HA NOI – French historian Alain Ruscio has authored a book entitled Vo Nguyen Giap – A Life as part of Anti-Colonialism Week in France last week. The book, written between 1979 and 2008, was published by Les Indes Savantes. In the preface, Ruscio expressed his pride at meeting Giap when he was a correspondent and special envoy of l'Humanite newspaper in Ha Noi in 1979 to cover the 25th anniversary of the victory at Dien Bien Phu.
Ruscio said he never forgot that first meeting and later, whenever he returned to Viet Nam, he always tried to see Giap again. However, in Ruscio's last visit in January last year, the 100-year-old general was unable to receive him due to health conditions.
With Giap's permission, Ruscio collected his writings, speeches and historic reports for a five-part book on Giap's life as a teacher of history, a patriotic youth, a guerrilla, a revolutionary theorist and a revolutionary practician to fight French colonialists and American imperialists.
Ruscio said he hoped that the book would present a portrait of the Vietnamese revolution's great and talented military strategist to readers in Europe and around the world. — VNS