Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the Americans, and the Secret Wars for Laos, 1942-1992 Jane Hamilton-Merritt, Nobel-nominated scholar and photojournalist, has followed the plight of the Hmong and the war in Indochina since the 1960s. The staunchest of allies, the Hmong sided with the Americans against the North Vietnamese and were foot soldiers in the brutal secret war for Laos. Since the war, abandoned by their American allies, the Hmong have been subjected to a campaign of genocide by the North Vietnamese, including the use of chemical weapons. Tragic Mountains moves from the big picture of international diplomacy and power politics to the small villages and heroic engagements in the Lao jungle. It is a story of courage, brutality, heroism, betrayal, resilience, and hope. Jane Hamilton-Merritt was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for her coverage of the Vietnam War, and in 1998 for the Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of her long-standing efforts on behalf of the Hmong. Tragic Mountains is her account of the historic struggle of the Hmong and of their betrayal by the United States. Publication date: 11/1/1999 Format: paper 47 b&w photos ISBN-13: 978-0-253-20756-2 ISBN: 0-253-20756-8

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The Stones Cry Out:
A Cambodian Childhood, 1975-1980

Publication date: 4/1/1999
Format: paper
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-21291-7
ISBN: 0-253-21291-X

In 1975, Molyda Szymusiak (her adoptive name), the daughter of a high Cambodian official, was twelve years old and leading a relatively peaceful life in Phnom Penh. Suddenly, on April 17, Khmer Rouge radicals seized the capital and drove all its inhabitants into the countryside. The chaos that followed has been widely publicized, most notably in the movie The Killing Fields. Murderous brutality coupled with raging famine caused the death of more than two million people, nearly a third of the population. This powerful memoir documents the horror Cambodians experienced in daily life.

Molyda Szymusiak (Buth Keo) was born in Phnom Penh on October 19, 1962. After the 1975 Khmer Rouge takeover, she and her family were driven from the capital into the Cambodian countryside. Molyda and the three surviving members of her family reached the Kao I Dang refugee camp on the Thai border in 1980. In 1981 they went to Paris, where Molyda and two of her cousins were adopted by Polish exiles Jan Szymusiak, an academic historian, and his wife, Carmen, a psychiatrist.

This book is part of the Indiana University Press Vietnam War Era Classics Series

To Bear Any Burden:
The Vietnam War and Its Aftermath in the Words of Americans and Southeast Asians

Publication date: 4/1/1999
Format: paper
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-21304-4
ISBN: 0-253-21304-5
 
The 48 American and Asian veterans, refugees, and officials who speak in this book come from widely divergent backgrounds. In their narratives we hear them reliving crucial moments in the preparation, execution, and aftermath of war. It is a riveting, eyewitness account of the war and also reclaims from this tragic continuum larger patterns of courage and dedication.
 
Al Santoli is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestseller Everything We Had, which was nominated for a 1983 American Book Award. He served in Vietnam with the 25th Infantry Division and received three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for valor

 

 In The Jaws of History

Publication date: 4/1/1999
Format: paper 28 b&w photos
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-21301-3
ISBN: 0-253-21301-0
 
In the Jaws of History is the most important book written on the Vietnam War from the viewpoint of the South, from an author who was a senior official of the South Vietnamese government and later ambassador to the U.S.
 
Bui Diem is now a consultant on Vietnamese affairs living in Rockville, Maryland.
 
David Chanoff is the co-author of several other books on Vietnam.