Postcards from Nam


Book Description

Award-Winning Finalist in the Fiction: Multicultural category of the 2012 International Book Awards Mimi (the protagonist of Mimi and Her Mirror) is a successful young Vietnamese immigrant practicing law in Washington, D.C. when the postcards begin to arrive. Postmarked from Thailand, each hand-drawn card is beautifully rendered and signed simply "Nam." Mimi doesn't recognize the name, but Nam obviously knows her well, spurring her to launch what will become a decade-long quest to find him. As her search progresses, long-repressed memories begin to bubble to the surface: her childhood in 1970s Vietnam in a small alley in pre-Communist Saigon. Back then, who was her best friend as well as her brother's playmate, and what did art have anything to do with the alleys of her childhood? What was the dream of these children then? What happened when these children were separated by the end of the Vietnam war, their lives diverged onto different paths: one to freedom and opportunity, the other to tragedy and pain? Now Mimi must uncover the mystery of the postcards, including what might have happened to the people who where less fortunate: those who escaped the ravaged homeland by boat after the fall of Saigon. When the mystery is solved, Mimi has to make a resolution: what can possibly reunite the children from the alley of her childhood even when the alley exists no more?




Boring Postcards


Book Description

Martin Parr is a key figure in the world of photography and contemporary art. Some accuse him of cruelty, but many more appreciate the wit and irony with which he tackles such subjects as bad taste, food, the tourist, shopping and the foibles of the British. Parr has been collecting postcards for 20 years, and here is the cream of his collection - his boring postcards. With no introduction or commentary of any kind, Parr's boring postcards are reproduced straight. They are exactly what they say they are, namely boring picture postcards showing boring photographs of boring places, presumably for boring people to buy to send to their boring friends. All of them are shot in Britain, taking us on a boring tour of its motorways, ring roads, traffic interchanges, bus stations, pedestrian precincts, factories, housing estates, airports, caravan sites, convalescent homes and shopping centres. Some attempt to idealize their subjects, only to fail dismally. Others lack any apparent purpose or interest, but the resultant collection of photographic images is wholly compelling. Boring Postcardsis multi-layered: a commentary on British architecture, social life and identity, a record of a folk photography which is today being appropriated by the most fashionable photographers (including Parr), an exercise in sublime minimalism and, above all, a richly comic photographic entertainment.




Welcome to the ‘Nam


Book Description

When I was young, like so many other young men of my generation, I gave our country what we thought was our obligation to our country. Like the generation of our fathers and the generation that came after us. I never minded a persons belief in being against the war in Vietnam. But they forgot that the ones that served were good people too. They found us in contempt. But they were wrong. We did what this generation is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no difference. Things have changed over the years and people now thank us for our service as they do the new generation. That is nice, and should be said. The misnomer that we lost the war is not accurate. We won every major battle in Vietnam we fought. Often times out-numbered. The Communists only fought major battles when they had the advantage. The Tet offensive of 1968 hurt them severely, completely wiping out the V.C. Army and making the N.V.A. Army rebuild. If North Vietnam would have honored the peace treaty, it would have been like the Korean War with the south and the north. America did not though support South Vietnam after our troops moved out. Congress did not appropriate funds to the South Vietnamese government. But I think our country could no longer fund in money and lives. It always would come down to that. Stats of Marines in Vietnam: 26% casualty rate. Highest of any combat group in South Vietnam.




Making Sense of the Great War


Book Description

This interdisciplinary account explores how English infantrymen in Belgium and France experienced and coped with war between 1914 and 1918.




Hearings


Book Description







Let's Go Vietnam 2nd Edition


Book Description

Packed with travel information, including more listings, deals, and insider tips:CANDID LISTINGS of hundreds of places to eat, sleep, drink, and danceRELIABLE MAPS to help you get around cities, jungles, mountains, and beachesThe best VOLUNTEER, study, and work opportunities throughout VietnamTIPS for getting around, bargaining, and blending in with local customsSUGGESTED ITINERARIES for your time frame, from ten days to two monthsEXPANDED COVERAGE of the remote Northwest Highlands




Expat Journal: Postcards from the Edge


Book Description

Expat Journal: Postcards from the Edge, draws heavily from Mr. Dennstedt's travel blog of the same name. It chronicles his transition from commercial banker to expatriate and international photographer, and the events that led up to this life-altering change. Often witty and funny, it also touches on serious subjects: Death, divorce, Vietnam, Cuban cigars, Scotch Whisky, beautiful women and a little gecko named Pedro Gonzalez. It is hoped that this first volume will be part of an ongoing series.




Higher Education in Market-Oriented Socialist Vietnam


Book Description

This book inspects higher education reform in market-oriented socialist Vietnam, with a focus on newness narratives and enquiry. Engaging in dialogic conversations with global and regional forces and exploring convergences in the domains of policy, curriculum, research, pedagogy, and society, chapter authors analyse ideologies that have entered Vietnam’s educational landscape. Chapters include discussions of post-Soviet legacies, socialist thought, privatization, neoliberalism, global rankings, academic freedom, autonomy, and elitism, as well as the actors, discourses and practices through which they manifest. In so doing, authors’ commentaries juxtapose phenomena in Vietnam with other national contexts such as the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Japan, Australia, and Trinidad and Tobago.




Postcards from the Front 1914-1919


Book Description

Postcards from the Front 1914–1919 captures the essence of this medium in a unique and fascinating way, bringing to life the pathos, the trauma and the mud and the blood of Flanders and France as the embattled Tommies wrote home to their loved ones.