This post continues a short series about marriage traditions and my own adaptation of them for my wedding years ago. In the first and second post, I identified a few defining characteristics of Vietnamese marriage patterns and explain how those characteristics are reflected in the marriage ritual, namely, the engagement ceremony and wedding ceremony. This […]
This post continues a short series about marriage traditions and my own adaptation of them for my wedding years ago. In this post and the previous, I identify a few defining characteristics of Vietnamese marriage patterns and relate them to Vietnamese history and culture more broadly. The last post discussed patrilocal residence, bride price, and
2. WHEN HISTORIANS GET MARRIED: WHAT IS TRADITION ANYWAYS? (PART 2) Read More »
Wedding season is just around the corner in the US, and every wedding season makes me think of my own wedding years ago. I wanted my wedding to reflect Vietnamese tradition, but as a historian, I knew that there was no such thing as a single, timeless tradition and that practices change over time in
1. WHEN HISTORIANS GET MARRIED: WHAT IS TRADITION ANYWAYS? (PART 1) Read More »
I originally meant to post this on Christmas Day 2025, but my blog ran into some technical problems that took some time to resolve. What was Christmas like in the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, or South Vietnam)? Two years ago, I briefly mentioned my mother’s memories of Christmas celebrations in Saigon in the early 1970s.
CHRISTMAS IN NGÔ ĐÌNH DIỆM’S REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM Read More »
I’ve always been fascinated by the maps in academic books, but I never gave much thought to where they came from or who drew them until I wrote my first book. What I discovered was that every map in my book would require a mini-research project of its own. This post is the last one
6. ADVENTURES OF A FIRST-TIME AUTHOR: THE JOYS AND HEADACHES OF SEARCHING FOR MAPS Read More »
Whatever one’s position is on the Vietnam War, I think just about everyone would agree that the conflict remains a major topic of debate to this day. Of course, wars by their very nature tend to generate controversy, but at least for Americans and Vietnamese, this particular conflict is arguably more contentious than just about
I love looking at the photos in academic books, but I never had any idea how much work it was for authors to include them. I vaguely assumed that authors plucked these photos out of some great historical repository and then copied and pasted them into their manuscript as if they were a grad student
5. ADVENTURES OF A FIRST-TIME AUTHOR: HOW MUCH IS THAT HISTORICAL PHOTO IN THE WINDOW? Read More »
As I mentioned elsewhere, my first book was not based on the dissertation, and I actually researched and wrote it from scratch while on the tenure track. The difficulty of such a task forced me to follow a punishing writing routine and develop an effective writing process, as described in previous posts. But neither of
4. ADVENTURES OF A FIRST-TIME AUTHOR: MY WRITING STRATEGIES Read More »
“Writing is a process.” That was the mantra that was drilled into my head by countless teachers since about fifth or sixth grade. Yet it wasn’t until I wrote my first book that I developed a thoughtful, individualized writing process that worked for me. So in this post, I wanted to share my writing process,
3. ADVENTURES OF A FIRST-TIME AUTHOR: THE WRITING PROCESS Read More »
A ghost from Christmas past! That was my first thought upon laying eyes on the document. I was visiting Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, and I happened on a memo that recounted a dramatic confrontation at the Hanoi cathdral, North Vietnam, on Christmas Eve over sixty years ago. Let me back up a little
A GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST FROM HANOI, 1958 Read More »