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Journey through Vietnam

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Books for

Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

Item EXVNM35. Buy these 4 items as a set for $64 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Vietnam Now, A Reporter Returns

Vietnam Now, A Reporter Returns

by David Lamb

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

An insightful portrait of contemporary Vietnam by a Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent and National Geographic writer. Lamb interweaves stories of Vietnam today with his own experiences and memories as a young reporter for UPI during the war. (VNM47, $17.00)

Vietnam, A Traveler's Literary Companion

Vietnam, A Traveler's Literary Companion

by John Balaban | Nguyen Qui Duc

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 239 PAGES

From rain forest and rural countryside to the cities, these 17 stories from Vietnam's finest writers explore its landscapes, myths and changing traditions. (VNM04, $14.95)

Eyewitness Guide Vietnam and Angkor Wat

Eyewitness Guide Vietnam and Angkor Wat

by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 312 PAGES

Featuring innovative site diagrams, local maps and hundreds of color photographs, this handy companion introduces the culture, history and attractions of Vietnam. (VNM102, $25.00)

Vietnam Map

Vietnam Map

by ITMB

  • 2005
  • MAP

A detailed travel map of Vietnam at a scale of 1:1,000,000. (VNM05, $10.95)

 
Angkor Map

Angkor Map


by Dawn Rooney

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2007
  • PAPER

A site plan and pocket guide to the city of Angkor at a scale of 1:40,000. (CBD16, $12.95)

Culture Smart! Vietnam

Culture Smart! Vietnam


by Geoffrey Murray

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 168 PAGES

Take along this concise, well-illustrated and practical guide to local customs, etiquette and culture. (VNM87, $9.95)

Lonely Planet Vietnamese Phrasebook

Lonely Planet Vietnamese Phrasebook


by Nguyen Xuanthu

  • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 284 PAGES

A handy palm-sized guide to pronunciation, grammar and essential vocabulary for the traveler. (VNM20, $8.99)

Odyssey Guide Angkor

Odyssey Guide Angkor


by Dawn Rooney

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 496 PAGES

The sixth edition of Rooney's indispensable guide to Khmer culture and history. Includes monuments, temple plans, color photographs and practical information about Siem Reap. (CBD05, $27.95)

A Traveller's History of Southeast Asia

A Traveller's History of Southeast Asia


by J.M. Barwise | Nicholas J. White

  • HISTORY
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES
  • COMING IN OCTOBER

A compact history of the region, including the Khmer and the various ancient kingdoms that produced Borobudur, Angkor and other architectural marvels. (SEA36, $14.95)

Fire in the Lake

Fire in the Lake


by Frances FitzGerald

  • HISTORY
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 496 PAGES

A classic historical, political and cultural portrait of the Vietnam War, seen through the eyes of the Vietnamese. Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, FitzGerald, a staff writer at the New Yorker and a reporter in Vietnam, presents a vivid image of a revolution and a clear-sighted case for why the U.S offensive was doomed from the start. (VNM12, $18.99)

Shadows and Wind

Shadows and Wind


by Robert Templer

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 398 PAGES

A British journalist based in Vietnam, Templer cuts through myth and legend to offer a lively, opinionated portrait of contemporary Vietnam. (VNM43, $17.00)

Understanding Vietnam

Understanding Vietnam


by Neil Jamieson

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 428 PAGES

Jamieson's ambitious primer addresses politics, social history, village life, structural renewal, literature and the arts, illuminating the Vietnamese worldview with insight and depth. It's a terrific introduction to Vietnam. (VNM01, $29.95)

Vietnam, A History

Vietnam, A History


by Stanley Karnow

  • HISTORY
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 768 PAGES

This blockbuster book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author is history at its best: masterfully researched, well written and comprehensive. (VNM10, $23.00)

Vietnam, Rising Dragon

Vietnam, Rising Dragon


by Bill Hayton

  • HISTORY
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

The veteran BBC newsman covers the tangled politics, rapidly changing economy, culture, history and people of Vietnam with great insight in this timely portrait of a nation in transition. (VNM134, $22.00)

Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit

Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit


by Nguyen Van Huy | Laurel Kendall

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 303 PAGES
  • OUT OF PRINT

A marvelously illustrated portrait of culture and society in contemporary Vietnam, featuring informed essays by diverse contributors with accompanying color photographs. (VNM66, $50.00)

Angkor, Heart of an Asian Empire

Angkor, Heart of an Asian Empire


by Bruno Dagens

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 191 PAGES

An excellent guide to the site, this shirt-pocket encyclopedia of discovery features hundreds of color photographs, illustrations and maps. (CBD01, $15.95)

Catfish and Mandala, A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam

Catfish and Mandala, A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam


by Andrew X. Pham

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 344 PAGES

Much more than the story of a road trip, this book combines the author's family history with his many and often-gritty adventures by bicycle through foreign lands including Mexico, Japan and, notably, Vietnam. (VNM50, $16.00)

Dispatches

Dispatches


by Michael Herr

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2009
  • HARD COVER
  • 296 PAGES

Robert Stone introduces this Everyman's Library edition of Herr's impressionistic, troubling memoir of his time as a war correspondent in Vietnam, called by the New York Times the best book yet to be written about the war. (VNM03, $24.00)

The Eaves of Heaven, A Life in Three Wars

The Eaves of Heaven, A Life in Three Wars


by Andrew X. Pham

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

Pham recounts the story of his father's life during the French occupation, Japanese invasion and the American War, weaving such momentous events with anecdotes from his childhood and details of family, friends, food and daily life. (VNM120, $16.00)

The River's Tale, A Year on the Mekong

The River's Tale, A Year on the Mekong


by Edward Gargan

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

A personal, probing chronicle of a 3,000 mile journey on the river from its source in China through Tibet, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. (SEA33, $16.95)

The Sacred Willow, Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family

The Sacred Willow, Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family


by Duong Van Mai Elliott

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 506 PAGES

This vivid family saga, beginning with the author's great-grandfather, captures the life and momentous history of Vietnam over the last 100 years. (VNM39, $24.99)

A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain


by Robert Olen Butler

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 249 PAGES

Winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize, this collection of 15 short stories captures the spirit of Vietnam through a juxtaposition of American and Vietnamese perspectives and settings. (VNM21, $14.00)

The Coroner's Lunch

The Coroner's Lunch


by Colin Cotterill

  • MYSTERY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

The first in Colin Cotterill's wonderful Dr. Siri Paiboun Mystery series follows the septuagenarian national coroner of Laos as he navigates both the criminal underworld of communist Laos and the spiritual world of his ancestors. (LAO21, $14.00)

The Quiet American

The Quiet American


by Graham Greene

  • LITERATURE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 180 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

A classic, this is the most famous Western work of fiction on Vietnam. Greene writes of a love triangle between a war correspondent, his Vietnamese consort and an optimistic young American during the last days of French rule. (VNM08, $16.00)

Two Cakes Fit for a King, Folktales from Vietnam


by Nguye Nguyen

  • LITERATURE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 128 PAGES

These 10 illustrated popular folktales, passed down through oral tradition, illuminate Vietnamese culture, tradition and history. (VNM119, $20.00)

Birds of Southeast Asia

Birds of Southeast Asia


by Craig Robson

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

This authoritative, masterfully illustrated guide, featuring 140 color plates covering 1,270 species throughout the region, also includes Malaysia, Burma, Borneo and Indonesia. (SEA49, $37.50)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.