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A triumph of interdisciplinary and transnational scholarship! Following a compelling new case of international 'high-socialist' architecture, Christina Schwenkel bridges the histories of and scholarship on Eastern European and Asian socialisms. The oft-maligned but poorly understood city of Vinh proves to be an unexpected center of international solidarity and a riveting example of human resilience. Its story offers a significant perspective on Vietnamese history, socialist internationalism, postwar reconstruction, post-socialism, neoliberal redevelopment, and urban history. -- Erik Harms, author of * Luxury and Rubble: Civility and Dispossession in the New Saigon * In this extraordinary book, the anthropological and architectural histories of the city of Vinh emerge between the hour zero when B-52s fly over Vinh and the ebbing of obsolescence. Christina Schwenkel addresses urban space and design in an enlightening and unsettling manner, evoking and explaining the 'building of socialism' as both a Vietnamese and an East German phenomenon in its postcolonial and postmodern contexts. -- Rudolf Mrazek, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Michigan Schwenkel explores the main built legacy of this alliance [between Vietnam and East Germany], the Quang Trung housing estate in Vinh.... The story she has to tell, and the research she has undertaken in several years living on the estate...[is] informative, surprising, and often very moving. -- Owen Hatherley * Jacobin Magazine * A model of transnational urban research, Building Socialism uncovers the history of Vinh's role as a global planning hub, while also attending to the afterlife of socialist modernism for those residing in the city today. -- Katherine Zubovich * The Metropole * Building Socialism is . . . an indispensable addition to our understanding of urban Asia. -- Abidin Kusno * Journal of Asian Studies * The book offers a novel and broader understanding of the urban development projects in postwar Vietnam with its social and political trajectories aided by an impressive collection of archival material. . . . Altogether, Christina Schwenkel's work is a refreshing and groundbreaking addition not only to the study of the global history of the GDR but, first and foremost, to the study of Vietnam's building of socialism. -- Katrin Bahr * German Studies Review * Exemplary scholarship. . . . The book's theoretical reflections challenge some calcified notions in current scholarship and intelligentsia, and show the incredibly similar housing experiences and cultural-imperialist tendencies of both capitalism and socialism. -- Esra Ackan * Berlin Journal *

In this extraordinary book, the anthropological and architectural histories of the city of Vinh emerge between the hour zero when B-52s fly over Vinh and the ebbing of obsolescence. Christina Schwenkel addresses urban space and design in an enlightening and unsettling manner, evoking and explaining the 'building of socialism' as both a Vietnamese and an East German phenomenon in its postcolonial and postmodern contexts. -- Rudolf Mrazek, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Michigan A triumph of interdisciplinary and transnational scholarship! Following a compelling new case of international 'high-socialist' architecture, Christina Schwenkel bridges the histories of and scholarship on Eastern European and Asian socialisms. The oft-maligned but poorly understood city of Vinh proves to be an unexpected center of international solidarity and a riveting example of human resilience. Its story offers a significant perspective on Vietnamese, history, socialist internationalism, postwar reconstruction, post-socialism, neoliberal redevelopment, and urban history. -- Erik Harms, author of * Luxury and Rubble: Civility and Dispossession in the New Saigon *

A triumph of interdisciplinary and transnational scholarship! Following a compelling new case of international 'high-socialist' architecture, Christina Schwenkel bridges the histories of and scholarship on Eastern European and Asian socialisms. The oft-maligned but poorly understood city of Vinh proves to be an unexpected center of international solidarity and a riveting example of human resilience. Its story offers a significant perspective on Vietnamese history, socialist internationalism, postwar reconstruction, post-socialism, neoliberal redevelopment, and urban history. -- Erik Harms, author of * Luxury and Rubble: Civility and Dispossession in the New Saigon * In this extraordinary book, the anthropological and architectural histories of the city of Vinh emerge between the hour zero when B-52s fly over Vinh and the ebbing of obsolescence. Christina Schwenkel addresses urban space and design in an enlightening and unsettling manner, evoking and explaining the 'building of socialism' as both a Vietnamese and an East German phenomenon in its postcolonial and postmodern contexts. -- Rudolf Mrazek, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Michigan

A triumph of interdisciplinary and transnational scholarship! Following a compelling new case of international 'high-socialist' architecture, Christina Schwenkel bridges the histories of and scholarship on Eastern European and Asian socialisms. The oft-maligned but poorly understood city of Vinh proves to be an unexpected center of international solidarity and a riveting example of human resilience. Its story offers a significant perspective on Vietnamese history, socialist internationalism, postwar reconstruction, post-socialism, neoliberal redevelopment, and urban history. -- Erik Harms, author of * Luxury and Rubble: Civility and Dispossession in the New Saigon * In this extraordinary book, the anthropological and architectural histories of the city of Vinh emerge between the hour zero when B-52s fly over Vinh and the ebbing of obsolescence. Christina Schwenkel addresses urban space and design in an enlightening and unsettling manner, evoking and explaining the 'building of socialism' as both a Vietnamese and an East German phenomenon in its postcolonial and postmodern contexts. -- Rudolf Mrazek, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Michigan Schwenkel explores the main built legacy of this alliance [between Vietnam and East Germany], the Quang Trung housing estate in Vinh.... The story she has to tell, and the research she has undertaken in several years living on the estate...[is] informative, surprising, and often very moving. -- Owen Hatherley * Jacobin Magazine * A model of transnational urban research, Building Socialism uncovers the history of Vinh's role as a global planning hub, while also attending to the afterlife of socialist modernism for those residing in the city today. -- Katherine Zubovich * The Metropole * Building Socialism is . . . an indispensable addition to our understanding of urban Asia. -- Abidin Kusno * Journal of Asian Studies * The book offers a novel and broader understanding of the urban development projects in postwar Vietnam with its social and political trajectories aided by an impressive collection of archival material. . . . Altogether, Christina Schwenkel's work is a refreshing and groundbreaking addition not only to the study of the global history of the GDR but, first and foremost, to the study of Vietnam's building of socialism. -- Katrin Bahr * German Studies Review * Exemplary scholarship. . . . The book's theoretical reflections challenge some calcified notions in current scholarship and intelligentsia, and show the incredibly similar housing experiences and cultural-imperialist tendencies of both capitalism and socialism. -- Esra Ackan * Berlin Journal * Building Socialism is a remarkably illuminating transnational and interdisciplinary study of socialist nation building, examined through the lenses of internationalism, urban planning and architecture, and an ethnography of a mass housing estate. . . . The author very much succeeds in presenting a cohesive, theoretically rich work of in-depth investigation. -- Hazel Hahn * H-Urban * Building Socialism is a captivating, imaginative, and significant contribution in anthropology, Vietnamese history, urban history, and history of urban planning. It is suitable for assigning in both graduate and upper-division undergraduate courses. -- Hazel Hahn * H-Urban, H-Net Reviews *

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Christina Schwenkel is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Riverside, and author of The American War in Contemporary Vietnam: Transnational Remembrance and Representation.

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