Preparing a trip well means, of course, building a tailor-made itinerary, but it also means taking the time to learn more about the destination you are about to discover, its history and its culture.
While waiting to receive plenty of insights from your local guides, it can be rewarding to approach a trip to Vietnam by reading a few books or watching some films and documentaries beforehand.
To help you choose your reading and viewing, we have put together this selection with our own notes and recommendations, organized by theme so you can pick what interests you most.
And if these stories spark a desire to explore Vietnam for yourself, our local, French-speaking agency will help turn this cultural discovery into an authentic journey across the country.
What to read about Vietnam?
Five themes stand out for readers wanting to understand Vietnam: general history, the Vietnam War, Viet Kieu memoirs of return, contemporary Vietnam, and essays.
1. History books
Christopher Goscha, Vietnam: A New History, Basic Books, 2016
Widely regarded as the best single-volume history of modern Vietnam in English, praised by the Wall Street Journal and the Guardian. Goscha traces Vietnam story on its own terms, well beyond its relationship with France or the United States, from precolonial times to today. A comprehensive yet very readable starting point.
Ben Kiernan, Viet Nam: A History from Earliest Times to the Present, Oxford University Press, 2017
A sweeping account stretching from prehistory to the 21st century, notable for weaving in environmental and linguistic history alongside the political one. A great choice if you want the deep, long view of the country before diving into more specific periods.
2. Books on the Vietnam War
Stanley Karnow, Vietnam: A History, Viking Press, 1983
Drawing on his own years covering the war for Time and NBC News, Karnow delivers what is still considered one of the most comprehensive histories of the conflict ever written, pairing on-the-ground reporting with sweeping historical context.
Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried, Houghton Mifflin, 1990
A modern classic and a staple of English literature classes, this collection of linked short stories blurs fiction and memoir to capture the physical and emotional weight carried by American soldiers. Widely considered one of the finest literary works to come out of the war.
Michael Herr, Dispatches, Alfred A. Knopf, 1977
A fragmented, visceral memoir by a war correspondent who reported from Khe Sanh and Hue during some of the conflict most brutal battles. The prose style itself became legendary, influencing generations of war writing.
Graham Greene, The Quiet American, William Heinemann, 1955
Almost certainly the most famous novel ever set in Vietnam, thanks in part to its film adaptations. Published in 1955, it plunges readers into 1952 Saigon, where political stakes and a love triangle intertwine against the backdrop of the last years of French rule.
3. Viet Kieu memoirs: returning to the homeland
“Viet Kieu” refers to overseas Vietnamese, many of whom left as refugees after 1975. These memoirs explore what it means to return to a homeland that has changed — and to be seen there as both an insider and an outsider.
Andrew X. Pham, Catfish and Mandala, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999
The quintessential book in this category. After his sister death, Pham quits his job and cycles from California to Vietnam, confronting his family war trauma and the strange experience of being seen as “too Vietnamese” in America and “too American” in Vietnam. Honest, vivid, and often very moving.
Le Ly Hayslip, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, Doubleday, 1989
A powerful and painful autobiography of a woman who survived imprisonment, assault and poverty during the war before eventually rebuilding her life in the United States. A true lesson in resilience, later adapted into Oliver Stone film of the same name.
Nguyen Qui Duc, Where the Ashes Are, Addison-Wesley, 1994
One of the earliest Vietnamese American memoirs, tracing a family journey of separation and eventual return. The author later moved back to Hanoi, where he opened Tadioto, one of the city best-known bars — well worth a visit if you enjoyed the book.
4. Contemporary Vietnam
Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer, Grove Press, 2015
Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, this genre-bending novel follows a communist double agent embedded within the South Vietnamese military as he flees to the US after the fall of Saigon. Part spy thriller, part political satire, it is widely considered one of the most important Vietnamese American novels ever written (also adapted into an HBO series).
Thi Bui, The Best We Could Do, Abrams ComicArts, 2017
An illustrated graphic memoir tracing one family escape from 1970s Vietnam, told through the eyes of a new mother reflecting on her own parents’ journey. Intimate, visually striking, and an easy entry point if you prefer graphic storytelling.
GB Tran, Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey, Villard, 2011
Another acclaimed graphic memoir, spanning three generations of one family across war, exile and reconciliation. A visually rich way to understand how the past continues to shape Vietnamese families today, both at home and abroad.
5. Essays
Viet Thanh Nguyen, Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War, Harvard University Press, 2016
A finalist for the National Book Award, this essay examines how the war is remembered, and misremembered, on both sides of the Pacific. A thought-provoking companion piece to Nguyen’s fiction, for readers who want to go deeper into questions of memory and identity.
Thich Nhat Hanh, No Mud, No Lotus, Parallax Press, 2014
Not a book about Vietnam itself, but a set of essays by the country most influential Zen master and peace activist, on transforming suffering into peace. A gentle introduction to Buddhist thought that will enrich any visit to Vietnam pagodas and temples.
What to watch about Vietnam?
From Hollywood classics on the war to acclaimed Vietnamese arthouse cinema, here is our pick of films worth watching before, or during, your trip.
American films on the Vietnam War
The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino, 1978
The first major American film to tackle the war, released just three years after the withdrawal of US troops. It captures the brutality of wartime with a rawness that made it an instant classic, both cinematically and culturally.
Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola, 1979
Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1979, this is less a historical account than a loose adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, using Vietnam as a backdrop for a descent into chaos and madness.
Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Heaven & Earth (1993), Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone’s celebrated Vietnam trilogy. Platoon depicts the abuses and violence of the American war effort from the ground level. Born on the Fourth of July follows a patriotic soldier who returns paraplegic and questions everything he once believed. Heaven & Earth, an adaptation of Le Ly Hayslip’s memoir, tells the story from a Vietnamese point of view.
Films by Vietnamese directors
The Scent of Green Papaya (1993), Cyclo (1995), The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000), Tran Anh Hung
A trilogy by Tran Anh Hung, a Vietnamese director based in France since 1975. The Scent of Green Papaya, slow and poetic, follows a young servant girl in a wealthy 1950s Saigon household. Cyclo plunges into 1990s Ho Chi Minh City through the eyes of a young man after his cyclo is stolen. The Vertical Ray of the Sun follows three sisters over one humid Hanoi summer, often considered the best of the three.
Three Seasons, Tony Bui, 1999
The first American film shot on Vietnamese soil since the end of the war, following three characters in Ho Chi Minh City across three seasons, capturing a city caught between tradition and modernity in the early 2000s.
Song Lang, Leon Le, 2018
Set in 1990s Saigon, this beautifully crafted film follows the unlikely bond between a debt collector and a traditional opera singer, built around their shared love of the song lang, a traditional instrument. Available on Netflix.
Furie, Le Van Kiet, 2019
A high-octane Vietnamese revenge thriller about a mother, a former gang leader turned debt collector, who fights to rescue her daughter from traffickers. A big-budget Vietnamese production tackling a serious issue: child trafficking to China. Available on Netflix.
Rom, Tran Thanh Huy, 2019
One of the most powerful films of contemporary Vietnamese cinema. A young boy selling lottery tickets in a debt-ridden apartment building gets caught in a spiral of rivalry and violence. Its theatrical release in Vietnam was delayed for months due to the intensity of certain scenes.
Documentaries about Vietnam
The Vietnam War, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, 2017
The most comprehensive documentary ever made on the subject: 10 episodes, over 17 hours in total. The first episode lays the groundwork with events from 1858 to 1961, and each following episode details the war in depth. Its strength lies in interviewing 79 witnesses from both sides for a balanced perspective. Available on Netflix.
Oh Saigon, Doan Hoang, 2007
An intimate, autobiographical documentary about a Vietnamese American family split between those who fled and those who stayed. The director turns the camera on her own relatives, both in the US and in Vietnam.
You now have plenty to read and watch to prepare for your trip!
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