Republican Vietnam, 1963–1975: War, Society, Diaspora

University of Hawai’I Press. Edited by Trinh M. Luu and Tuong Vu

For too long, English-language scholarship has reduced South Vietnam to a caricature—an American creation, defined more by foreign influence than by its own people. That never sat right with me.

Republican Vietnam, 1963–1975, grew out of a simple conviction: that South Vietnam must be understood on its own terms.

In this volume, Tuong Vu, Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon, and I brought together twelve essays based on original archival research to recover the Second Republic as it was lived—complex, dynamic, and deeply human. The contributors reveal a society shaped not only by war, but also by the efforts of its people: politicians, students, journalists, religious leaders, artists, and ordinary citizens who built institutions, sustained communities, and engaged in a vibrant public life.

What emerges is not a passive state, but a society marked by an outspoken press, a rich intellectual culture, globally engaged religious communities, and a level of artistic and civic activity that remains striking even today.

At the same time, the book does not look away from the realities of war and external pressure. It shows how those forces shaped everyday life. But it also insists on something essential: that the South Vietnamese were not simply acted upon—they were actors in their own history.

That perspective matters to me, both as a scholar and as someone who has been shaped by that history. The legacy of the Republic did not end in 1975. It lives on—in the diaspora and in the values that many families carried forward.

This volume is a small effort to bring that history back into focus with greater clarity and with the seriousness it deserves.

I invite you to explore the volume and engage with the voices and perspectives it brings to light.