Vietnam: Spirits of the Earth

by Mary Cross (Photographer), Frances FitzGerald (Text by)

Overview

VIETNAM is the fruit of an unusual collaboration between noted author Frances FitzGerald (Fire in the Lake, 1972) and photojournalist Mary Cross. FitzGerald and Cross, both intimately acquainted with Vietnam, traveled there together in order to create this vivid and insightful look at Vietnam today. This is a Vietnam healed from the war, a Vietnam in which, as FitzGerald eloquently describes, traditional culture is once again alive in the villages that form its heart. The portfolio of 100 color images by Mary Cross documents the richness of the Vietnamese landscape and customs. FitzGerald and Cross explore both the accessible and the hidden facets of this complex country-from village festivals to imperial tombs, from the cities of Hanoi and Saigon to the eternal landscape of the rice paddies.

Author Biography: Frances FitzGerald is author of the award-winning bestseller, Fire in the Lake as well as America Revised, Cities on a Hill, and Way Out There in the Blue. Mary Cross, photojournalist and portrait photographer, is the author of Behind the Great Wall and Morocco.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780821227428
Publisher:	Bulfinch
Publication date:	11/09/2001
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	9.38(w) x 11.30(h) x 0.93(d)
Age Range:	13 Years

Editorial Reviews

Vietnam: Spirits of the Earth, with photos by Mary Cross and text by Frances FitzGerald, reveals the eternal Vietnam of villages and rice growing, close-knit families and religion (the old Chinese orthography denoting a village tranlates literally as spirits of the earth). Ms. Cross and Ms. FitzGerald, who won a Pulitizer Prize for her 1972 book on the Vietnam War, Fire in the Lake, made several trips to Vietnam in the 1990s and noticed a resurgence of traditional culture, despite wars and Communism. Their telling photos and commentary provide insights into Vietnamese trade, rituals, landscapes and ethnic minorities.
—Critics Choice

Stuart Fergusen