5 Books to Help Understand the Vietnam War

The history of the American/Vietnam War has always interested me. I believe this came about by being raised in British Columbia where it was known to be a refuge for American men running from the US draft. My novel, The Strait of Anian, centres around a Vietnam War orphan, raised in Vancouver, who goes to Port Angeles, in Washington State, in search of a man who claims to be her birth father. She discovers that although the war ended several decades prior the use of defoliants in Vietnam is still killing the men who fought. The man she finds is mired in the past and dying from cancers caused by Agent Orange exposure. His last wish is to meet the daughter he left behind.

Since the Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975, with the Fall of Saigon, over 300,000 US veterans have died of Agent Orange exposure, many more than died fighting in the war itself. However, the toll on the country and the people of Vietnam has been much more catastrophic. Some 400,000 Vietnamese citizens have perished due to the US and its allies dropping over 50 million litres of toxic herbicides on their country. Now large swaths of soil and waterways are contaminated. Many would believe that the Vietnam War is something from the past, after all, some 50 years have elapsed, but for those who have lost, and continue to lose, loved ones or experience birth defects, in the US and Vietnam, the American/Vietnam War remains very much a part of their lives.

Waiting for an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange, Fred A. Wilcox

There is no better book to start with than Waiting for an Army to Die by Fred A. Wilcox. This is a devastating documentation of the fight US veterans of the Vietnam War have had to endure, once they came home to US soil, to receive compensation for their illnesses caused by Agent Orange exposure. Here is also the story of the US government's deceit and collusion with its corporate partners along with the generational toll this has taken on countless families. So many times throughout reading this book I felt complete rage and the certainty that it should be required reading. It's one of those books that once read you will never look at the world the same way again. Even though the topic is heavy the language is fluid and makes for a straightforward and compelling read. 

Nothing Ever Dies, Viet Thanh Nguyen

This book is Viet Thanh Nguyen's very personal look at the memory of war, and how two cultures have chosen to commemorate their wins and losses. The author, who was an American/Vietnamese War refugee, rips apart the cultural tropes that surround war. He visits monuments in both the US and Vietnam and notes how the monuments themselves shape the collective memory of the war. Arts, literature, and film are also discussed. This is a nuanced portrait of how both sides have chosen to remember, revise, or forget. 

Such A Lovely Little War, Marcelino Truong

For fans of graphic novels, Marcelino Truong's, Such A Lovely War is a fantastic and entertaining read. Taken in part from Truong's own childhood experience of being the son of a Vietnamese diplomat. The family starts in Washington DC where Marco, an elementary-aged school boy, experiences the cajoling of his schoolmates for being the child of a Vietnamese father and a white French mother. But they are not in Washington for long when Marco's father is called to Vietnam to be the personal interpreter for Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem. For three years Marco experiences the highs and lows of Siagon while witnessing his mother's fragile mental state crumble as the war accelerates. The childlike view of Siagon life is refreshing. There is plenty of factual information that illuminates the true political situation at the time: The Tet offensive, attempts at Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem's life, The Battle of Ap Bac, and the Buddhist Crisis. 

Vietnam A History, Stanley Karnow

This book by Stanley Karnow, a former Southeast Asian correspondent for Time, Life, and The Washington Post may be the preeminent nuts and bolts guide to Vietnam War history. It has all the political and military backroom dealings and details of the war's major crises and battles. The book is heavy and at times a bit dry but if you want an in-depth look at the war in its entirety then this is the book for you.

The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen

Viet Thanh Nguyen's, The Sympathizer — which won the Pulitzer Prize—is fun and reads like a thriller. The unnamed protagonist is of mixed heritage, half french and half Vietnamese, and becomes a communist double agent during the American/Vietnam War. After the fall of Saigon he ends up in Los Angeles as a refugee but he never leaves his double-agent activities fully behind. I felt for the protagonist for his disorientation and disillusionment while in the US. I wanted him to win, whatever winning meant for him. He seemed to be perpetually stuck between politics, circumstance, geography, and history.