Selected books related to MCC Vietnam
Arranged from newest to oldest.
Schrock-Hurst, Caleb. 65 Years of Walking Together: The MCC Vietnam Story. Hanoi, Vietnam: The Gioi Publishers, 2020. 84 pages.
This bilingual overview of MCC Vietnam's programs from its beginnings in 1954 to today is an easy-to-engage introduction to MCC's work and its intersection with Vietnam's history.
Available for free upon request. Write to calebschrockhurst@mcc.org. Donations to MCC to cover shipping and handling will be suggested.
Reedy, Janet Umble. White Frames: Poems by Janet Umble Reedy. Victoria, BC, Canada: Friesen Press, 2019. 144 pages.
This poetry collection spans Reedy's reflections on childhood struggles, family identity, and life as a foreigner in 1990s Hanoi. Reedy's poems are playful, elegant, and light while still cutting to the heart of trauma and growth. Reedy served as MCC Vietnam country representative from 1990-1992.
https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000063208360
Bowman, Jim. Saigon to Singers Glen: One Hundred Moments in the Life of a Mennonite Farm Boy. Victoria, BC, Canada: Friesen Press, 2017. 365 pages.
Bowman's collection of memories, from childhood to retirement, discuss the challenges of engagement with broader society, life in Vietnam in the 1960s, and the grief of losing a child.
https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000035699136
Martin, Luke. A Vietnam Presence: Mennonites in Vietnam During the American War. Morgantown, PA: Masthof Press, 2016. 584 pages.
This chronicle presents an exhaustive history of Mennonites in Vietnam during the war period. Though it focuses more minutely on Eastern Mennonite Mission's efforts, it also closely follows MCC's efforts as well. Martin worked with EMM in Vietnam for more than 15 years, often working for MCC as well.
https://www.masthof.com/products/a-vietnam-presence?_pos=1&_sid=305d1cfd3&_ss=r
Ed. Aguilar-San Juan, Karin and Frank Joyce. The People Make the Peace: Lessons from the Vietnam Antiwar Movement. Charlottesville, VA: Just World Books, 2015. 268 pages.
This collection of nine accounts by U.S. peacemakers involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement shares powerful stories of opposing imperialism and violence. MCC Vietnam alumni Doug Hostetter is among those featured.
https://justworldbooks.com/books-by-title/people-make-peace/
Ed. Johnston, W. Marshall and Daniel Crosby. A Dangerous Mind: The Ideas and Influence of Delbert L. Weins. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2015. 268 pages.
Johnston and Crosby's gathering of Weins writings across his lifetime chronicle the guidance and voice Weins continues to provide to the Mennonite-Brethren church in a changing American context. Weins was MCC's first representative to Vietnam.
https://wipfandstock.com/a-dangerous-mind.html
Good, Leland. The Boy from Illinois. Self Published, 2015. 53 pages.
This life chronicle of a sheltered Mennonite farm boy and his journey around the world to Vietnam is a touching story of a life well lived. Good served with MCC in Vietnam from 1958-1961.
https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Illinois-Mr-Leland-Good/dp/1503103145
Ed. Lapp, John and C. Arnold Snyder. Churches Engage Asian Traditions: Global Mennonite History Series; Asia. Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2011. 376 pages.
Featuring a 20-page chapter on the Mennonite church in Vietnam by Luke Martin, Nguyen Quang Trung, Nguyen Thanh Tam, and Nguyen Thi Tam, this book highlights Mennonite engagement over the long term and across all of Asia.
Lehmann, Stephen. Mission Vietnam: Under His Wings. Serenity Book Publishers, 2011. 267 pages.
This dramatic retelling of the life of Ruth Wilting follows her calling to and abduction and death in Vietnam in 1968. Wilting was engaged to Daniel Gerber, an MCC worker, who perished in Vietnam in 1962.
Church World Service: 50 Years of Friendship and Cooperation with Vietnam. Self Published, 2004. 115 pages.
This history covers Church World Service's time in Vietnam from 1954 to 2004, including its cooperation with MCC and Lutheran World Relief as Viet Nam Christian Service from 1965-1972.
Beechy, Atlee. Seaking Peace: My Journey. Goshen, IN: Pinchpenny Press, 2001. 213 pages.
Beechy stands as one of the great Mennonite peacemakers of the 20th centruy. His work with MCC spanned decades, and his directorship of Viet Nam Christian Service (VNCS) saw MCC's engagement in Vietnam mature and evolve even at the height of war. This posthumously-published memoir tells of his life and work.
Hiebert, Murray. Vietnam Notebook. Hong Kong: Far Eastern Economic Review Publications, 1993. 216 pages.
Hiebert's 1993 book—part guidebook, part cultural exposé—chronicles the rapid changes and growth in Vietnam in the turbulent years after doi moi. Hiebert worked for MCC in Vietnam, based in Nha Trang, from 1973 to 1975, and lived in Hanoi for much of the 1990s.
Ed. Hostetter Martin, Earl and Pat. World Winds: Meditations from the Blessed of the Earth. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1990. 88 pages.
Rosenberger's years working as a nurse for Viet Nam Christian Service had a profound impact on her life, worldview, and theology. This memoir shares stories, photos, and poems from her two years in Vietnam in the 1960s.
https://www.brethrenpress.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=8452
Klassen, James. Jimshoes in Viet Nam: Orienting a Westerner. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1986. 390 pages.
Klassen's journal of his time in Vietnam tells of the ordinary and the extraordinary during the upheaval both before and after the end of the American War in Vietnam. Klassen's wit and eye for detail shows a Vietnam that few Americans were willing or open to seeing.
Metzler, James. From Saigon to Shalom: The Pilgrimage of a Missionary in Search of a More Authentic Witness. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1985. 141 pages.
Part memoir, part history, part bible-study, this book challenged the Mennonite community to rethink engagement and disengagement with political struggles. Metzler worked for Eastern Mennonite Missions in Saigon from 1962 to 1970.
Martin, Earl. Reaching the Other Side: The Journal of an American who Stayed to Witness Vietnam's Postwar Transition. New York: Crown Publishers, 1978. 282 pages.
This remarkable story of peace puts the most human of faces on the end of the Vietnam War. Martin's hard choices and risks for peace tell a gripping and powerful story just as relevant today as it was in the 1970s.
Ediger, Max. A Vietnamese Pilgrimage. Newton, KS: Faith and Life Press, 1978. 80 pages.
This collection of stories, poems, and prayers written during Ediger's five years in Vietnam with MCC (1971-1976) speak to the pains of war and the joys of peace.
Eby, Omar. A House in Hue. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1968. 110 pages.
For eight days during the 1968 Tet offensive, seven Viet Nam Christian Service (VNCS) volunteers watched the North Vietnamese and American armies clash literally outside their windows. What place is there for peacemakers when war comes so close?
https://www.amazon.com/house-Hue-Omar-Eby/dp/0836115899/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=
Beechy, Atlee and Winifred. Vietnam: Who Cares? Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1968. 154 pages.
For the majority of their history MCC and Mennonites in general steered away from getting 'political.' Why, then should Mennonites speak out against US involvement in the war in Vietnam?
Hasselblad, Marva with Dorthy Brandon. Lucky-Lucky: A Nurse's Story of Life at a Hospital in Vietnam. New York: M. Evans and Company, 1966. 220 pages.
Hasselblad's stories of life in Vietnam before and during the arrival of American troops tell of a country yearning for change and locked in a cycle of conflict. What can one nurse do in the face of such suffering?