Vietnam, Now A Reporter Returns

When he left war-ravaged Vietnam some thirty years ago, journalist David Lamb averred "I didn't care if I ever saw the wretched country again." But in 1997, he found himself living in Hanoi, in charge of theLos Angeles Times's first peacetime bureau and in the midst of a country on the move, as it progresses toward a free-market economy and divorces itself from the restrictive, isolationist policies established at the end of the war. This was a new country; inVietnam, Now, David Lamb brings it--and us--forward from its dark, distant past. From the myriad personalities entwined in the dark, distant history of the war to those focused toward the future, Lamb reveals a rich and culturally diverse people as they share their memories of the country's past, and their hopes for a peacetime future. A portrait of a beautiful country and a remarkable, determined people,Vietnam, Nowis a personal journey that will change the way we think of Vietnam, and perhaps the war as well.

David Lamb is a distinguished Los Angeles Times journalist and five-time author. He has been Nieman fellow, a Pew Fellow, and a writer-in-residence at the University of Southern California's School of Journalism.