The Evergreen Country: A Memoir of Vietnam

“In the style of a travelogue and a memoir, this elegantly written volume tells the saga of the author’s extended family from focal ancestry to the present as her family adapts to and eventually triumphs over the whirlwind of historical forces that beset Vietnam in the 20th century. Meticulously researched, written from a grassroots, personal level, Dr. Vuong-Riddick’s book captures the many cultures, legends, religions, customs, architecture, landscape, and even the sounds and aromas of a civilization that is one of the most complex in the world. Drastically different from dry political accounts of this tragic country, the reader is fêted with a unique blending of ethnic Vietnamese and Sino-Vietnamese traditions and mentality overlaid with French and American cultural influences. With its subtle and implicit contrast between Vietnamese and North American ways of life and social mores, The Evergreen Country is as much an enjoyable read for general audiences as an important reference for university courses on Southeast Asian History, Cultural and Social Anthropology, Diaspora Literature, and Asian Canadians.”