Aren't all housewives doing this?

Reading about Vietnam, I mean.

I'll admit I appreciate my diverse interests, but every now and then I feel unusual. Does anyone else find this stuff interesting?

It all started with an episode of Man vs. Wild, a show Kevin and I love. Bear went to Vietnam and in between his death-defying stunts he mentioned a bit of the history of the war over there. I never knew it included France! So I asked my dad (who literally knows everything) and lo and behold he had three books about it! He delivered them to my house within 48 hours along with a syllabus. I have to read the intro to one book, another one cover to cover and a third to whatever extent I'm still interested. All three of these books are covering the conflict BEFORE the U.S. even became involved. Sheesh. There were guys over there suffering in the heat with leeches and barely any idea what they were doing for DECADES before our country even jumped in! I never knew.

Now... what good this learning will do me, I will never know. Maybe one day one of my daughters will ask about France's involvement in Vietnam. You think it could happen?

Just for fun, here's a great quote from the Foreword to Street Without Joy - the French Debacle in Indochina (page 10):

The fragmentation of organized society into a host of small nations, mostly former colonies, without political experience and with little or no hope of ever attaining economic viability, but fiercely nationalistic nevertheless, has provided rich ground for the seeds of an ideology which promises an easy and profitable retreat from the cul-de-sac of political ineptitude and economic stagnation.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!