Making Two Vietnams: War and Youth Identities, 1965-1975

Description

North and South Vietnamese youths had very different experiences of growing up during the Vietnamese War. The book gives a unique perspective on the conflict through the prism of adult-youth relations. By studying these relations, including educational systems, social organizations, and texts created by and for children during the war, Olga Dror analyzes how the two societies dealt with their wartime experience and strove to shape their futures. She examines the socialization and politicization of Vietnamese children and teenagers, contrasting the North's highly centralized agenda of indoctrination with the South, which had no such policy, and explores the results of these varied approaches. By considering the influence of Western culture on the youth of the South and of socialist culture on the youth of the North, we learn how the youth cultures of both Vietnams diverged from their prewar paths and from each other.

Olga Dror is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Texas A & M University.

'By focusing on 'youths', the future of a nation, and 'education', often described as a powerful weapon which can change the world, Olga Dror has opened a new window for our understanding of the Indochina wars and makes a significant contribution to the historiography of the warring years.' Ang Cheng Guan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 'By bringing to light the sharply contrasting political education and experiences of youths in the two Vietnams, Olga Dror's pathbreaking and masterful study provides a key to understanding both the secret of Hanoi's victory in the civil war and the postwar failure of communism in Vietnam.' Tuong Vu, University of Oregon '... thoughtful, extensively researched and unflinchingly presented analysis, highly recommended especially for public and college library World History collections.' Midwest Book Review Bookwatch '... Making Two Vietnams is a remarkable work. Dror has made a significant and trailblazing contribution to our understanding of the politics and practice of educating Vietnamese youth in the critical years of the Second Indochina War. Her analyses of Vietnamese schools in China and of hippie culture in the RVN break substantial new ground. One hopes that her work will spark further interest in pursuing the comparative social and cultural history of Vietnam during this critical period.' Wynn Gadkar-Wilcox, H-Diplo '... Making Two Vietnams is an extraordinary work ... [Dror's] energetic and imaginative research has resulted in a book that deserves to be widely read.' Patricia Pelley, Cross-Currents