Vietnam - Rising Dragon

Read this during my recent trip to Vietnam, the land, indeed, of the rising dragon. A bit dated but this book starts off with the history of the Communist Party and Vietnam in general. Everything in Vietnam is either directly or indirectly under the control of the Party so the author makes it a point that the reader understands the working of the Party. Vietnam has been trying to establish a socialist-oriented market economy (doi-moi) and from what I saw, it seems like it’s working really well. Change is hard but the society there is collectively working towards it. Everybody seems to be happy, enjoying their leisure time as a society, as you would expect in a Communist/Socialist state but perhaps that’s about as much as you can see being a visitor. The author, in the second half of the book, talks about the more pressing concerns of the Party, primarily dissent in the internet age. It ends with a brief history and current (2008ish) history of the tussles between Hanoi and Saigon (HCM) and the future ahead for Vietnam. A really good book covering a myriad of different issues concerning Vietnam and its now slow yet steady rise to the global stage.