1945: Subtext

Subtext

Ministry of National Defense Institute of Military History. Trinh Vuong Hong 2006. Ho Chi Minh: Thought on the Military. The Gioi Publishers. Hanoi.

This novel describes the military and political development of Ho Chi Minh. His studies in France, the Soviet Union, and China influenced his ideas and fostered the man that helps define a nation. Ho took ideas and customs from all these countries to build a new nation in Vietnam. Ho focused militarily on the people. He believed that if a people were organized and had the desire to gain independence they could succeed over any oppressor. Ho also realized that the people were the only means to gain independence in Vietnam. For any individual wanting to follow the military and political growth of Ho Chi Minh would find this novel intriguing and inspirational.

Borton, Lady. 2007. Ho Chi Minh: A Journey. The Gioi Publishers. Hanoi.

Ho Chi Minh led a fascinating life. From his birth to all the nations that he traveled to Ho was a worldly and scholarly man. Many people, especially in the West, view Ho Chi Minh as a tunnel digging little Vietnamese Communist. This is far from the truth; Ho spoke many languages, studied various religions, and understood various cultures. Many Americans would be amazed to read this book and find that Ho worked at a hotel in the United States and admired America. The captivating aspect of this text is the pictures. There are photographs of Ho with various famous individuals, poems, and his personal writings. Not a large text in itself, the book wonderfully lays out a chronological depiction of Ho Chi Minh’s life.

Barholomew-Feis, Dixee R. 2006. The OSS and Ho Chi Minh: Unexpected Allies in the War against Japan. University Press of Kansas. Kansas, MO

For the regular American it would be a surprise to realize how much the United States aided the Communist Vietnamese and Ho Chi Minh during World War II. If one would read this novel and see how much Ho admired America and the United States intelligence agencies the relationship with the two countries could have been different during the cold war. The United States intelligence agency the OSS, which is the precursor to the CIA, helped the Vietnamese with strategy and military intelligence that helped to aid the Vietnamese in their struggle for independence.

Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri. 2002. Cloak and Dollar: A History of American Secret Intelligence. Yale University. New Haven and London.

The history of the American intelligence agencies is a web of underhandedness, lies, brilliant individuals, short-sidedness, and an unthinkable amount of money. The American government has financed military and political dissention on every continent in the world. The truth about many of these operations will never really be known. There has been success in the history of the intelligence agencies. But, the mistakes cost thousands of lives and in the case of Vietnam, Iran, and many other countries led to war and the backing of tyrannical individuals.

The Vietnamese August Revolution Reinterpreted. Huynh Kim Khanh. The Journal of Asian Studies. Vol. 30, No. 4 (August 1971). pp. 761-782. Association of Asian Studies.

Many scholars agree that August 1945 is the most important month in Vietnam’s history. The events that took place that month shaped the country into what it is today. The acts of the Communist party during this revolution were the key actor in Vietnam’s struggle for independence. This text argue that the Communist were the reason that Vietnam was victorious over the colonial oppressors.