By Fleury, Hélène; Knabb, Ken; Van, Ngo

In 1936, Ngo Van was once captured, imprisoned, and tortured within the dreaded Maison Centrale legal in Saigon for his half within the fight to loose Vietnam from French colonial rule. 5 years later, Vietnamese independence used to be gained, and Van discovered himself imprisoned and abused as soon as more—this time via the Stalinist freedom fighter Ho Chi Minh. 5 years after that, Van used to be in Paris, operating with the surrealists.

In the Crossfire files Ngo Van's extraordinary existence in Vietnam throughout the global wars, and his next years spent in the middle of the Parisian intelligentsia. this can be the 1st English translation!




"In the Crossfire is a narrative that's such a lot of issues: a story of private braveness, depression and desire; a section of political historical past that's either a rfile of revolution and betrayal. Like quite a bit of the fight opposed to colonialism, for each victory there seems a defeat. but, historical past strikes ahead simply because, as Van makes transparent, humans make it flow forward."—Ron Jacobs, writer of The approach the Wind Blew: A heritage of the elements Underground

Show description

Read or Download In the Crossfire : Adventures of a Vietnamese Revolutionary PDF

Best communism & socialism books

The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene V. Debs

Enable the folks take middle and wish in all places, for the move is bending, the middle of the night is passing, and pleasure cometh with the morning. —Eugene Debs in 1918 Orator, organizer, self-taught pupil, presidential candidate, and prisoner, Eugene Debs’ lifelong dedication to the struggle for a greater international is chronicled during this exceptional biography by means of historian Ray Ginger.

Requiem for Marx

Requiem for Marx by way of Yuri N. Maltsev (Paperback - Jun 1993)

Additional info for In the Crossfire : Adventures of a Vietnamese Revolutionary

Sample text

Signatures were appended “without other objection” at the bottom of these obscure documents, and the case was closed. Then the judge told the policemen to keep us squatting in the hall and had us given pastries and hot coffee bought in town by the court attendant. Handcuffed two by two and escorted by the same Sûreté cops, we left the court by the side door opposite the Central Prison. This short crossing to the prison on the other side of the street and away from the Sûreté’s torture chambers seemed to us like the antechamber to release.

He lived a hundred paces down the same stony road as the school, in a gray straw hut hidden behind a thorny hedge. To the right of the house a grassy track faded into the fields: this was the path we took to school. On the left was a cluster of several other straw huts, dark and dusty. They adjoined the village Communal House, an old one-story structure of wood with a tiled roof, whose façade opened onto a verandah with columns of whitewashed brick. indd 22 8/22/2010 10:50:42 AM CHILDHOOD 23 from the other straw huts was its roughly whitewashed plank walls and a verandah that sheltered us from the sun and rain during recess.

My mother had to borrow a gold necklace from Great Aunt and pawn it at the Chinese pawnshop. In the face of such adversity, did the invocations to Buddha comfort my mother? Perhaps. Around that time my father began suffering from chronic spasmatic pains. He let lie fallow the patch of ricefield he had in the neighboring village, near the house of his eldest brother, Uncle Four. My mother was at her wits’ end. The conical hats she made for peasants out of latania leaves did not bring in enough for our daily rice.

Download PDF sample

Rated 4.28 of 5 – based on 18 votes