Tracing the history of the Mekong River, this book shows how its conceptualization and utilization have been transformed in modern times, and particularly during the Vietnam war when the Mekong River and Mekong Project became political pawns. Nguyen concludes by examining the continuation of some of the Project's schemes by the independent Southeast Asian countries and regional powers.

The Mekong River links together the mainland countries of Southeast Asia in a vital geographic, but also economic and political, unit. Its historical trajectory coursed through kingdoms and...

Vietnam is increasingly opening up to the West, and society is in flux between tradition and modernity, and capitalism and socialism. Americans have distanced themselves from the Vietnam War now, and Culture and Customs of Vietnam fills a need to learn about the country, which has also evolved. Readers will find that this is the only general book on Vietnamese culture in English written by specialists. McLeod and Nguyen, historians specializing in Vietnam engagingly show the various forces of Vietnamese culture in narrative chapters on the land, people, and language; history and...