It’s a Living: Work & Life in Vietnam Today

Through 67 interviews and 59 colour photographs, It’s a Living reveals the energy and struggle of the world of work in Vietnam today. A goldfish peddler installing aquariums, a business school graduate selling shoes on the sidewalk, a college student running an extensive multi-level sales network, and a promotion girl intent on moving into management are just a few of the people profiled.


Based on frank and freewheeling interviews conducted by students, the book engages a broad range of Vietnamese, both living in Vietnam and abroad, on their feelings about work, life and getting ahead. By providing a ground-level view of the texture of daily working life in the midst of rapid and unsettling change, the book reveals Vietnam today as a place where ordinary people are leveraging whatever assets they have, not just to survive, but to make a better life for themselves.


A one-of-a-kind e-book, optimised for iPad presentation.



“The best non-fiction work on Vietnam I’ve seen in a decade.” — Andrew X. Pham, author of Catfish and Mandala: a two-wheeled voyage through the landscape and memory of Vietnam