"The autobiographical accounts reveal key themes in the Vietnamese American experience and address important historiographical topics...this book contributes to refugee history, an important if understudied aspect of the immigrant experience. Includes a useful bibliography and videography. Highly recommended. Choice "Sucheng Chan's groundbreaking book boldly addresses issues within American Studies that remain largely ignored or avoided. The book may focus on Vietnamese Americans, yet it poignantly and explicitly reflects upon Asian American Studies as a field of study. Chan addresses the field's tensions between capitalism and Communism and between pedagogy and politics
all while highlighting the complexities of Vietnamese American experiences...The student-written narratives in the book are themselves a refreshing and unique approach for Vietnamese American Studies and Asian American Studies...This book will be valuable to both trained scholars and novice students of Vietnamese Americans." The Journal of American Ethnic History