The White Pebble: Madame Nhu's Memoirs (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781682832783)

No other Vietnamese family in modern time had such an
intense involvement in high politics and public affairs as the Ng?-Đ?nhs.
Through the tenure of President Ng?-Đ?nh Diệm of the Republic of Vietnam (1955-1963),
this family helped shape Vietnamese history in numerous ways. President Diệm's
rule in South Vietnam was perceived by many to be authoritarian and nepotistic,
but it is important for historians in general and for anyone interested in
Vietnamese history in particular to learn more about his family members who
played such important roles in his government. How did they see themselves,
their country, and their compatriots? How did each member of the family think
of others? How did they view the family's role in history?Sixty years after the death Ng?-Đ?nh Nhu,
English-language readers can now learn about Madame Ng?-Đ?nh Nhu's life from
her own words and recollections.Of all the Ng?-Đ?nhs, Madame Ng?-Đ?nh Nhu (Trần Lệ
Xu?n) was perhaps the most controversial figure. In this posthumous memoir
translated from French, Madame Nhu narrates important events in her life, from
her childhood to her marriage to Mr. Nhu, from her time in Huế during the
Franco-Vietnamese war to the happy years of the Diệm government, and from her
forced exile to the last days of her life. A complex individual and a
strong-willed woman who refused to accept the terrible hands fate dealt her, Madame
Nhu bared her pains, lamented the plight of Vietnam, and railed against the
foreign powers that meddled in Vietnamese affairs.In an essay accompanying their mother's narrative in The
White Pebble, the late Ng?-Đ?nh Lệ Quy?n and Ng?-Đ?nh Quỳnh (along with
Jacqueline Willemetz) join their mother to defend the integrity of the Diệm
government and the Ng?-Đ?nh family against their critics. By telling the
family's history alongside that of the Vietnamese nation, Ng?-Đ?nh Nhu's
children wanted to demonstrate the sincerity and depth of patriotism in the
family.This book not only
provides a unique account of Madame Nhu and the Ng?-Đ?nh family by its members
but also illuminates politics in Republican Vietnam and its troubled
relationship with the United States

Author: Tuong Vu, Ng? Đ?nh Nhu
ISBN-10: 1682832783
ISBN-13: 9781682832783
Publisher: Texas Tech University Press
Language: English
Published: 10/16/2025
Pages: 280
Format: Paperback