The Sorrow of War

The Sorrow of War
Author :
Publisher : Anchor
Total Pages : 241
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780525434399
ISBN-13 : 0525434399
Rating : 4/5 (99 Downloads)

Synopsis The Sorrow of War by : Bao Ninh

During the Vietnam War Bao Ninh served with the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade. Of the five hundred men who went to war with the brigade in 1969, he is one of only ten who survived. The Sorrow of War is his autobiographical novel. Kien works in a unit that recovers soldiers' corpses. Revisiting the sites of battles raises emotional ghosts for him and the memory of war scenes are juxtaposed with dreams and remembrances of his childhood sweetheart. The Sorrow of War burns the tragedy of war in our minds.

Poisoned Jungle

Poisoned Jungle
Author :
Publisher : Koehler Books
Total Pages : 392
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1646631145
ISBN-13 : 9781646631148
Rating : 4/5 (45 Downloads)

Synopsis Poisoned Jungle by : James Ballard

"The napalmed children peered at him, uncomprehending, not understanding what happened, and asked him to fix their burns, alleviate their pain. He tried to explain- such a terrible mistake. No words came out of his mouth."  Poisoned Jungle speaks to the long psychological tentacles war has on the lives it touches, and the difficulty of breaking free of them. Realizing changes have occurred deep within, Vietnam War medic Andy Parks must reconcile his new reality to establish a life worth living-not an easy task. How will Andy Parks ever dispel the images he brought home with him? He can't live with them-or outrun them. Even in sleep he finds no rest. In a powerful human saga, Andy teeters on the chasm of survivor's guilt, desperate to find equilibrium in his life. Deep down, he wants to live but doesn't know how. Poisoned Jungle is an intimate glimpse into one veteran's struggle for meaning after experiencing the despair of war.

The Beauty and the Sorrow

The Beauty and the Sorrow
Author :
Publisher : Vintage
Total Pages : 594
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780307739285
ISBN-13 : 0307739287
Rating : 4/5 (85 Downloads)

Synopsis The Beauty and the Sorrow by : Peter Englund

An intimate narrative history of World War I told through the stories of twenty men and women from around the globe--a powerful, illuminating, heart-rending picture of what the war was really like. In this masterful book, renowned historian Peter Englund describes this epoch-defining event by weaving together accounts of the average man or woman who experienced it. Drawing on the diaries, journals, and letters of twenty individuals from Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Venezuela, and the United States, Englund’s collection of these varied perspectives describes not a course of events but "a world of feeling." Composed in short chapters that move between the home front and the front lines, The Beauty and Sorrow brings to life these twenty particular people and lets them speak for all who were shaped in some way by the War, but whose voices have remained unheard.

The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God & Other Stories

The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God & Other Stories
Author :
Publisher : Riverhead Books
Total Pages : 210
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781594633249
ISBN-13 : 159463324X
Rating : 4/5 (49 Downloads)

Synopsis The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God & Other Stories by : Etgar Keret

Originally published in 2004 by Toby Press.

Other Moons

Other Moons
Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Total Pages : 208
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780231551632
ISBN-13 : 0231551630
Rating : 4/5 (32 Downloads)

Synopsis Other Moons by :

In this anthology, Vietnamese writers describe their experience of what they call the American War and its lasting legacy through the lens of their own vital artistic visions. A North Vietnamese soldier forms a bond with an abandoned puppy. Cousins find their lives upended by the revelation that their fathers fought on opposite sides of the war. Two lonely veterans in Hanoi meet years after the war has ended through a newspaper dating service. A psychic assists the search for the body of a long-vanished soldier. The father of a girl suffering from dioxin poisoning struggles with corrupt local officials. The twenty short stories collected in Other Moons range from the intensely personal to narratives that deal with larger questions of remembrance, trauma, and healing. By a diverse set of authors, including many veterans, they span styles from social realism to tales of the fantastic. Yet whether describing the effects of Agent Orange exposure or telling ghost stories, all speak to the unresolved legacy of a conflict that still haunts Vietnam. Among the most widely anthologized and popular pieces of short fiction about the war in Vietnam, these works appear here for the first time in English. Other Moons offers Anglophone audiences an unparalleled opportunity to experience how the Vietnamese think and write about the conflict that consumed their country from 1954 to 1975—a perspective still largely missing from American narratives.

Perfect Spy

Perfect Spy
Author :
Publisher : Harper Collins
Total Pages : 425
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780061736544
ISBN-13 : 0061736546
Rating : 4/5 (44 Downloads)

Synopsis Perfect Spy by : Larry Berman

“Larry Berman in his book—insightful, overdue, an authentic ‘Shock and Awe’ story—deftly humanizes the contradictions in An’s life” — -Bernard Kalb “Berman has done an excellent job... There’s plenty here for both supporters and critics of the Vietnam War to ponder.” — Dan Southerland, former correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor in Saigon “Berman has unraveled the mystery of his strange double life in an engrossing narrative.” — Stanley Karnow, author of Vietnam: A History and winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in history Praise for NO PEACE NO HONOR “A marvelous piece of work.” — Daniel Ellsberg Praise for NO PEACE NO HONOR “Carefully researched, authoritative, and highly readable.” — Stanley Karnow, author of Vietnam: A History Praise for LYNDON JOHNSON’S WAR “A masterful job.” — Marvin Kalb Praise for LYNDON JOHNSON’S WAR “Highly readable, full of telling quoted from newly opened sources.” — Walter Lafeber Praise for LYNDON JOHNSON’S WAR “Berman has delivered the coup de grace.” — Townsend Hoopes “A remarkable blend of biography, history, and personal experience... Highly recommended.” ---A.O. Edmonds — Library Journal

Boots on the Ground

Boots on the Ground
Author :
Publisher : Penguin
Total Pages : 226
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780670785063
ISBN-13 : 0670785067
Rating : 4/5 (63 Downloads)

Synopsis Boots on the Ground by : Elizabeth Partridge

★ "Partridge proves once again that nonfiction can be every bit as dramatic as the best fiction."* America's war in Vietnam. In over a decade of bitter fighting, it claimed the lives of more than 58,000 American soldiers and beleaguered four US presidents. More than forty years after America left Vietnam in defeat in 1975, the war remains controversial and divisive both in the United States and abroad. The history of this era is complex; the cultural impact extraordinary. But it's the personal stories of eight people—six American soldiers, one American military nurse, and one Vietnamese refugee—that create the heartbeat of Boots on the Ground. From dense jungles and terrifying firefights to chaotic helicopter rescues and harrowing escapes, each individual experience reveals a different facet of the war and moves us forward in time. Alternating with these chapters are profiles of key American leaders and events, reminding us of all that was happening at home during the war, including peace protests, presidential scandals, and veterans' struggles to acclimate to life after Vietnam. With more than one hundred photographs, award-winning author Elizabeth Partridge's unflinching book captures the intensity, frustration, and lasting impacts of one of the most tumultuous periods of American history. *Kirkus Reviews, starred review of Marching for Freedom

The Eaves of Heaven

The Eaves of Heaven
Author :
Publisher : Crown
Total Pages : 322
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780307381217
ISBN-13 : 0307381218
Rating : 4/5 (17 Downloads)

Synopsis The Eaves of Heaven by : Andrew X. Pham

One of the Ten Best Books of the Year, Washington Post Book World One of the Los Angeles Times’ Favorite Books of the Year One of the Top Ten National Books of 2008, Portland Oregonian A 2009 Honor Book of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association “Few books have combined the historical scope and the literary skill to give the ­foreign reader a sense of events from a Vietnamese perspective. . . . Now we can add Andrew Pham’s Eaves of Heaven to this list of indispensable books.” —New York Times Book Review “Searing . . . vivid–and harrowing . . . Here is war and life through the eyes of a Vietnamese everyman.” —Seattle Times Once wealthy landowners, Thong Van Pham’s family was shattered by the tumultuous events of the twentieth century: the French occupation of Indochina, the Japanese invasion during World War II, and the Vietnam War. Told in dazzling chapters that alternate between events in the past and those closer to the present, The Eaves of Heaven brilliantly re-creates the trials of everyday life in Vietnam as endured by one man, from the fall of Hanoi and the collapse of French colonialism to the frenzied evacuation of Saigon. Pham offers a rare portal into a lost world as he chronicles Thong Van Pham’s heartbreaks, triumphs, and bizarre reversals of fortune, whether as a South Vietnamese soldier pinned down by enemy fire, a prisoner of the North Vietnamese under brutal interrogation, or a refugee desperately trying to escape Vietnam after the last American helicopter has abandoned Saigon. This is the story of a man caught in the maelstrom of twentieth-century politics, a gripping memoir told with the urgency of a wartime dispatch by a writer of surpassing talent.

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places
Author :
Publisher : Anchor
Total Pages : 466
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780525431848
ISBN-13 : 0525431845
Rating : 4/5 (48 Downloads)

Synopsis When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by : Le Ly Hayslip

“One of the most important books of Vietnamese American and Vietnam War literature...Moving, powerful.” —Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sympathizer In these pages, Le Ly Hayslip—just twelve years old when U.S. helicopters landed in her tiny village of Ky La—shows us the Vietnam War as she lived it. Initially pressed into service by the Vietcong, Le Ly was captured and imprisoned by government forces. She found sanctuary at last with an American contractor and ultimately fled to the United States. Almost twenty years after her escape, Le Ly found herself inexorably drawn back to the devastated country and loved ones she’d left behind, and returned to Vietnam in 1986. Scenes of this joyous reunion are interwoven with the brutal war years, creating an extraordinary portrait of the nation, then and now—and of one courageous woman who held fast to her faith in humanity. First published in 1989, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places was hailed as an instant classic. Now, some two decades later, this indispensable memoir continues to be one of our most important accounts of a conflict we must never forget.

Voices from the Vietnam War

Voices from the Vietnam War
Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages : 298
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780813173863
ISBN-13 : 0813173868
Rating : 4/5 (63 Downloads)

Synopsis Voices from the Vietnam War by : Xiaobing Li

The Vietnam War's influence on politics, foreign policy, and subsequent military campaigns is the center of much debate and analysis. But the impact on veterans across the globe, as well as the war's effects on individual lives and communities, is a largely neglected issue. As a consequence of cultural and legal barriers, the oral histories of the Vietnam War currently available in English are predictably one-sided, providing limited insight into the inner workings of the Communist nations that participated in the war. Furthermore, many of these accounts focus on combat experiences rather than the backgrounds, belief systems, and social experiences of interviewees, resulting in an incomplete historiography of the war. Chinese native Xiaobing Li corrects this oversight in Voices from the Vietnam War: Stories from American, Asian, and Russian Veterans. Li spent seven years gathering hundreds of personal accounts from survivors of the war, accounts that span continents, nationalities, and political affiliations. The twenty-two intimate stories in the book feature the experiences of American, Chinese, Russian, Korean, and North and South Vietnamese veterans, representing the views of both anti-Communist and Communist participants, including Chinese officers of the PLA, a Russian missile-training instructor, and a KGB spy. These narratives humanize and contextualize the war's events while shedding light on aspects of the war previously unknown to Western scholars. Providing fresh perspectives on a long-discussed topic, Voices from the Vietnam War offers a thorough and unique understanding of America's longest war.