The English-language “Caravelle Saigon-A History,” published last week, unfolds as a straight narrative interspersed with fascinating stories from an array of diverse individuals whose lives intersected with the hotel.

While its most compelling sections detail the tumult of the 1960s and early 1970s, the book provides a fascinating glimpse into the development of the hospitality industry in Saigon and concludes with the hotel’s extensive refurbishment in 1998.

Built to be the country’s most luxurious hotel when opened in 1959, the five-star Caravelle became inseparable from both the journalistic