The Dust of Life

America's Children Abandoned in Vietnam

By: Robert S. McKelvey

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Paperback | 1 August 1999

At a Glance

Paperback
158 Pages

Age
22+

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 0.94

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The Dust of Life is a collection of vivid and devastating oral histories of Vietnamese Amerasians. Abandoned during the war by their American fathers, discriminated against by the victorious Communists, and ignored for many years by the American government, they endured life in impoverished Vietnam. Their stories are sad, sometimes tragic, but they are also testimonials to the strength of human resiliency.

Robert S. McKelvey is a former marine who served in Vietnam in the late 1960s. Now a child psychiatrist, he returned to Vietnam in 1990 to begin the long series of interviews that resulted in this book. While allowing his subjects to speak for themselves, McKelvey has organized their narratives around themes common to their lives: early maternal loss, the experience of prejudice and discrimination, coping with adversity, dealing with shattered hopes for the future, and, for some, adapting to the alien environment of the United States.

While unique in many respects, the Vietnamese Amerasian story also illustrates themes that are tragically universal: neglect of the human by-products of war, the destructiveness of prejudice and racism, the pain of abandonment, and the horrors of life amidst extreme poverty, hostility, and neglect.

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Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xix
Who Are the Vietnamese Amerasians?	p. 3
Amerasians in Vietnam
Growing Up without a Mother or Father	p. 21
Prejudice and Discrimination	p. 36
Adventurers and Entrepreneurs	p. 52
Amerasians in the United States
Adapting to Life in the United States	p. 69
Expectations and Later Adjustment	p. 79
Disabled Amerasians	p. 91
Searching for Father	p. 102
Conclusion	p. 115
Glossary	p. 123
Bibliography	p. 127
Index	p. 131
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

The Dust of Life

America's Children Abandoned in Vietnam

At a Glance

Paperback

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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