva conference was motivated by fear of the United States' designs in Indochina: "To prevent American intervention, [Zhou Enlai] was ready to compromise of the Laotian and Cambodian issue," and he formally proposed "withdrawal of the Viet Minh troops from Laos and Cambodia." Zhai writes: "For the Vietnamese Communists, the Geneva Conference served as a lesson about the nature and limits of Communist internationalism," and both Beijing and Moscow pressured the Viet Minh "to abandon its efforts to unify the whole of Vietnam."

Zhai makes the controversial assertion that, in 1961, President Kennedy "set out to increase U.S. commitment to the Saigon regime." In response, according to Zhai, Mao Zedong "expressed a general support for the armed struggle of the South Vietnamese people," but China's leaders "were uneasy about their Vietnamese comrades' tendency to conduct large-unit operations in the south." Zhai writes: "The period between 1961 and 1964 was a crucial one in the evolution of Sino-DRV relations....Its urgent need to resist American pressure increased its reliance on China's material assistance." According to Zhai: "The newly available Chinese documents clearly indicate that Beijing provided extensive support (short of volunteer pilots) to Hanoi during the Vietnam War and in doing so risked war with the United States." In Zhai's view, although Chinese leaders were "determined to avoid war with the United States," Beijing warned that "if the United States bombs China[,] that would mean war and there would be no limits to the war." According to Zhai: "Between 1965 and 1968, Beijing strongly opposed peace talks between Hanoi and Washington and rejected a number of international initiatives designed to promote a peaceful solution to the Vietnam conflict." "Above all, Mao and his associates wanted the North Vietnamese to wage a protracted war to tie down the United States in Vietnam." When the Paris negotiations began in May 1968, Beijing was "unenthusiastic." In less than three years, the international situation changed. Zhai's lengthy discussion of the complicated internal and international events leading up to the crisis in Cambodia in 1970 is a case study in Machiavellian politics and diplomacy. By 1971, according to Zhai, Chinese leaders were "keen to see an early conclusion of the Vietnam War in order to preserve American power and contain Soviet influence." After President Nixon's historic trip to China in 1972, according to Zhai, the North Vietnamese "drew a bitter lesson from Nixon's handshake with Mao that China's foreign policy was concerned less with Communist unity than with the pursuit of China's national interest." In Zhai';s view: "Nixon's decision to normalize relations with Beijing nullified the hitherto basic rationale of the Vietnam War, namely to contain and isolate Communist China." According to Zhai: "Mao and Zhou Enlai viewed with satisfaction the conclusion of the Paris Peace Agreement." In September 1975, just a few months after Saigon fell and Vietnam was unified, Zhai writes that Mao told a Vietnamese visitor, in effect, "Hanoi should stop looking to China for assistance." "The long historical conflict between China and Vietnam...had returned to life."

In conclusion, Zhai asserts that "[t]here were two strands in China's policy toward Vietnam during the two Indochina wars: cooperation and containment;" "From the 1950s to 1968, the cooperation side of China's policy was predominant; and "From the late 1960s, particularly between 1972 and 1975, the containment side of China's policy became more prominent." In my opinion, the most important aspects of this book is its demonstration that international Communism was not monolithic in the 1960s and 1970s. Zhai makes clear that the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China encouraged and aided Vietnam's struggle for independence from France and its war for national unification against the United States, but the Communist powers were motivated more by national interests than by revolutionary solidarity. The history of Chinese-Vietnamese relations between 1950 and 1975 must be viewed within the broader contexts of growing Sino-Soviet competition for primacy in the international Communist movement and of China's eventual, if only limited, rapprochement with the United States. Zhai's book is, therefore, an important contribution to the literature about the most controversial foreign war in American history.

Mr. Zhai's contribution to Cold War history is a worthy addition to any CW buff's collection, since China's role in the conflict has always been a mix of "Yellow Peril" paranoia, rumor and biased commentary. It is a sound summary of the initially cozy, then increasingly frosty relations between the two communist Asian nations. However, being familiar with many of the observations made in this book from other sources, I was hoping for a more cogent analysis of the synergy between the radicalization of Mao's vision of perpetual revolution and the Indochinese wars. For example, did the Cultural Revolution hinder or help the Vietnamese, and what were their perceptions? Did China encourage Pol Pot's intransigence vis-a-vis Hanoi because of ideological affinity or just plain spite? How did the Ussuri River clashes affect the Soviet supply link to Hanoi? This is a good volume for factual summary of the events, but a more profound reading of the new archival sources needs to follow.

Read on my first trip to the Phillipines, the home of my mother's family, this book often vibrantly elucidated certain previously unfathomable aspects of Filipino culture, such as the national obsession with cock-fighting. The murder mystery that drives the narrative is used effectively, though sometimes melodramatically, to diagnose all that is horribly wrong with the country's political and social-economic systems. In this way, Berlow's text provides an easily digestible short history and cultural analysis of the Philippines in the guise of an entertaining docudrama. At times, however, his tone of condescension and bent for heckling-like anthropologizing comment renders a one-dimensional picture of the lives of a complex, well-educated and incredibly resourceful peoples. When he could interject with notes about the progress realized in the Philippines, or give example of the genuine contentment of the family-oriented, social and generous Filipino, he instead leaves us with a dour and generalized impression of a poor, unenlightened colonial victim passive to a thoroughly corrupt government. Berlow is unabashed in his outsiderness to Filipino ways, and this shortcoming is the book's major flaw

A book filled with sometimes shocking detail and personal intimacy, the kind of book about life in the Philippines that so many reproters wished they could leave their daily routines to write. Gripping, impassioned narrative worthy of the passion play that is the Philippines. THE NEW YORK TIMES. A remarkable guide to the tragedies and mysteries that pervade the Philippines. FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW. An extraordinary work of reporting and of writing. ALEX CHADWICK, NPR MORNING EDITION. A truly impressive work of investigative Journalism. COMMONWEAL. A vivid portrait of a sad, overpopulated country, divided by class and poverty, still hostage to the legacies of American colonoialism and Ferdinand Marcos, whose patterns of violence and retribution seem unconquerable. KIRKUS REVIEWS. A chilling critique of a system indifferent to ordinary folk. The book makes abundantly clear how deeply rooted political and colonial feudalism are in Philippine society. ASIAWEEK MAGAZINE. Rich in telling detail and revealing a thorough understanding of the local culture. LIBRARY JOURNAL. Berlow's book is a well-told and compelling story of a small town and its people: the hacenderos and the villagers, how they interact and what they are to one another. Berlow finds significance in the smallest details about lives of his real-life characters, things the average person would take for granted, and gives them the importance that every life deserves. As the stories unfold, it becomes clear that the story of Negros is the story of wealth and poverty, of power and helplessness, of the lack of democracy and justice. Sadly, it is also the story of Filipino society. MANILA TIMES

Overall, I was satisfied with this Fodor Guide. Bangkok and Chiang Mai dining choices were very good. Shopping and signtseeing recommendations were disappointing.

Fodor does it again! This guide is very well put together and is a must have when visiting the 'Land of Smiles'. Fodor's Thailand puts on display the beauty and mystery of this wonderful country. Whether you are there for the wonderful sites, the delicious food, or the great bargains, DON'T leave your room without this book in your back pocket.

Just came back from a three week trip to Vietnam with three books: the Lonely Planet, the Rough Guide, and Footprint Handbook.

The Rough Guide is the best guidebook around for the country. It is superior to the Lonely Planet guide in the breadth and depth of coverage and especially its accuracy. I liked LP for other countries but here they did a very poor job.

I have not found even one instance where Lonely Planet provided information that Rough did not have. If you are traveling to the north, you may want to consider reading Footprint before you leave -- it has some interesting information.

Also, all hotels -- even the top ones -- can be negotiated down in price. Send them an e-mail and ask for special rates, corporate rates, etc. You can stay at the Metropole in Hanoi for less than half their rack rate.

As a former expat in Saigon with family and friends all along the Mekong Delta, I'm naturally interested in the precision and breadth of guidebooks on SE Asia. This one from Footprint seems to cover all the bases in a detailed and realistic fashion. Since there's always uncovered terrain, it's the one I'll bring on my next trip over. And for new visitors, I'd also recommend the video "Raise The Bamboo Curtain: Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma", available from Amazon.

Hear Me Now is a harrowing account of a young girl's experience in Cambodia during the takeover by the Khmer Rouge. The first-person account describes the author's experiences as well as the experiences of her family members. Although the book is graphic, it would not be unsuitable for middle schoolers. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to include companion literature while teaching Holocaust literature and the issues related to genocide.

After reading this book, I see things in a whole new light. This is an account of a young girl, who was invaded in Cambodia, and it really depicts and shows just what it was all about. It was deeply saddening to hear what this womam went through, and I feel that this is the Anne Frank of this era.