Tigers in the Rice -Walter J. Sheldon

The Story of Vietnam from Ancient Past to Uncertain Future

Vietnam? To most of us here in the states, the bulk of what we know about Vietnam is when we learned is from the Vietnam War in 1954. The majority of what we tested on is what happened to Vietnam around those years. You’d learn about North and South Vietnam, about Ho Chi Minh and how Communism was about to take over Asia. The 26th Amendment was passed and the voting age became 18. You’d learn that the Vietnamese War was one of the worse and many lives of young American lives have been lost. You’d learn about how America supported the democratic nation of the south to fight against the Communist North, who would eventually win. But all of this is just the basics. The substratum is filled with so many more rich details, of the real Vietnam as Sheldon put it.

If I asked you what the title meant, you’d most likely tilt your head and questionably say, “There are tigers that roam around in the rice…?” That is party true but it’s a metaphor for Vietnam and its people. Throughout the book, Sheldon mentions how there is so much going on under the cover, sort to speak. He mentions that throughout their history, the Vietnamese revolted almost continuously that it was a part of their culture. Bad king? Revolt. Chinese Invasion? Revolt. Unfair taxing? Revolt. French? Revolt. Communism? Eh, revolt? Many actually supported Ho Chi Minh (and communism) because they thought it was the best alternative to unify their country, which in theory is but reality isn’t. Even as the world modernizes, they still stubbornly hold on to their values and the culture. The people of Vietnam have different cultures and different religions. They aren’t one people but many. The diversity is beautifully large for a country of their size.

Tigers in the Rice is a very rich book containing lots of Vietnamese history. However, it’s only a summary of their 5000 years. However, in its 118 pages, Sheldon goes in depth and talks about many things, first starting with an ancient story. He starts from the very beginning and goes through the years, stopping at certain decades and talking about them in further detail.

However, as much as I love reading about history, this book was a little dry. If it was something like Mann’s writing, I feel I would’ve enjoyed more. Sheldon’s voice was overshadowed by all the facts he shot in and the hundred pages proved to be a challenge. I would frequently get stall on a page for more than 2 minutes trying to digest everything. As a person more comfortable in easily distinguishable names, the people mentioned in this book (which were a lot!) were hard to keep track of. Especially, Ho Chi Minh as he changed his names more than a couple times during his life.

But this book does not jump back and forth during the timeline, which proved to be very helpful. Sheldon has put in a Chronology in the back, basically summarizing the book. I loved that because if I wanted to read only concerning one particular topic, such as about John White, the first American to come visit Vietnam, I can flip forward a couple pages to the index and find where the pages where Sheldon talked about White in the book. I also enjoy how he titled the chapters; it was very unique. It didn’t just say “The Vietnam War” but “The Quicksands of War”. Even if the titles were somewhat abstract, I knew what he would be talking about. His diction choices are extensive and descriptive which animates the people and the events in this book.

Overall, I enjoyed learning about Vietnam, a country I still know very little about. From Tigers in the Rice, I learned a lot more about its people and what really happened. I have to say, Ho Chi Minh was a really interesting man and I would definitely look into him more because of what I’ve read in this book. Sheldon has piqued my curiosity about this country more than any history teacher has. But, as I mentioned before, it was a little dry and hard to digest. If you’re one to skim, this might not be the best book for you. Nonetheless, I recommend you at least pick it up and read a couple chapters and learn more about Vietnam. It truly is a tiger in the rice (fields). Vietnam is definitely a country that is different than it seems.