When he was a student in Paris, Trương Như Tảng met Ho Chi Minh. Later he fought in the Vietnamese jungle and emerged as one of the major figures in the “fight for liberation”—and one of the most determined adversaries of the United States. He became the Vietcong’s Minister of Justice, but at the end of the war he fled the country in disillusionment and despair. He now lives in exile in Paris, the highest level official to have defected from Vietnam to the West. This is his candid, revealing and unforgettable autobiography.
"I just finished listening to "A Vietcong Memoir" and was very impressed. I've been to Vietnam many times over the last 20 years and have close Vietnamese friends and have read many books about Vietnam. This book fills a big hole in the English-language literature about the history of Vietnam.
Truong Nhu Tang shows how a French-educated rich kid got radicalized by Ho Chi Minh and ended up living a dual life: an executive in major organizations, but secretly a member of the NLF. He vividly describes the brutality and corruption of South Vietnam's leaders from Diem to Thieu, which included his own torture and captivity. Released in a prisoner exchange, he goes to the jungle to help form the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG), the shadow government to replace the existing government. He describes the hell of jungle living - the worst being the B-52 carpet bombing. Once Saigon fell, he expected to be part of a new government, but the North Vietnamese jettisoned the PRG, and life in the South became hell. BTW, he was never a member of the Communist Party. The Vietcong were mainly nationalist (a united, non-colonized Vietnam), and secondarily communist. Good description of his escape by boat. He has very good insights on politics, the Paris Peace Talks, and the North/South conflict. A good writer, too. Highly recommended."
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John Atwood (5 out of 5 stars)