Water Buffalo Days : Growing up in Vietnam , and The Land I lost : adventures of a boy in Vietnam. By Huynh Nhuong

Water Buffalo Days describes the author's adventures with his water buffalo while he was a boy growing up in a small hamlet in the Central Highlands. It is an easy to read children's book that does a good job of showing what life, and earning a living in the Central Highlands was like before the Indochina wars. Water Buffalo Days is a touching story about a boy and his friend, a young water buffalo, and their adventures together. It painted a clear picture in my mind of the area surrounding his home, and showed how important water buffalo are to the Vietnamese.
The Land I Lost is by the author of Water Buffalo Days. It also talks about his growing up in the Central Highlands. This book goes more into his life apart from his buffalo. It talks about his life, the people in it, and the adventures of many people he knew. It is an excellent source to learn about the animals that inhabit the area near his home. From this book you learn a great deal about life, people, scenery, and animals of the Central Highlands.

Ascending Dragon by Henry Kamm

This book was written by a reporter when he Visited Vietnam in the 90's. It is a series of stories where he travels around and talks with people about the past, and about Vietnamese politics today. From this book, you can learn much about the aftereffects of the Vietnamese and Indochinese wars, the politics and economics of the country, and life there. Because he includes many quotes from people in Vietnam who he talked to, and writes his own personal experiences in the country, this book gives the reader the real feel of the country.

Children of the World: Vietnam by Patricia Norland.

This is a short children's book about Chau, an 11 year old girl living in a village just west of Ho Chi Minh City. It describes parts of her daily life, such as school, helping her mother at home, playing with her friends and sisters, and visiting Ho Chi Minh City. This book also includes facts about Vietnam. Several changes have occurred in Vietnam since this book was written in 1991, so the facts are not completely accurate, but it does a good job of depicting daily village life.

The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh

The Sorrow of War is about Kien, a North Vietnamese infantry scout who narrowly escaped death several times and was the only survivor in his platoon. This book travels through Kien's memories and nightmares of the war, and of his time with the MIA remains gathering team. It depicts Kien as a forty year old author who is struggling to come to terms with his traumatic past, to survive in the world of peace. The book travels through, as Kien's memory skips from one event to another, the last happy moments before the war, vivid memories of people fighting and dying, his remembering and believing in to see the ghosts of lost comrades, and his sad life of drunkness and lost loves after the war. The Sorrow of War is, as the title implies, a novel about the sorrow of war and the hardship of living through it. It is an adult book and contains some adult language and situations.

Books by Americans about the war