My Viet : Vietnamese American Literature in English, 1962-Present

Twentieth-century America reduced Vietnam to “’Nam”: the surreal site of a military nightmare. The early twenty-first century has seen the revision of this image to recognize the people and culture of Vietnam itself. Vietnamese Americans, both immigrants and the American children of immigrants, have participated in changing this perception, consistently presenting their side of the story in memoirs published since the 1960s. __My Viet__ is the first anthology to provide a comprehensive overview of these memoirs and the historical picture they offer and to include Vietnamese writing that goes beyond memoir, revealing a new generation of Vietnamese American poetry, fiction, and drama. The narratives in Part 1, Tales of Witness, treat the major events of the Vietnamese diasapora: Vietnam’s resistance to French colonization, the “Vietnam War,” post-war Vietnamese life, immigration to and life in America, and reconnections with contemporary Vietnam. Part 2, Tales of Imagination, moves beyond the master narratives of war and immigration to survey exciting innovations in the work of Vietnamese American writers. The texts demonstrate the full flowering of Vietnamese American literature in English and are among the best contemporary writings of any category. __My Viet__ presents a rich, varied, and provocative collection of literary work that explores Vietnam from many Vietnamese points of view, sees America through a specifically Vietnamese American lens, and broadens the scope of Vietnamese American literature to its fullest extent. Introduction: 'nam No Longer / Michele Janette -- From Fallen Leaves / Nguyễn Thị Thu-lâm -- From Shallow Graves / Tran Thi Nga, Wendy Wilder Larsen -- From Twenty Years And Twenty Days / Nguyễn Cao Kỳ -- From A Thousand Tears Falling / Yung Krall -- From A Vietcong Memoir / Truong Nhu Tang, David Chanoff, Doan Van Toai -- Electioneering : Vietnamese Style / Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai -- From No Passenger On The River / Tran Van Dinh -- From Our Endless War : Inside Vietnam / Trần Văn Đôn -- From In The Jaws Of History / Bùi Điệm, David Chanoff -- From When Heaven And Earth Changed Places / Le Ly Hayslip, Jay Wurtz -- From The Sacred Willow / Duong Van Mai Elliott -- From At Home In America / Nguyen Van Vu, Bob Pittman -- From South Wind Changing / Jade Ngọc Quang Huỳnh -- From The Unwanted / Kien Nguyen -- The Stories They Carried / Andrew Lam -- From Catfish And Mandala / Andrew X. Pham -- From Beyond The East Wind / Duong Van Quyen, Jewell Reinhart Coburn -- The Little Weaver Of Thái-yên Village / Trần Khánh Tuyết -- From The Land I Lost / Huynh Quang Nhuong -- From Miles From Home / Anna Kim-lan Mccauley -- From Monkey Bridge / Lan Cao -- From Placing The Accents / Trương Tran -- From Georgia Red Dirt / Andrew Spieldenner -- From Song Of The Cicadas / Mộng Lan -- From In The Mynah Bird's Own Words / Barbara Tran -- From The Book Of Salt / Monique Truong -- From The Gangster We Are All Looking For / Lê Thi Diem Thúy -- From All Around What Empties Out / Linh Dinh -- From Visitors / Aimee Phan -- From Breaking The Map / Kim-an Lieberman -- From Living Dead In Denmark / Qui Nguyen -- It Was His Story / Khanh Ho. Edited By Michele Janette. Includes Bibliographical References. Twentieth-century America reduced Vietnam to Nam : the surreal site of a military nightmare. The early twenty-first century has seen the revision of this image to recognize the people and culture of Vietnam itself. Vietnamese Americans, both immigrants and the American children of immigrants, have participated in changing this perception, consistently presenting their side of the story in memoirs published since the 1960s. My Viet is the first anthology to provide a comprehensive overview of these memoirs and the historical picture they offer and to include Vietnamese writing that goes beyond memoir, revealing a new generation of Vietnamese American poetry, fiction, and drama. The narratives in Part 1, Tales of Witness, treat the major events of the Vietnamese diasapora: Vietnam s resistance to French colonization, the Vietnam War, post-war Vietnamese life, immigration to and life in America, and reconnections with contemporary Vietnam. Part 2, Tales of Imagination, moves beyond the master narratives of war and immigration to survey exciting innovations in the work of Vietnamese American writers. The texts demonstrate the full flowering of Vietnamese American literature in English and are among the best contemporary writings of any category. My Viet presents a rich, varied, and provocative collection of literary work that explores Vietnam from many Vietnamese points of view, sees America through a specifically Vietnamese American lens, and broadens the scope of Vietnamese American literature to its fullest extent. -- Amazon.com

Ancient Hawaiians lived in a world where all of nature was alive with the spirits of their ancestors. These aumakua have lived on through the ages as family guardians and take on many natural forms, thus linking many Hawaiians to the animals, plants, and natural phenomena of their island home. Individuals have a reciprocal relationship with their guardian spirits and offer worship and sacrifice in return for protection, inspiration, and guidance.

Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits is told in words and pictures by award-winning artist Caren Loebel-Fried. The ancient legends are brought to life in sixty beautiful block prints, many vibrantly colored, and narrated in a lively "read-aloud" style, just as storytellers of old may have told them hundreds of years ago. Notes are included, reflecting the careful and extensive research done for this volume at the Bishop Museum Library and Archives in Honolulu and at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. A short section on the process of creating the block prints that illustrate the book is also included.