This captivating ethnography explores Vietnam's sex industry as the country ascends the global & regional stage Over the course of five years author Kimberly Kay Hoang worked at four exclusive Saigon hostess bars catering to diverse clientele wealthy local Vietnamese & Asian businessmen Viet Kieus (ethnic Vietnamese living abroad) Western businessmen & Western budget-tourists Dealing in Desire takes an in-depth & often personal look at both the sex workers & their clients to show how Vietnamese high finance & benevolent giving are connected to the intimate spheres of the informal economy For the domestic super-elite who use the levers of political power to channel foreign capital into real estate & manufacturing projects conspicuous consumption is a means of projecting an image of Asian ascendancy to potential investors For Viet Kieus & Westerners who bring remittances into the local economy personal relationships with local sex workers reinforce their ideas of Asia's rise & Western decline while simultaneously bolstering their diminished masculinity Dealing in Desire illuminates Ho Chi Minh City's sex industry as not just a microcosm of the global economy but a critical space where dreams & deals are traded