Uprootedthenovel

If you're reading this post I'm going to make the rude assumption that you've read Uprooted already. If not, then be aware of minor spoiler activity to follow. It should not reduce your enjoyment of my seminal, epoch-encompassing tome. Indeed, a brief glance at the table of contents will spoil more than I'm about to. While the book's focus moves southward after Tung's family leave Mai Dong, this post will share what took place in their village after the events of 1954. Persec

Don't talk about religion or politics. Well, I've done plenty on politics so it's religion's turn. I guess I'll have to save the easy one, death, for another post. First of all, my disclosure that I am a Christian, is important as I tried to portray the church's role in Vietnam fairly and without positive or negative bias. There is plenty to render on both sides of the equation. It is however, important to recognize that the many failures of Catholicism and the church leaders

"My doctor told me to forget every bad thing in the past." It was not only Tung who had a difficult time as the interviews for Uprooted progressed. His brother, Co, also struggled with the stresses brought on by recalling the traumas of war. Co's experiences were, if anything, more acute. He fought for the ARVN [Army of the Republic of South Vietnam] from 1963 till 1970, before being transferred to training duties. Like his fellow northerners, who had fled Communist persecuti

On March 8th 1965, the first American combat troops landed on a beach outside of Danang. It was only the most prominent of a thousand tiny steps that had been leading American soldiers closer to full involvement. My first exposure to the Vietnam War was the films that unpicked the American soldiers' experience. The subject became a sub-genre of its own in the 1980's, as a generation of film-makers each released their own depiction. These films were mostly tales of individual