The Red Earth

“Tran Tu Binh’s recollection of his experience of labor service in the ‘rubber villages’ of the Michelin company was first published in 1965 in Hanoi under the title Phu Riéng Do [Red Phu Rieng]. His description of the maltreatment, brutal punishment, lack of adequate food, housing, and medical care that Vietnamese workers had to endure in the ‘hell on earth,’ as plantations were called, corroborates what we know of the terrible forms of exploitation the representatives of the rubber companies practiced.”

“This is a fascinating and short book—it extends to just 90 pages, including end notes and introduction. It is ably translated by John Spragens Jr…and edited by David G Marr for Ohio University and is a vital part of not just modern Vietnamese history but of post-colonial literature as a whole.”