Adventures and Encounters, Europeans in Southeast Asia  •  J.M. Gullick ANTHOLOGY •  1996 •  PAPER  • 336 PAGES This anthology offers a diverse selection of European accounts of Southeast Asia. The writers range from 16th century explorers and mariners to 19th century naturalists and modern literary travelers. Complemented by engravings and archival photographs. (INS20, $49.50)
An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War that Came Between Us  •  James Carroll BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1997 •  PAPER  • 279 PAGES Winner of the National Book Award, this is the tragic story of an American family whose beliefs and familial bonds are shattered by the raging Vietnam war. Novelist Carroll recounts growing up under the auspicious shadow of his father, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency throughout most of the war. Carroll's decision to become a priest thrills his father, but when he sides with the liberal Catholics and draft resisters, his family relationships are jeopardized. (VNM38, $15.00)
Angkor Cities and Temples  •  Claude Jacques  •  Michael Freeman ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2000 •  HARD COVER  • 319 PAGES An oversize, gorgeously illustrated portrait of the monuments, temples and exquisite sculpture of Angkor. With 360 color photographs, 15 temple plans and five maps. Claude Jacques, who directed much of the excavation at the site, writes with authority about individual temples, inscriptions and the Khmer culture that produced Angkor. (CBD18, $80.00)
Arts of Southeast Asia  •  Fiona Kerlogue ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2004 •  PAPER  • 224 PAGES A handsome guide to the art, architecture, textiles and crafts of Southeast Asia, featuring 183 illustrations, 102 in color. Organized thematically, this concise book includes chapters on Hindu, Buddhist and indigenous art. A volume in the World of Art series. (SEA45, $16.95)
Birds of Myanmar  •  Kyaw Nyunt Lwin  •  Khin Ma Ma Thwin  •  Aung Thant FIELD GUIDE •  2005 •  PAPER  • 165 PAGES A slim field guide to 350 birds of Burma, featuring 74 full-color plates, descriptive information, and a comprehensive checklist. The Burmese authors and illustrator are associated with BirdLife International. (BMA42, $35.00)
A Bright Shining Lie, John Paul Vann and the Americans in Vietnam  •  Neil Sheehan HISTORY •  1989 •  PAPER  • 861 PAGES A political history of the war as seen through the story of one of its soldiers, this prize-winning book is a hard-hitting expose on the failure of American foreign policy in Southeast Asia. (VNM27, $18.95)
Brother Number One, A Political Biography of Pol Pot  •  David Chandler BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1999 •  PAPER  • 264 PAGES The definitive history of the Pol Pot era by the author of the History of Cambodia. (CBD23, $32.00)
Buddhist Art and Architecture  •  Robert Fisher ART & ARCHITECTURE •  1993 •  PAPER  • 216 PAGES A wide-ranging, illustrated survey of Buddhist art, architecture and iconography in the excellent World of Art series. It includes examples from throughout Asia. (ASA30, $18.95)
The Buddhist Handbook  •  John Snelling RELIGION •  1992 •  PAPER  • 345 PAGES Subtitled, "The Complete Guide to Buddhist Schools, Teaching, Practice and History, " this even-handed book is a concise primer covering the history, philosophical foundation and practice of Buddhism. It gives a basic overview of the teachings and practice of Buddhism, including a who's who of contemporary teachers and list of useful addresses around the world. (ASA08, $16.95)
Cambodia and Laos Map  •  ITMB 2003 •  MAP A full color map of Laos and Cambodia for the traveler at a scale of 1:800,000. With an index, and small inset maps of central Phnom Penh and Vientiane. (LAO07, $11.95)
Cambodia Map  •  Gecko Maps 2005 •  MAP A full color map of Cambodia for the traveler at a scale of 1:750,000. With useful inset city and area maps of Phnom Penh, Angkor, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville with restaurants, hotels and attractions. (CBD17, $15.95)
Cambodia's New Deal  •  William Shawcross HISTORY •  1994 •  PAPER  • 106 PAGES (CBD14, $9.95)
Cambodia, A Shattered Society  •  Mark W. Mcleod  •  Marie Martin HISTORY •  1994 •  HARD COVER  • 383 PAGES A political and cultural history of post-Pol Pot Cambodia for a scholarly audience. (CBD22, $65.00)
Cambodian Culture Since 1975  •  May Ebihara HISTORY •  1994 •  PAPER  • 194 PAGES A scholary collection of articles on Cambodian culture since the violence of Pol Pot's regime in the 1970s. (CBD21, $22.95)
CDC's Complete Guide to Health Travel  •  Kent C. Davis 1997 •  PAPER  • 432 PAGES (TRV01, $14.95)
Collected Short Stories, Volume 4  •  W. Somerset Maugham LITERATURE •  1995 •  PAPER  • 464 PAGES Maugham can evoke turn-of-the-century colonial Asia like no other. This collection of stories features many set in Malaysia and other southeast Asian locales, including the well-known tale "The Letter." (SEA01, $17.00)
Culture Smart! Vietnam  •  Geoffrey Murray GUIDEBOOK •  2006 •  PAPER  • 168 PAGES A concise, well-illustrated and practical guide to local customs, etiquette and culture. (VNM87, $9.95)
Earth and Water, Encounters in Vietnam  •  Edith Shillue BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1997 •  PAPER  • 234 PAGES A meditative account of experiences and encounters in Vietnam as a teacher and traveler in the 1990s. IN this lovely memoir, Shillue, an English professor, reflects on the people, culture and history of the country, interweaving her time living with a family and teaching in Saigon with her travels to Nam Ha Province (where she taught in a village school) and journeys throughout the country. (VNM79, $24.95)
The Ends of the Earth, A Journey to the Frontiers of Anarchy  •  Robert D. Kaplan TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 476 PAGES Kaplan, a veteran foreign correspondent and wonderful writer, journeys though much of the third world in this far-ranging, insightful report on sociopolitics, the future and other big topics. Organized geographically, he hops from West Africa to the Nile, Balkans, Central Asia, China and Southeast Asia. Two large sections are devoted to Iran and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. (WLD26, $16.00)
First They Killed My Father, A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers  •  Loung Ung BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2001 •  PAPER  • 240 PAGES By the age of eight, Loung Ung had survived the deaths of both her parents and two sisters at the hands of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge. Loung Ung and her brother were eventually rescued by humanitarian workers and brought to the U.S., and here she retells the harrowing story of those brutal years spent in Cambodia as a young girl. Written in the present tense, it's an eye-opening eyewitness account of the atrocities suffered by millions of Cambodians from the perspective of a survivor. (CBD13, $13.95)
Footprint Cambodia Handbook  •  Joshua Eliot  •  John Colet GUIDEBOOK •  2008 •  PAPER  • 304 PAGES A compact guide published in Britain, nicely divided between a general overview of Cambodia and practical travel detail on where to go and what to do. With a few maps, site diagrams and useful place names. (SEA23, $23.95)
Footprint Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos  •  Jack O'Tailan  •  Claire Boobbyer  •  John Colet  •  Andrew Spooner GUIDEBOOK •  2008 •  PAPER  • 408 PAGES A detailed, practical guide to Bangkok, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, filled with maps, background on attractions, practical information on transportation, food, activities and lodgings, and a handful of well selected photographs. About half the book focuses on Vietnam, but there is an extended chapter on Angkor and about 100 pages on Laos. (SEA52, $24.95)
A Fortune-Teller Told Me, Earthbound Travels in the Far East  •  Tizanio Terzani TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2002 •  PAPER  • 371 PAGES Grounded for a year, the peripatetic journalist (Italian-born, writing in German, and based in India) sets off by any other means to complete his rounds through Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Mongolia, China, Japan and other far-flung destinations. The result is this warm, anecdotal account of the character of the region. It's got to be the book most recommended to us on contemporary Asia. (SEA35, $14.95)
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain  •  Robert Olen Butler ANTHOLOGY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 249 PAGES Winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize, this collection of 15 short stories -- each told from a different point of view -- captures the spirit of Vietnam. American and Asian perspectives are juxtaposed in these stories, which jump back and forth from wartime Vietnam to rural Louisiana. (VNM21, $13.00)
A Guide to Khmer Temples in Thailand and Laos  •  Michael Freeman GUIDEBOOK •  1998 •  PAPER  • 320 PAGES • COMING IN A compact guide to Khmer temples throughout the region, both famous and little-visited, featuring color photography, maps, temple plans and diagrams. It includes many remarkable sites near the border with Cambodia that are open to the public for the first time. (TLD20, $19.95)
A Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia  •  Craig Robson FIELD GUIDE •  2000 •  HARD COVER  • 504 PAGES A comprehensive guide and handbook to the 1,250 species of birds found in Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia -- the first in a decade. It features 104 color plates, good descriptive text, range maps and introductory chapters on habitats, conservation and bird watching in the region. (SEA22, $85.00)
Hindu Art  •  T. Richard Blurton ART & ARCHITECTURE •  1993 •  PAPER  • 239 PAGES A beautifully illustrated large paperback of excellent quality, this book is a good introduction to the complexities of Indian painting, sculpture and sacred architecture. The author is a curator at the British Museum. (IDA35, $33.00)
A History of Cambodia  •  David Chandler HISTORY •  2007 •  PAPER  • 312 PAGES An excellent, scholarly history from early civilization through the rise of Angkor, shift to Phnom Penh, French colonial period, Vietnamization of Cambodia, the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge and Coup de Force of 1997. In a third, expanded edition, Chandler is frank in his criticism of political regimes since WWII. He has also written "Brother Number One, A Political Biography of Pol Pot." (CBD27, $35.00)
In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War  •  Tobias Wolff BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1995 •  PAPER  • 221 PAGES A vivid memoir of his tour of duty in Vietnam, Wolf deploys his characteristic wit and insight on the experiences of a hapless young man over his head in a strange country under sometimes horrifying circumstances. He interweaves telling anecdotes, personal history and meditation. Part three of the book is a telling acount of returning home. (VNM34, $13.95)
In Search of Southeast Asia: a Modern History  •  David P. Chandler  •  David J. Steinberg HISTORY •  1988 •  PAPER  • 590 PAGES Written by seven historians of Asia, this scholarly overview of the social, economic and political history of Southeast Asia is an excellent introduction to the region. A popular text for courses on modern Southeast Asian history, the organizing theme of the book is the region's cultural adaptation to change. Parts 2, 4 & 5 are organized by country. (SEA18, $30.00)
Insight Guide Southeast Asia  •  Insight Guides GUIDEBOOK •  2003 •  PAPER  • 302 PAGES • COMING IN A profusely illustrated overview of Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Phillippines, featuring concise essays by well regarded authors on history, politics and culture, as well as hundreds of photos and maps and some limited practical information. (SEA51, $22.95)
Jewelry of Southeast Asia  •  Anne Richter ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2000 •  HARD COVER  • 304 PAGES An in-depth analysis of Southeast Asia's jewelry tradition that spans from the Neolithic and Bronze Age to the present, complemented by 350 full-color illustrations. Richter showcases more than 300 prized pieces and provides insightful commentary. (SEA25, $75.00)
Land of the Ascending Dragon, Rediscovering Vietnam  •  Paul Martin HISTORY •  1997 •  HARD COVER  • 192 PAGES Expert commentary by three veteran journalists complements the 140 striking color photographs in this handsome oversize volume surveying Vietnam's rich history and hopeful future. (VNM25, $32.00)
Lonely Planet Cambodia  •  Daniel Robinson  •  Tony Wheeler  •  Chris Taylor GUIDEBOOK •  2008 •  PAPER  • 374 PAGES • COMING IN SEPTEMBER A comprehensive practical guide to Cambodia in the hallmark Lonely Planet style featuring maps, a good overview of culture, history and nature and much nuts-and-bolts information on excursions, accommodations and sightseeing. With a section of color photographs and excellent travel information. Geared for the independent traveler. (CBD04, $21.99)
Lonely Planet Vietnam  •  Robert Storey GUIDEBOOK •  2007 •  PAPER  • 540 PAGES In its hallmark style, this Lonely Planet guide to Vietnam rivals the Moon guide in its comprehensiveness. It features maps, a good overview of culture, history and nature, and much nuts-and-bolts information on excursions, accomodations and sights. With color photographs and excellent travel information. (VNM14, $23.99)
The Lover  •  Marguerite Duras LITERATURE •  1998 •  PAPER  • 117 PAGES A haunting tale of coming-of-age in Indochina during the 1930s, beautifully evoking the period and place and the complex emotions of a young girl, her family, and her wealthy Chinese lover. (CBD09, $11.00)
The Mekong, Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future  •  Milton Osborne HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 320 PAGES A cultural history of the great river from prehistory to European exploration, colonial tensions and modern challenges. It's an engaging introduction to the history of Southeast Asia. Osborne has also written an account of the 19th-century search for the source of the Mekong (SEA29). (SEA28, $16.00)
Moon Handbook Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos  •  Michael Buckley GUIDEBOOK •  2006 •  PAPER  • 730 PAGES A great resource for the independent traveler, this guidebook, mostly focused on Vietnam, features a thorough introduction to the land, history and culture, as well as astonishing practical detail on getting around, where to go and where to stay. It has a few unobtrusive color plates, as well as a small fold-out map on the inside back cover. (SEA09, $21.95)
The Naked Tourist, In Search of Adventure and Beauty in the Age of the Airport Mall  •  Lawrence Osborne TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2007 •  PAPER  • 256 PAGES • NEW "It came upon me suddenly," Osborne reports, "like a mental disorder unknown to psychiatry: the desire to stop everything in normal life, to uproot, leave." And so he does, taking off on a six-month journey from Dubai to India, Bangkok, Bali and Papua New Guinea on the "Asian Highway." Osborne is not just interested in travel, but also in the reasons why we travel, layering his own entertaining adventures with ruminations on Shangri-La, The Grand Tour, the exotic and primitive. (SEA50, $14.00)
Novel without a Name  •  Thu Huong Duong LITERATURE •  1996 •  PAPER  • 304 PAGES From celebrated dissident author Duong Thu Huong, this lyrical novel tells the story of a North Vietnamese solider who clings to memories of his childhood in the hard times of war. (VNM23, $14.00)
Odyssey Guide Angkor, Cambodia's Wondrous Khmer Temples  •  Dawn Rooney GUIDEBOOK •  2006 •  FLEXI-BOUND  • 488 PAGES An indispensable guidebook, encompassing Khmer culture and history; detailed descriptions of the monuments; and practical information about Siem Reap. With temple plans and photographs. This edition includes 10 new temple sites and an additional 180 pages of new information with 86 new photographs along with updated practical details. (CBD05, $24.95)
The Other Side of Heaven, Postwar Fiction by Vietnamese and American Writers  •  Truong Vu  •  Le M. Khue  •  Wayne Karlin ANTHOLOGY •  1995 •  PAPER  • 420 PAGES Writers from both sides of the Vietnam War have contributed to this anthology, which offers insight into understanding the divided nation. It's also a good opportunity to read contributions by writers not generally translated into English. (VNM42, $17.95)
Paradise of the Blind  •  Duong Thu Huong LITERATURE •  1994 •  PAPER  • 270 PAGES A tale of contemporary life set in the 1980s, this popular Vietnamese novel -- one of the few translated into English -- captures life in an extended family and the struggle for economic well being in a difficult society. Born in 1947 and living in Hanoi, Duong Thu Huong writes as a participant and witness to changing Vietnam. (VNM30, $13.95)
Passage to Vietnam, Through the Eyes of Seventy Photographers  •  Rick Smolan  •  Jennifer Erwit CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1994 •  HARD COVER  • 224 PAGES Great photography combined with insightful commentary on modern Vietnam. It features more than 400 fine photographs and essays by Pico Iyer and Stanley Karnow. (VNM15, $70.00)
Phase Line Green, The Battle for Hue, 1968  •  Nicholas Warr HISTORY •  1999 •  PAPER  • 255 PAGES A powerful and personal account of a U.S. Marine's experience in the Battle of Hue, a brutal, month-long battle to capture a strategically important North Vietnamese citadel. Nicholas wrote this account in 1983, 15 years after the events described. Available in this print-on-demand edition only. (VNM36, $19.00)
Pimsleur Quick & Simple Vietnamese  •  Pimsleur Language Method LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS •  2005 •  AUDIO CD Four audio CDs with eight 30-minute lessons in basic Vietnamese, covering elementary vocabulary and phrases used in travel and everyday situations. The Pimsleur method emphasizes the use of listening skills without reading materials (so there isn't a book to follow along). It's advertised as "Totally audio: hear it, learn it, speak it." (VNM81, $19.95)
The Politics of Heroin, CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade  •  Alfred McCoy HISTORY •  1991 •  PAPER  • 634 PAGES An expanded version of McCoy's groundbreaking "The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia." This second edition includes the relationship between drug merchants, and intelligence and law enforcement agencies from Southeast Asia, to Central America and Afghanistan. The author is a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin. (LAO09, $32.95)
The Quiet American  •  Phillip Noyce 2003 •  DVD A subtle and beautiful adaptation of Graham Greene's novel. Michael Caine stars as Thomas Fowler, a British journalist stationed in Vietnam in the 1950s, on the cusp of the Vietnam War. His friendship with the seemingly quiet American Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser) takes a turn for the dangerous when Pyle falls in love with Fowler's young Vietnamese mistress (Do Thi Hai Yen), and his political motives become clear. (VNM59, $29.99)
River Road to China, The Search for the Source of the Mekong, 1866-73  •  Milton Osborne EXPLORATION •  1999 •  PAPER  • 247 PAGES An excellent modern account of a 19th-century French expedition 4,000 miles from Vietnam and Cambodia into unknown regions of China in search of the source of the Mekong. With a selection of 19th-century engravings and color illustrations from the expedition. Originally published in 1975. (SEA29, $16.00)
The River's Tale, A Year on the Mekong  •  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. Gargan, a veteran correspondent and bureau chief for the New York Times, spent a year traveling the river. (SEA33, $14.95)
Shadows and Wind  •  Robert Templer CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1999 •  PAPER  • 398 PAGES A journalist who was stationed in Vietnam for three years, Templer is a lively, opinionated guide to current politics, attitudes and aspirations in Vietnam. This is a highly recommended, well rendered portrait of contemporary Vietnam. (VNM43, $16.00)
Shooting at the Moon, The Story of America's Clandestine War in Laos  •  Roger Warner HISTORY •  1997 •  PAPER  • 436 PAGES Soldiers, diplomats, Hmong villagers and CIA strategists are all depicted fully in this engrossing, well-reported history of the secret war in Laos. (LAO05, $24.95)
Sihanouk: Prince of Light, Prince of Darkness  •  Milton Osborne BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1994 •  PAPER  • 304 PAGES Osborne follows, with a critical eye, the roller-coaster career of this important Asian leader -- from king to exile to king again -- and shows him as an energetic and determined, but also self-absorbed, individual. (CBD20, $17.95)
The Sorrow of War, A Novel of North Vietnam  •  Bao Ninh LITERATURE •  1996 •  PAPER  • 213 PAGES A powerful novel by a former North Vietnamese soldier, now translated and available in the United States. This short book captures the appalling conditions of war, alternating vivid scenes from the front lines with flashbacks from the protagonist's rural youth. An unusual and compelling view from the "other side" of the war. (VNM07, $14.00)
Soul of the Tiger, Searching for Nature's Answers in Southeast Asia  •  Jeffrey A. McNeely  •  Paul Spencer Sochaczewski NATURAL HISTORY •  1995 •  PAPER  • 432 PAGES A wide-ranging meditation on the role of animals and nature in the complex human societies of Southeast Asia, originally published in 1988. The authors wax philosophical -- and sometimes blackly humorous -- about conservation issues throughout the region. They argue for effective community-based conservation building on traditional relationships between people and the environment (SEA02, $18.95)
Southeast Asia in the New International Era  •  Clark Neher HISTORY •  2002 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES A good general history of the entire region and its place in the world. Written by a seasoned scholar, the book is now in its third edition. (SEA17, $38.00)
Southeast Asia, A Concise History  •  Mary Somers Heidhues HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES A lively, illustrated history of Southeast Asia, covering the politics, economics, society and culture of Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines. With 131 black-and-white illustrations and 11 maps. (SEA26, $19.95)
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down  •  Anne Fadiman CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1998 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES The title refers to the Hmong explanation for seizures. It's the story of a child with epilepsy, the daughter of Hmong refugees in California and a tragedy wrought by cultural mistranslation. Fadiman, the editor of American Scholar, got to know her loving family and the hard-working doctors that cared for Lia, and gracefully documents the clash between best interests. It's a sympathetic look at the Hmong culture, history and worldview that reveals much about ours as well. (VNM31, $15.00)
Street Without Joy  •  Bernard B. Fall HISTORY •  1994 •  PAPER  • 408 PAGES A vivid account of the French defeat in Vietnam, originally published in 1961. (VNM18, $24.95)
The Tale of Kieu, Bilingual Edition  •  Huynh Thong LITERATURE •  1987 •  PAPER  • 211 PAGES A masterpiece of Vietnamese literature, written in the early 19th-century by a Vietnamese ambassador to the Chinese court. This edition, translated and annotated by Huynh Sanh Thong, renders the narrative poem in modern blank verse. The much-celebrated poem, based on a Chinese novel, shows East Asian classical and Vietnamese folk influences. (VNM22, $21.00)
The Things They Carried  •  Tim O'Brien LITERATURE •  1991 •  PAPER  • 246 PAGES National Book Award-winner O'Brien captures, better than anyone, the daily life of a soldier in Vietnam. This is a loosely structured collection of vignettes and stories. (VNM32, $13.95)
A Viet Cong Memoir  •  Truang Nhu Tang BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1986 •  PAPER  • 350 PAGES A candid, revealing story of a revolutionary life, wonderfully free of cant. This telling memoir by the former Viet Cong Minister of Justice, now living in exile in Paris, gives a detailed report from the inside, as much about his life as about the Viet Cong campaign. Not only does it provide a unique perspective on the war, the book is a compelling personal tale. (VNM11, $15.95)
Vietnam Map  •  ITMB 2000 •  MAP A sturdy, double-sided map of Vietnam, at a good scale (1:1,000,000). It features a few paragraphs on major attractions and city maps, including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and the Hue region. With index. (VNM05, $10.95)
Vietnam Now, A Reporter Returns  •  David Lamb CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2003 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES An insightful portrait of contemporary Vietnam by an experienced reporter (The Africans, The Arabs). The author interweaves stories of Vietnam today with his own experiences and memories as a young reporter for UPI during the war. Lamb, who reported from Vietnam in 1968, returned in 1997 as a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. (VNM47, $17.00)
Vietnam, A Book of Changes  •  Mitch Epstein CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1996 •  HARD COVER  • 176 PAGES A collection of 80 contemporary photographs that convey the dynamism of Vietnam today. These marvelous photographs capture the people and culture of a country largely cut off from the outside world for the last 30 years, a Vietnam that few have seen. Mitch Epstein, a noted cinematographer, is familiar with Asian subjects. Previous works include In Pursuit of India. (VNM06, $35.00)
Vietnam, A History  •  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. In this magisterial work, Karnow draws on interviews and archives to put the ordeal of the Vietnam war into perspective, offering clarity, analysis and focus. (VNM10, $21.00)
Vietnam: A Natural History  •  Eleanor J. Sterling  •  Martha Maud Hurley  •  Le Duc Minh  •  Joyce Ann Powzyk NATURAL HISTORY •  2007 •  PAPER  • 448 PAGES A serious, thorough study of habitats, wildlife, human influence and conservation in Vietnam, featuring a handful of color photographs (VNM85, $22.00)
When Broken Glass Floats, Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge  •  Chanrithy Him BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2001 •  PAPER  • 330 PAGES Chanrithy Him, who as a girl lost her parents and five siblings to the Khmer Rouge, explains that she wrote this moving account in an effort to "be worthy of the suffering" that she and her family endured. (CBD32, $14.95)
When Heaven and Earth Changed Places  •  Jay Wurts  •  Le Ly Hayslip BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1993 •  PAPER  • 368 PAGES The author recounts her personal experiences of the horrors of war. She maintains a profoundly humane perspective throughout her ordeals, never succumbing to the temptations of blame, self-pity or cynicism. It's a moving account of life in a Viet Cong village, struggling to survive in the Saigon black market and adjustment to life in the United States, where she founded the East Meets West Foundation. (VNM41, $16.00)
The Wisdom of the Buddha  •  Jean Boisselier RELIGION •  1994 •  PAPER  • 191 PAGES A pocket-size primer of Buddhism, this book is an illustrated history of the sixth-century Indian prince and his quest for enlightenment. With 207 illustrations, 160 in full color. (IDA55, $12.95)
A Woman's Asia  •  Marybeth Bond ANTHOLOGY •  2005 •  PAPER  • 310 PAGES These thirty-five personal, often hilarious accounts of women's adventures from China to Sri Lanka to Turkey to Bhutan, not only illuminating the everyday, oft-overlooked cultural practices of Asia, but also giving a glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of the female traveller. Featuring selections from Jan Morris, Pamela Logan and Alison Wright. (ASA49, $17.95)