Vietnamese sources on Vietnam

Abstract

In trying to understand Vietnam and the Vietnamese people, Western readers have been dependent for the most part on only a handful of Western writers and journalists--almost none of whom have bothered to master the Vietnamese language. Actually, for many years this seemed not to discomfort either writers or readers. Among Americans in particular it might be said that a silent pact existed between specialist and audience, whereby the Vietnamese were to be regarded conveniently as objects, as ahistorical, depersonalized creatures who merited discussion only because the United States had become “involved” in the same rice paddies, rivers, and mountain tops. While the Pentagon Papers have shown us the sublime arrogance and ethnocentricity of government policy-makers, it should not be forgotten that most Americans share the same basic outlook.