vietnam

Discusses the history of Vietnamese immigration to America, including the troubles they faced, language barriers, and more.

Looks at and collects the news articles and other documents that revealed unreleased information about the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War.

Looks at the country of Vietnam, discussing its history, land, people, and more.

Explores the culture of Vietnam through its language, religion, and food.

By the mid-1960s ever-larger numbers of US troops poured into South Vietnam. Until this time American involvement was dominated by US air power which struck at North Vietnam. However, after several attacks on US airbases it was decided that more protection was required. It seemed that the South Vietnamese were incapable of providing adequate security. March 1965 saw the beginning of the American ground war when 3,500 Marines were dispatched to South Vietnam.

The Vietnam War constitutes a defining moment in modern history. Starting from a time soon after the Japanese surrender in 1945, at the end of the Second World War, and lasting to the North Vietnamese conquest of South Vietnam in 1975 to re-create a unified Vietnamese state, the war pitted the Communists of Vietnam, against a number of opponents. Those included first the French and second the South Vietnamese and Americans, the latter supported by a number of allies.

The "Linebacker" strategic bombing offensive finally drove the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table and an accord was reached for the departure of the US forces. The USA was mightily relieved to be free of this commitment, but its failure in the Vietnam War was a body blow to US cohesion and belief in itself.

The U.S. population was becoming increasingly disaffected by the rising casualty rate of their own forces, and the growing "credibility gap" between what they were being told by their government and what the media was reporting from South Vietnam.

Taylor is a rebellious teenager with a habit of sneaking out to hang with his anti-war friends, so in January 1968 his mother drags him off to Saigon where his father is attached to the United States embassy; bored (and still rebellious) Taylor sneaks out of the embassy to watch the Tet celebrations, just as the war erupts all over Vietnam and there he is captured by the North Vietnamese Army and sent North as a prisoner and hostage--and during the brutal journey Taylor is forced to confront the realities of war and survival for the first time in his sheltered life.

Collects short fiction stories featuring refugees and the life-changing decisions and consequences of leaving one's home country, as well as how the relationships forged while being a refugee come to define one's life--from a young Vietnamese refugee who has extreme culture shock relocating to San Francisco to a girl living in Ho Chi Minh City whose half-sister returns from America completely changed.