Chatting to Footprint Handbooks staff manning their stall at the London International Book Fair, I offered the somewhat presumptuous opinion that it might be a mistake to change what was undoubtedly a very successful product by replacing the stout hardcover Handbooks in favour of a still very colourful semi‐stiff cover format. After listening to their confident and detailed response, and balancing this latest title in the new format in the hand, getting the feel of it so to speak, my doubts have dwindled almost to vanishing point. My only remaining fear is that the corners will eventually show signs of wear but, in all reason, guidebooks designed to travel cannot hold their pristine state for ever, and library use will present no problem.
Originally published as Thailand, Indochina and Burma Handbook (1992), and then as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Handbook (1996), this edition retains all the usual features although a few chapter headings have been gingered up. The introduction is now “A Foot in the Door” whilst “Horizons” has become “Essentials”, but the familiar region‐by‐region approach continues: Hanoi, The North, The Central Region, Saigon, and the Mekong Delta and the South. Within each region a good grounding is provided in its history, sights, excursions, sleeping accommodation, cuisine, entertainments, shopping, transport, together with the addresses of useful agencies and services. Town, city and area maps are complemented with outline maps of Vietnam and the Vietnamese provinces, and no tourists or travellers should be in any doubt as to where they are, where they can go, and where they will end up. The touring and topographical sections are followed by a useful introduction to Vietnamese history; detailed accounts of the Vietnam and Second Indochina Wars (1945‐1954 and 1954‐1975) including a special map and war statistics; the land and environment; art and architecture; Vietnam’s culture and religion; and modern Vietnam. The final Footnotes include fares and timetables, a glossary, an alphabetical list of the short features embodied in the text, name and map indexes, and four coloured physical and communications maps.
Counting the two WEXAS titles, Traveller’s Handbook and Traveller’s Healthbook, there are now 38 in the series, all, except Andalucia, of countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and more are promised, all to be converted into this new tough paperback format in the next two years. Never one to stick my neck out lest my head should be precipitately and gratuitously chopped off, I am prepared, in this instance, to predict quite confidently that these new new‐style Handbooks will prove at least as successful as the old ones.
