Duiker's Biography of Ho Chi Minh
Stephen Denney <sdenney@uclink4.berkeley.edu> wrote:
I am curious, was William Duiker's biography of Ho Chi Minh legally published in Vietnam? I remember he disagreed with the desire of the Vietnam publisher to excise certain portions of the book, but don't know if this was ever resolved.
- Steve Denney
From: VSG-owner@u.washington.edu [mailto:VSG-owner@u.washington.edu]
On
Behalf Of Chuck Searcy
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 4:15 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group
Subject: Re: Duiker's biography of Ho Chi Minh
Steve,
As far as I know Duiker's biography of Ho is not available in bookstores here, although usually such publications are easily acquired if one goes looking. Although the book was quite instructive for me, I can understand why some Vietnamese, officially and unofficially, find portions of it not to their liking, such as references to Ho's private life and possible offspring (spoken of in street conversations here, but quietly and not judgementally, never a subject for public discourse), and the apparently heavy influence from the Chinese before and during the war, which certainly would not be palatable to government officials or most ordinary Vietnamese.
By the way, regarding restrictions on publications, once an issue of Far Eastern Economic Review contained a story about the Prime Minister's disagreement with the official government policy of combatting "social evils" and when I purchased the magazine, that page was cut out. I went back to the magazine vendor, he took one look and said, "Ah, no problem" and reached under the counter and pulled out a photocopy of the missing page.
Chuck Searcy
CHUCK SEARCY, Vietnam Representative
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) / Vietnam Enterprise Group (VEG)
25 Truong Han Sieu / Hanoi, Vietnam
844 943 8061 tel / 844 943 8062 fax / 849 03 420 769 mobile
chucksearcy@yahoo.com
From steve_leisz@yahoo.com Thu Apr 15 10:47:30 2004
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 19:48:00 +0700
From: Stephen J. Leisz <steve_leisz@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: Duiker's biography of Ho Chi Minh
Dear Chuck,
I had a similar thing happen to me in December 1999 when Time Magazines
issue with short stories on the 50 most important individuals in the
20th century came out. The page on HCM was missing. The same was true
of the issue that I'd read in the Metropole (it had been cut out). I
asked the street seller if he had a copy with the story on Ho and he
pulled out a photocopy and sold it to me separate from the magazine.
Sadly, those street sellers of magazines on Trang Tien seem to have
all disappeared. At first I thought it was due to the SEA Games, but
they still are not back...
Stephen J. Leisz
From grusl@fpt.vn Thu Apr 15 10:47:37 2004
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 21:21:30 +0700
From: George W. Russell <grusl@fpt.vn>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: Duiker's biography of Ho Chi Minh
At least two magazine sellers on the north side of Trang Tien, nearest
the
lake, were definitely in business late this morning (10/02/2004).
-------------------------------------------
George W. Russell - Editor & Writer
23B Xom Ha Hoi, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
Tel: +84(4)822-8288 Mobile: +84(91)355-4855
Fax: +84(4)928-3484 Email: GRUSL@hn.vnn.vn
From steve_leisz@yahoo.com Thu Apr 15 10:48:56 2004
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 09:59:07 +0700
From: Stephen Leisz <steve_leisz@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: Duiker's biography of Ho Chi Minh
Thanks, I'll check them out. I'd gone by occasionally since right before X-mas till two weeks ago and not seen any of the magazine sellers (on the north side of Trang Tien) who I usually bought magazines from. However, since I work outside Hanoi, I was not going by till about 6 pm. So they could have closed up by then. Another friend of mine had had the same experience between X-mas and Tet and his driver reported not being able to find any of the sellers either. Good to know that they're open again, if they had been closed down.
Stephen J. Leisz