Binh Xuyen
From: Michele Thompson <thompsonc2@southernct.edu>
Date: Oct 6, 2006 6:38 AM
Subject: [Vsg] Binh Xuyen
Dear VSGers,
I have a student who has an interest in the Binh Xuyen. Does anyone know any articles
or books in English on this subject?
cheers
Michele
Michele Thompson
Dept. of History
Southern Connecticut State University
From: pascal bourdeaux <pascalbourdeaux@yahoo.fr>
Date: Oct 6, 2006 6:08 PM
Subject: RE : [Vsg] Binh Xuyen
For information,
I have any idea about english productions specifically on Binh Xuyen.
But there is at least 1 book in french:
Darcourt, P., Bay Vien, le maître de Cholon, Paris, Hachette, 1977
1 MA:
Hubert, P., Les Binh Xuyen, étude d’un groupement politico-militaire au Sud Vietnam (1925-
1955), Maîtrise d’Histoire, Paris VII, 1990.
Some books in vietnamese:
- Nguyen Hung, Nguoi Binh Xuyên, Hà N¶i, Nxb Công An Nhân Dân, 1998
- some productions in vietnamese published in France (biographie autobiographie de Bay Vien)
- Another really new one (forgot the name) published in Saigon. If necessary I will try to
find it.
Pascal Bourdeaux
From: Michele Thompson <thompsonc2@southernct.edu>
Date: Oct 7, 2006 5:56 AM
Subject: Re: RE : [Vsg] Binh Xuyen
Dear Pascale,
Thanks!
cheers
From: David Marr <dgm405@coombs.anu.edu.au>
Date: Oct 9, 2006 7:02 PM
Subject: Re: RE : [Vsg] Binh Xuyen
There are at least three books on the Binh Xuyen in Vietnamese that have appeared in recent
years:
Bo Doi Binh Xuyen, NXB TP Ho Chi Minh, 1991.
Lich Su Ba Ria-Vung Tau Khang Chien (1945-1975), NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1995. First part
only.
A biography of Bay Vien, by Nguyen Hung, for which I've mislaid the publishing info.
Of course these books had to go through Communist Party scrutiny, so are only useful when
placed beside outside sources for comparison.
From: Joe Hannah <jhannah@u.washington.edu>
Date: Oct 9, 2006 10:45 PM
Subject: Re: RE : [Vsg] Binh Xuyen
Bernard Fall's piece, "The Political-Religious Sects of Vietnam," in
Pacific Affairs (Sept, 1955), has a (contemporaneous) bit on the Binh
Xuyen.
Joe Hannah
Department of Geography
University of Washington (Seattle)
From: Ed Miller <Edward.G.Miller@dartmouth.edu>
Date: Oct 11, 2006 6:23 PM
Subject: RE: RE : [Vsg] Binh Xuyen
Other English-language materials on the BX include:
1. Sergei Blagov, "Honest Mistakes: The Life and Death of Trình Minh The
(1922-1955): South Vietnam's Alternative Leader) (Huntington, NY: Nova
Science Publishers, 2001).
[As the title suggests, Blagov's main interest Trinh Minh The, but he has
quite a bit of background about the sect crisis, includings some on the BX.]
2. Christopher Goscha. “A ‘popular’ side of the Vietnamese Army: General
Nguyen Binh and the Early War in the South (1910-1951).” In Le Viêt Nam
depuis 1945 : États, marges et constructions du passé. Edited by
Christopher E. Goscha and Benoît de Tréglodé. (Paris : Les Indes Savantes,
2004).
[Goscha has a lot of detail about the breakdown of the Viet Minh-Binh Xuyen
alliance in the late 1940s and Le Van Vien's subsequent ralliement to the
French.]
3. Alfred McCoy, The Politics of Heroin: CIA complicity in the Global Drug
Trade (1991).
[McCoy describes how the BX were given a monopoly on the production of
Indochina heroin in exchange for providing security in Saigon.]
The classic source on the BX is a French intelligence report authored by the
Deuxieme Bureau's A. M. Savani in the early 1950s entitled "Notes sur les
Binh Xuyen." I don't think it was ever published, but mimeographed copies
are floating around--I believe Cornell and some other libraries may have a
copy. Portions of this appeared in Savani's "Visage et images du Sud
Viet-Nam" (1955).
Ed Miller