We Are All Suspects Now: Untold Stories from Immigrant America After 9/11

Book Description

Known as Little Pakistan, the community of Midwood, Brooklyn, has suffered a remarkable exodus in the years since 9/11. One sixth of the community-20,000 people-has left in search of liberty. In an ironic reversal of the American dream, this immigrant community now lives in fear, witnessing the unjust detainment or deportation of family members, friends, and neighbors. Tram Nguyen reveals the human cost of the domestic war on terror and examines the impact of post-9/11 policies on people targeted because of immigration status, nationality, and religion. Nguyen's evocative narrative reporting-about the families, detainees, local leaders, community advocates, and others-is from those living and suffering on the front lines. We meet Mohammad Butt, who died in detention in New Jersey, and the Saleems, who flee Queens for Canada. We even follow a self-proclaimed -citizen patroller- who monitors and detains immigrants on the U.S.-Mexico border. We Are All Suspects Now, in the words of Mike Davis, takes us inside a dark world . . . where the American Dream is fast turning into a nightmare- and suggests proactive responses to stop our growing climate of xenophobia, intimidation, and discrimination.

Customer Reviews:

An Easy, Yet Informative Read.......2006-11-29

In her book, Tram Nguyen claims that there is very little room left for any infraction by someone without the legal status to be here in the US due to a post-9/11 national climate of fear and growing intolerance. She argues that there is little room left for immigrants in America to become anything more than "cardboard cutouts" simply playing a role to please their suspicious neighbors and ever more watchful government. She claims that the American political imagination has shifted so far to the right that people without status who have a certain profile must work harder and harder to earn and deserve their place in society: they must prove to everyone else why they should not be suspected, jailed, and eventually shipped away (in other words, guilty until proven innocent). Not only that, the book also discusses how recent security concerns have been used as a justification for the US government to display increased racial and cultural discrimination in areas of long-standing concern to civil rights advocates; such as housing and jobs. There are no exceptions to the argument presented, any and all immigrants, and especially communities of immigrants have been affected in the post-9/11 national security frenzy. Somalis, Haitians, Pakistanis, Mexicans, and more, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, have all been targeted by recent policies. While several scholars and others have so far explored the legal and constitutional ramifications of the war on terror, this book takes a different, ground-level, view of how these national and local policies affect the individuals, families, and communities themselves - the real effects of such policies on our neighbors. Most importantly, the author argues that with hindsight, racial and ethnic scapegoating in response to crisis is by and large viewed as unjust and inexcusable. The author asks readers: Will the war on terrorism redefine the meaning of who belongs in America?
The claim that America has been putting every immigrant and foreigner in the USA under suspicion post-9/11 is backed up in this book by several firsthand stories and conversations. Also, at the end of the book there is an appendix which is titled "2001-2004: A time line of major events and policies affecting immigrants and civil liberties", which briefly describes over 100 policies and events which have directly affected immigrants, their families, and their communities since the September 11 World Trade Center attacks. Policies and events included are Secret Proceedings, the USA Patriot Act, Military Tribunals, Indefinite Detentions, INS Restructuring, and the new Department of Homeland Security, among others. The firsthand stories alone are not enough for me to deem this book effective in its claim that all immigrants and foreigners are living a suspected and frightened existence in America. However, the time line appendix in combination with these stories does make it an effective and worthwhile portrait in my mind. This book was not made to dryly describe policy and legalities, it was written to get readers, fellow Americans, to feel sympathy and outrage at what has been going on to our immigrant neighbors. To me, I did end up fully feeling this sympathy and outrage to the fullest upon finishing the book.
The author points out alternative arguments in a few instances that the attack on immigrant civil rights is not new in the post-9/11 era, but only grossly exaggerated and magnified. She cites the war on drugs which racially profiled men and women of color in the 1980's, as well as the continued conflict over the US-Mexico border in the southwest, especially California, throughout the 1990's and today. Other evidence cited that the new post-9/11 policies are just magnified excuses for increased racial profiling and suspicion enacted by policies of the last two decades, including the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which both expanded grounds for deportation to include over fifty categories of crimes and made detention and deportation mandatory minimum sentences (both signed by Clinton in 1996). These are just a few instances painting a picture of what the author feels is wrong with the United States immigration policy and treatment in general going back much further than the crisis following September 11, and will keep going on much longer afterward.
Closing with: "What the detained and deported have to teach us is the lesson of the most disenfranchised of this state. How we treat the people nobody wants to defend, America's least wanted, tells us much about the ability of this system to uphold a free and democratic equal society", Nguyen's book was the most convincing argument I have read since 9/11 that shows me the injustices of a society living in fear of "terrorists", which I just see as a fear of different cultures. The Civil Rights Act may have been passed in the 1960's, but now it seems as if we are just a nation going back in time and breaking promises that have been made for civil liberties for all inhabitants of our country. The book has opened my eyes ever wider to the fact that old and discredited ideas about race, ethnicity, and culture are rapidly rising. The narratives and interviews pulled at my emotions, making me ask myself over and over again, "How can we treat people so inhumanely?" While the ending time line made me ask "How did these policies all get passed without any sort of a public outcry for justice?" Overall, We Are All Suspects Now has earned my respect as being a wonderful and straightforward book that can pull in and eventually open anyone's eyes (even those who normally don't like to read) to the current culture crisis which is now facing the US.

We are all suspects now.......2006-11-27

In the book We are all Suspects Now written by Tram Nguyen, she explains the untold tales of immigrant life in the United States after what happened on September 11th. People of Somali, Muslim, Arab, and South Asian decent tell their stories of detainment, deportation, and discrimination through out all areas of North America crushing their hopes and dreams of a better life for many immigrants in this country.
Nguyen begins her focus of We are all Suspects Now by explaining the happy lives most immigrants had living in the United States. She further explains that many immigrated to the U.S. fleeing poverty and harsh treatments in their homelands or for a better life. The U.S. is where they could fulfill the American dream. Many immigrants came just to work and send money back to their families across sea. Others found good jobs and a safe place to raise their families. These stories of their "dream" land continued on until September 11th. This crises threw the U.S. into a period of discrimination and racial slander not only from ordinary American citizens but also from American government. From then on immigrants lives have been changed and mainly not for the better.
Within a period of about two months after the 9/11 attacks, more than 1,200 immigrants were unfairly detained as "suspects" to the attack with no proof to even convict them. The way that Nguyen explains how these immigrants were detained was very disturbing to me because I was not aware of many of the actions taken, or situations these people were put in until after I had read his book. For example, Nguyen gives details of how they were not even told most of the time that they were being detained or even given the right to an attorney. This lead to many people just "disappearing" in the eyes of their family members and friends. Next the U.S. government took this process a step further by requiring men 16 and older to register in order to find out which immigrants had been living in the U.S. illegally with no green cards or visas.
I believe that Nguyen is an inspiring writer because of the many issues she talks about. She rises above many people by telling these immigrants stories, including people such as Mohommad Butt who have died during this struggling period in American history. Mohommad Butt was the first person to die during detainment and Nguyen recognizes that in her book by making him a hero along with other immigrants of their time. She also includes tales of immigrant leaders who rose above to guide other immigrants to do the right thing in order to prevent deportation and detainment. She even included the harsh trips to Canada when fleeing the United States and how they were sent right back after spending their lives savings to reach this "safe haven."
Nguyen uses these examples along with many others to explain the tragedies occurring to US immigrants after September 11th. She tells her story in such a way that it is almost unbelievable what happened to many of these immigrants. Nguyen not only uses facts against the US but also sympathizes somewhat for the US, giving the reader a better understanding of both sides of the story. To do this she explains that many of these immigrants that were deported had legitimate reasons to be according to United States laws. Many of them were illegal immigrants or had expired visas. Immigrants may have gotten away with this for some time, but it was against the US law so the government was in many ways just enforcing these laws in a stronger way. Nguyen only went so far with this idea because in her writing I believe people are able to understand that these situations could have been handled in a better way. Nguyen also makes us aware that many people were fleeing the borders of Mexico into the United States causing many problems with drug dealing and violence. The people living there, American or not, had to deal with these issues in a very uncomfortable manner including encounters with minutemen and small citizen made "militias" attacking not only the trespassers in their front yards, but them as well.
Nguyen is a very strong writer because of her truthfulness as shown above. In my opinion I feel like Nguyen is a very convincing and relatable writer. She uses very realistic and relevant information throughout her book, which after reading I felt like was not exaggerated or overwhelming. When I first started reading this book I thought it was going to be similar to a dull history novel, but after I started reading more into it, I began to enjoy it more and learned a great deal about the subject of United States immigrants. I thought it was mainly going to be about things I had already known about 9/11, but everything I learned was knew to me. For example, I did not know that the government was being so harsh and racist against these groups of people and was shocked by most of it. These people were just trying to support their families and strive for a better life while America was racially discriminating against them just because of their race and culture. I believe that Nguyen is trying to get this point across in her writing so more people can be aware of these situations and they do not happen again in the future.
Over all, this book was very informative and interesting to me. I learned a lot of information about immigrant life in America. I was very much appalled at the way in which the United States citizens and government handle situations after September 11th. From the stories Nguyen explained I realized that I was somewhat naive and unaware to these situations as I'm sure many others were too.

Immigration, asylum and criminal policies .......2006-06-21

WE ARE ALL SUSPECTS NOW: UNTOLD STORIES FROM IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES AFTER 9/11 is essential reading for any who would understand the changed lives of immigrants in the U.S. after the event. It gathers the personal stories of communities affected by post-9/11 tension and threats to civil liberties, examining immigration, asylum and criminal policies and how these have affected thousands of immigrants past and present. Changes to these policies reflect a shift to the right - and a shift in how immigrant communities are surveyed and managed.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Immigrant Stories After 9/11.......2006-05-09

This book is a collection of stories of prejudice, discrimination and racial profiling brought on by events and government policies after the September 11th attacks on the United States. It explains what some of these immigrants went through both before and after the attacks of September 11th. The author does a good job explaining the unjust detainment and sometimes even the deportment of immigrants around the country.
This book describes in relatively good detail, how these people were living before and after the events and policies after September 11th. It goes into detail on how most of the immigrants had a relatively good life while trying to achieve the American dream. These people had jobs and they were making enough money to live and to send to their families in their own countries. Most of them saved to bring their families to America so they could leave the poverty, war and oppression of their home countries. This all changed on September 11th 2001.
Within the next two months, the government conducted what was called the September 11th roundup. This is when they detained more than twelve hundred Muslim, Arab and South Asian men who were possible terrorist suspects. These men were not given attorneys or told why they were being detained. None of the men that were detained were found of aiding terrorism. This was just the start of the policies that made immigrants fearful that they might be deported from the country they loved back to the country they feared.
The government also had new policies like special registrations that forced men who were sixteen or older to register with the government. This lead to an extremely large number went through deportation hearings and many also were detained. This policy seemed like it was meant to get rid of the immigrants whose visas and green cards were already expired. This would mean that they would go through deportation hearings and most likely would be deported. Most people did not want to register because they knew what was going to happen but one way or another, they would be found out and most likely deported. This was also a tragic thing to happen to a family. It would mean that the man would have to leave his family who were still living in the U.S. It was made even harder because the family would often have to follow the man because they really had no choice in the matter. They would have no money if the male had to leave the country.
There were also some really awful things that were done to the detainees in the prisons. They were not allowed to make any phone calls, not even to their families. Most people were denied the use of a lawyer. They tended to set bail at a high price so the detainees would not be able to get out of jail. If they did have the money, it was hard to tell your family because you were not allowed phone calls and they also moved the detainees all over the place to different locations, sometimes even multiple locations in one day. There were some bad things that were done to the prisoners and I wish that I could say that they were done for a reason but I can't see any logical reason to do any of these things to those people.
The issue that I think is the most severe is the border patrol issue. As an American, I think that it is very alarming that people can just about come into the U.S. from Mexico unnoticed. This seems like it makes us even more susceptible to many different kinds of terrorist threats and should probably be treated as so. If all these migrants can cross the border without being caught, then why couldn't a terrorist? Although the only places where they can cross are in either mountain or desert areas where many people die just trying to have a little piece of the life that we have. In some way it makes me respect and understand just how lucky I really am and how much more worse off I could be.
There is also another part to the story of many immigrants just trying to make it in the free world. There are plenty of immigrants who were forced to seek asylum in Canada because they heard their asylum laws were not as strict as the U.S. and they did not want to register in the U.S. But the laws in Canada were about to change. The U.S. and Canada had both worked together to create similar laws to protect the border. So most of the time when the immigrants made it to the border, the Canadian government would take them right back to the United States. I don't exactly know how I am supposed to feel about this situation. I realize that all these people want is a home but the sudden rush of people trying to get asylum hearings was just not going to happen during these hard times.
This was a very intrusting and enlightening book for me to read. I feel extreme sadness and sympathy for the people who were wrongfully affected by the procedures of these policies that were implemented by the United States government after the tragedy of September 11th. Although I think that for the most part, these procedures needed to be put into effect. Something needed to be done to help prevent another tragedy from occurring, especially on our own soil. These policies are by no means perfect but they are a large stepping-stone for us to start on.

Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram

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A tender and wise book
A view of military medicine from the other side
Timeless Concerns
A memoir about war for all to learn from
deep diary

Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram
Dang Thuy Tram
Manufacturer: Harmony
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0307347370
Release Date: 2007-09-11

Book Description

At the age of twenty-four, Dang Thuy Tram volunteered to serve as a doctor in a National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) battlefield hospital in the Quang Ngai Province. Two years later she was killed by American forces not far from where she worked. Written between 1968 and 1970, her diary speaks poignantly of her devotion to family and friends, the horrors of war, her yearning for her high school sweetheart, and her struggle to prove her loyalty to her country. At times raw, at times lyrical and youthfully sentimental, her voice transcends cultures to speak of her dignity and compassion and of her challenges in the face of the war’s ceaseless fury.

The American officer who discovered the diary soon after Dr. Tram’s death was under standing orders to destroy all documents without military value. As he was about to toss it into the flames, his Vietnamese translator said to him, “Don’t burn this one. . . . It has fire in it already.” Against regulations, the officer preserved the diary and kept it for thirty-five years. In the spring of 2005, a copy made its way to Dr. Tram’s elderly mother in Hanoi. The diary was soon published in Vietnam, causing a national sensation. Never before had there been such a vivid and personal account of the long ordeal that had consumed the nation’s previous generations.

Translated by Andrew X. Pham and with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize winner Frances FitzGerald, Last Night I Dreamed of Peace is an extraordinary document that narrates one woman’s personal and political struggles. Above all, it is a story of hope in the most dire of circumstances—told from the perspective of our historic enemy but universal in its power to celebrate and mourn the fragility of human life.

Customer Reviews:

A tender and wise book.......2007-09-30

This is a poignant and sad book. The perspective, the daily survival experience of a guerrilla force fighting a technologically sophisticated army, is unique in literature. This perspective obviously speaks to many similar experiences around the world (Chechyna, Iraq, Timor, South Sudan, etc.) --that reaches beyond the political labels that get attached to the various partisans.

Yes, the book is somewhat tendentious and overwritten but that is the charm of the honesty of her writing. After all, she was not writing for us, she was writing for herself about her lost love, the sexual tensions in medicine, the fear, the fatigue, the disappointments both political and medical. The reader should accept this voice as one might listen to any young person coming and talking about how confused this crazy destructive madness is. And yet, despite her voice--here is a barely trained doctor--operating without infrastructure, making medical judgments far beyond her experience and training. In this sense, she is older than most of us.

A view of military medicine from the other side.......2007-09-29

Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram
Two years ago my colleagues at the Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi gave me a copy of the recently published diary of Dang Thuy Tram. It was apparent that they were very moved by the contents of that diary. Unfortunately for me, the diary was written in Vietnamese. I could do little more that wait for a translation of the text.
Working and teaching at the Bach Mai Hospital Department of Intensive Care Medicine since 1997, I knew why I was given the copy of the diary. During my association with my Vietnamese colleagues, I had often lamented that unlike American military physicians, Vietnamese military physicians didn't write about their military medicine experiences. A frequent response to my queries had been that the experiences of Vietnamese physicians in the wars were so difficult, so harsh and so painful, over such extended periods, that Vietnamese physicians who survived the conflicts didn't wish to recall those devastating hardships. I tried to point this out in my recently published book - A DOCTOR'S VIETNAM JOURNAL, and credit the brave physicians who labored for the other side.
The recent arrival of the translation of the diary of Dang Thuy Tram - LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE, provides us with the story of a young female physician's personal hardships and struggles to provide medical care under extremely difficult conditions and with inadequate resources. Like most military physicians working with patients in battle-zone settings, the respect, gratitude and in her case, the love of her patients, appeared to carry her through the most difficult times.
This brave and compassionate young lady suffered much during the two years of her military service, which ended with her own traumatic death.
Fortunately, her story survives through her diary which introduces us to a noble, idealistic and heroic young physician.

Timeless Concerns.......2007-09-24

Read LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE, keeping in mind her words are from a diary, not an edited book. Dang Thuy Tram says her diary "... is not only for my private life. It must also record the lives of my people and their innumerable sufferings, these folks of steel from this Southern land." Her latter purpose is apparent when she quotes Party (communist) rhetoric as she scolds herself for acknowledging her "natural" feelings of loneliness, fear, sadness, confusion, self doubt, pride, love, and so on. Why should she complain when her countrymen are dying for the cause? She doesn't want to appear less than fully vested in the "revolution" against U.S. presence, which indicates it's clear her diary could be read at any time. (Unfortunately, lack of privacy is the reason most people who write in diaries censor what they say.)

Tram speaks for many young women when she asks Who am I? and What do I have to do to be accepted and respected? or What is the proper way to express love? She was a doctor who treated soldiers and civilians in South Vietnam in the late 1960s, but she could have just as easily been in Iraq in 2006. Her universal concerns are what kept me reading the book.

Tram's "flowery literary style" is irritating but tolerable, because, as the translator notes, that was the "style of her era."

Please note the book design: Beautiful cover. The end sheets are pages from Tram's diary, and the title page features a design from a bookmark in her possession when she was killed.

A memoir about war for all to learn from.......2007-09-18

(Translated from the original Vietnamese by Andrew X. Pham)

April 8, 1968 is the first date in the diary of Dr. Dang Thuy Tram, a lovely, twenty-five year-old woman from Hanoi, who works as the chief medical officer in a field hospital in the mountains of central Vietnam. It is only two months after the Tet offensive and while hers is a civilian facility, she also treats many wounded soldiers.

Her first entry describes an appendectomy, "Operated on one case of appendicitis with inadequate anesthesia. I had only a few meager vials of Novocain to give the soldier, but he never groaned once during the entire procedure. He even smiled to encourage me."

Under conditions that were much less than optimal, she strives to give her patients the care she feels they deserve for devoting their lives to the cause of Vietnamese reunification under the banner of Ho Chi Minh's Party. In North Vietnam, she grew up in a somewhat privileged family and thus works extra hard to become a Party member. Yet she doesn't give up on the literature and music she was raised with. During nights in underground shelters, waiting for the end of American bombing raids, she discusses the works of Russian novelists with some of her friends. Her diary contains quotes from some of those works as well as quotations from well-known Vietnamese poetry.

Thuy, as she refers to herself, writes poignantly about the soldiers and villagers that she encounters. She also is very real in her musings about her own life - how she misses her parents and sisters who are still back in Hanoi, about her struggle to maintain proper sisterly affection for the young men who profess to love her. She seems naïve about love while harboring a passionate hatred for the Americans who are destroying her country and killing and maiming so many of her countrymen.

This book is not easy. The names and places are difficult to remember. Thuy Tram does not survive the war. This diary was found by an American soldier and returned to her family in March 2005. It was published in Hanoi in July 2005 and surprised everyone by being a major bestseller.

Andrew X. Pham enlisted the help of his father, who grew up in Hanoi, as well as Thuy's sister Kim Tram, to translate this book as accurately as possible. It also includes family pictures.

Armchair Interviews says: A vivid point of view written by a very sympathetic person.

deep diary.......2007-09-12

In 1968 in a Viet Nam twenty-four years old Dr. Dang Thuy Tram joined the Viet Cong as a physician at a battlefield hospital. In 1970 American soldiers shot and killed her. In those two years that she served as a battlefield doctor, she kept a diary. Military Intelligence officer Fred Whitehurst found the tattered hand sewn journal in 1970; preserved it (against orders); and eventually in 2005 presented it to Dr. Tram's dairy to her family.

The diary is a deep look at the destructive impact of the Viet Nam war on the country and its people from the perspective of a young medical volunteer who was zealous towards healing her patients. Dr. Dang Thuy Tram provides insight into the horrors of war as she struggles with saving lives and not having great success. Although difficult to read at times as this is a journal filled with short concise commentary (remember this was not intended to be published as a book three decades later), LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE is a powerful indictment of those who rush others to war from a safe distance as the innocent suffer for years afterward.

Harriet Klausner

Haynes General Motors Chevrolet Lumina APV Oldsmobile Silhouette Pontiac Trams S[prt 1990 thru 1996 (Haynes Manuals)

Average customer rating:

Haynes Manuals are Terrible!

Haynes General Motors Chevrolet Lumina APV Oldsmobile Silhouette Pontiac Trams S[prt 1990 thru 1996 (Haynes Manuals)
J.J. Haynes
Manufacturer: Haynes Manuals, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1563925036

Book Description

Each Haynes Manual is based on a complete teardown and rebuild of the specific vehicle. Features hundreds of "hands-on" photographs taken of specific repair procedures in progress. Includes a full chapter on scheduled owner maintenance and devotes a full chapter to emissions systems. Wiring diagrams are featured throughout.

Customer Reviews:

Haynes Manuals are Terrible!.......2006-06-23

Based on total breakdown?
I don't think so.
If you want to learn how to change spark plugs, this is a halfway decent manual. Otherwise, don't waste you money.

Lonely Planet Vietnamese Phrasebook with Two-Way Dictionary

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Bad for travellers, bad for Vietnamese learners.
An Appropriate Title
Decent phrasebook, but missing a couple of things...
watch out
Excellent Phrase Book

Lonely Planet Vietnamese Phrasebook with Two-Way Dictionary
Thinh Hoang , Quynh-Tram Trinh , and Nguyen Xuan Thu
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0864426615

Book Description

The most enjoyable and rewarding way to get to know a place is by meeting the local people. Vietnamese is a vibrant language and even a little knowledge will help visitors gain an understanding of Vietnamese culture as well as make many friends along the way!

all the essential day-to-day words and phrases, plus vocabulary for making conversation, understanding festivals and local dates, and sightseeing
comprehensive pronunciation and grammar chapters
cultural tips
thumb tabs and index for fast reference

Customer Reviews:

Bad for travellers, bad for Vietnamese learners........2004-05-28

I've been studying Vietnamese for 4 months and can speak it quite fluently now, I bought this book before I started learning anything, it was just too difficult to use for those who don't know Vietnamese at all (most travellers). Now because I know more Vietnamese, I tried to re-read this book and I still find this quite useless. The conversation are organized by topics rather than by alphabetical order so it limits yourself from point and choose and talk with Vietnamese with the same kinds of topics again and again. Very poorly designed, almost useless and very disappointing, probably one of the worst LP phrasebooks on the market (I have used the Hindi/Urdu, Persian, French and German before). Vocabulary list is not as comprehensive as the Rough Guide, the tiny (*tiny!) dictionary at the back doesn't even have the word "spoon"! This phrasebook is, however, much more popular than the Rough Guide because of the "reputation" and popularity of the Lonely Planet.

An Appropriate Title.......2003-01-19

As an individual who has spent about 2 years learning Vietnamese I believe this to be a very good book. The comments of the previous two reviewers should be dismissed (as one did not read the book and the other is already fluent). As long as you understand the setup and reasoning for the layout of a phrasebook this book will not dissappoint anyone. Unlike a dictionary where words are alphabetically listed, this book has similar items arranged (i.e. foods, health, animals). If you went to Vietnam and needed a book to take with you this is the only one I would recommend. It will allow you to survive; and, if you had trouble pronouncing words you could also point to the phrase you were trying to say (this of course would only work if the other individual was literate). If you are planning on learning the language at all (other than for a brief trip) then I'd strongly recommend getting other books (Elementary Vietnamese is good, but Colloquial Vietnamese is awful).

Decent phrasebook, but missing a couple of things..........2002-12-29

I don't speak Vietnamese to rate the translations and phrasing used in this pocket-sized guide, but I have used a number of Lonely Planet phrasebooks for languages that I do know more about. This guide follows the format of those other guides, broken down into sections by situation, with a 2-way dictionary at the back and a pronounciation guide at the beginning of the book.

Two notable omissions. There is not a section on "love and dating" as there is in every other LP Phrasebook I've used.

Also, unlike the Russian phrasebook, which contains the english phrase, a phonetic pronounciation, and then the actual spelling, this book does not contain a phonetic spelling. For a language likely to be as difficult as Vietnamese for native English speakers and considering that such speakers are the book's target audience, phonetic spellings (indicating inflection as well) would help a lot.

Still, a decent phrasebook as LP ones tend to be.

watch out.......2002-09-28

Glancing through several pages of the book, I was very unimpressed. I am fluent in both the northern and southern dialects of Vietnamese; this book looks like it will help you with neither. The diagram and explanation of tones is simply incorrect. The pronunciation guide is also confusing and imprecise. Save yourself the money and time. Keep looking. For intermediate-level students of Vietnamese, I would recommed "Colloquial Vietnamese" by John Moore and Tuan Duc Vuong. For beginners, I hear that "Elementary Vietnamese" by Binh Ngo is a good bet.

Excellent Phrase Book.......2002-07-14

An nice, small companion for those needing a quick reference. Its dimensions ensure that that the book will fit neatly into a pocket or pack, and frequently needed phrases are easy to locate. This reference guide also includes a Vietnamese-English / English-Vietnamese dictionary, though the selections are rather slim. A little more information on pronounciation would be ideal, but as this book is geared more for the traveller, the basics are well addressed.

Phrases are collected according to what you think you'll need to ask - so you'll find a section with phrases and words for ordering food, for going to a doctor, and for talking to locals. As a tool to help you learn some vocabulary, there are small crossword puzzles...which are more of a nice afterthought than something really useful.

Definitely not exhaustive by any stretch of the imganation, but well worth the money if you need a quick reference guide.

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The Golden Years of British Trams
Colin Garratt
Manufacturer: Milepost 92 1/2
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1900193000

Average customer rating:

A Beautiful story.

A Perfect Little Gem

A captivating novel

The Two-Pound Tram
William Newton
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1582343748

Book Description

"Our dream, our obsession, was to own a tram. This all started with an advertisement which showed a picture of a London tram with the words: 'Trams surplus to the requirements of the London Omnibus and Tramcar company for sale at their depot at Acton, London for £2 each.' I doubt if there was a day afterwards when the tram did not enter our conversation..."

The year was 1937, and Hitler had just walked into Austria. It was also a marvelous year for clouded yellow butterflies.

Wilfred and Duncan live in a big old house in Sussex, England. They spend their days catching butterflies and dreaming of escape, and only ever see their parents on Wednesdays for lunch. When their mother elopes and their already distant father takes up with other ladies, they decide that enough is enough. And they have a plan: they will leave home, go to London, and buy a tram, decommissioned by the bus and tram company, that they have seen advertised in the paper for two pounds sterling. Soon the brothers find that their adventures have begun in earnest-as they become proprietors of an old-fashioned horse-drawn tram service, then local celebrities whose tram advertises for a seaside merchant, and finally such heroes of the war effort that they receive a visit from royalty.

Destined to become a new family classic, The Two-Pound Tram is a bittersweet testament to youth and its triumph over hardship.

Customer Reviews:

A Beautiful story........2007-07-17

What a lovely heartfelt story of childhood and innocence.
I could not put this little gem down until I had finished it.
It's a joy to read a truly believable story of adventure, chasing a dream,
and reaching it. Do not read this book without a box of tissues handy!
Truly beautiful.

A Perfect Little Gem.......2005-03-16

This wonderfully understated book begs for a cover-to-cover non-stop read. Parental indifference and neglect result in great miracles. Fascinating characters hop on at every bend in the road. The rarest of butterflies flits by and a most dignified dog always takes the front seat. The King and Queen of England drop in and a well-meaning letter from Winston Churchill causes an uproar. Hopefully Mike Leigh has already read "The Two Pound Tram" and is working on obtaining funding for the film. Most memorable!

A captivating novel.......2004-02-22

Wilfred and his brother, Duncan, ignored by their parents, decide to pursue their dream to own a tram. The story starts in 1937 following the brothers' travels to London to buy a horse-drawn tram and then to Canterbury, where they find they have unwittingly but fortuitously attracted passengers from the local bus route. They finally arrive in Worthing where a wealthy Austrian benefactor enables them to buy the horse-less variety of tram, and find themselves caught up at the beginning of the Second World War defending the Sussex coastline in its hour of need from their tram-cum-lighthouse. Written without sentimentality, it is funny, moving and captivating.

Average customer rating:

Nostalgic

The Tram to Bondi Beach
Elizabeth Hathorn , and Julie Vivas
Manufacturer: Kane/Miller Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Careers | People & Places | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0916291200

Customer Reviews:

Nostalgic.......2000-05-02

Highly commended - Children's book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year (year?)

The illustrations are water-colour wash - very attractive to adults, but I'm not so sure of their appeal to children.

The text is quite sophisticated, so in the younger age range (5 -6 or so) it would need to be read aloud.

The Bondi Tram was a fairly legendary institution in Sydney, now 40 years or so gone. The story is set in about the 1940s (judging from the fairisle vests worn by the chief protagonist, Kieran. Kieran gets a job as a paper-boy selling papers on the tram.

This is a story about another era, populated by characters with Irish and Anglo sounding names. It is interesting from that point of view, and could be of use in introducing topics of history, and especially for Sydney-siders.

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