Passage to Vietnam: Through the Eyes of Seventy Photographers

The work of 70 photojournalists from 14 countries (including 15 Vietnamese photographers), this eye-opening and beautiful photo-essay on Vietnam portrays a reunified country still recovering from the wounds of war. More than 200 candid color photographs take us inside homes and temples, brick and bicycle factories, oil fields, open-air markets and college dorms, profiling a people of restless energy and ancient culture. Sponsored by U.S. and Thai corporations, the book argues that Vietnam's Marxist communism ``is hardly strident or insistent,'' and that reforms of the last decade have freed the nation from Ho Chi Minh's doctrinaire policies, allowing private ownership of businesses, foreign investment and greater freedom of expression and worship. Smolan created the bestselling ``Day in the Life'' photo-essay series; Erwitt is the project director of Against All Odds Productions. 85,000 first printing; $100,000 ad/promo; first serial to Newsweek (cover story); BOMC selection. (Nov.)