Hope and Vanquished Reality

About the Book

The author writes that from his personal perspective this book is about hope. But it is also about a complex of historical, tumultuous, tragic and hopeful events that were not only played out in Viet-Nam but also on the world stage, in which he became a participant, from the time of the 1960s. The book is organized into Prologue, eleven chapters, and an Epilogue that relate historical events after which the author then forms conceptions related to hope. At the end of each chapter are "codas" which emerged as reflections-even meditations-on hope as the author was in the process of writing the book. At the end of the book are sections with a glossary of abbreviations, biographical data on both Vietnamese and foreign persons referred to in the book, and an annotated history of Viet-Nam from the time of 2879 B.C. to the present.

About the Author

Nguyen Xuan Phong, a South Vietnamese, was educated in Paris, London and Oxford University as an economist and began his career in private industry in Saigon in 1960. From 1965 to 1975, he served in cabinet-level functions in the Saigon government, and was Minister-of-State in Charge of Negotiations at the Paris peace talks in April 1975 when South Vietnam’s political regime collapsed. He returned to Saigon five days before its occupation by North Vietnamese forces, and was imprisoned for reeducation until 1980 in North Vietnam. He now lives in Viet-Nam and is engaged in a variety of development projects.