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AN: 547394 ; Hue-Tam Ho Tai.; Passion, Betrayal, and Revolution in Colonial Saigon : The Memoirs of Bao Luong
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Passion, Betrayal,
and Revolution in
Colonial Saigon
The Memoirs of Bao Luong
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
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University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
2010 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tai, Hue-Tam Ho
Passion, betrayal, and revolution in colonial Saigon : the memoirs of Bao Luong / Hue-Tam Ho Tai.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-520-26225-6 (cloth : alk. paper)ISBN 978-0-520-26226-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Nguyn, Trung Nguyt. 2. Women revolutionariesVietnamHo Chi Minh CityBiography. 3. Women political prisonersVietnamHo Chi Minh CityBiography. 4. Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)Social conditions20th century. 5. Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)Biography.
I. Nguyn, Trung Nguyt. II. Title.
DS559.93.S2T34 2010
959.703092dc22
[B]
2010004555
Manufactured in the United States of America
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This book is printed on Cascades Enviro 100, a 100% post consumer waste, recycled, de-inked fiber. FSC recycled certified and processed chlorine free. It is acid free, Ecologo certified, and manufactured by BioGas energy.
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CONTENTS
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The early life of Nguyen Trung Nguyet, the subject of this book, illustrates how important family and friends were to the spread of revolution in Vietnam. To bring her story to print, I have relied on family ties and networks of friends and colleagues. I could not have done it without their assistance and support.
Her children, Nguyen Minh Tri and Nguyen Ngoc Lan; her sisters Van Trang and Han Xuan (now deceased); and her nieces, nephew, and grandnephewTran Hong Thuan, Ho Dao, Ho Huu Triet, and Ho Huu Lucshared memoirs, articles, photographs, and, above all, reminiscences that brought a much-loved relative back to life.
I am grateful to Haydon Cherry, who scanned the entire Barbier Street case file; David Biggs, who researched the various locations mentioned in the text and drew the map; and Eric Jennings, who located a photograph of Nguyen Bao Toan. I also owe a debt of thanks to Lorraine Paterson, who sent a photograph of a ceremony held in front of Pham Hong Thais tomb that was very similar to the one in which Nguyen Trung Nguyet participated. Sophie Quinn-Judge supplied information about the Revolutionary Youth League in Guangzhou, and Peter Zinoman about prison life and terminology in colonial Vietnam.
I extend heartfelt thanks as well to Tran Bich Ngoc, Dao The Due, and Dao Hung for supplying visual and written materials, to the staff of the General Sciences Library in Ho Chi Minh City, and to the staff of the Centre darchives dOutre-mer, Aix-en-Provence, France.
The lively discussions during the workshop Telling Lives in Vietnam in May 2009 gave me much to think about as I wrote the life of Bao Luong (Nguyen Trung Nguyet). The comments of an anonymous reader for the University of California Press spurred me to reconsider some statements I had made in an earlier draft, and this greatly improved it.
I thank Reed Malcolm for providing valuable feedback and encouragement at various stages of the writing. I would also like to express my deep appreciation of the efforts of Elizabeth Berg and Polly Kummel to make the narrative that follows as seamless, clear, and readable as possible.
May Patrick, Andrew, and Matthew enjoy reading the story of an aunt they never met, a woman who was deeply conservative yet fearless, idealistic, stoic, and, above all, loving.
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