Hang Thi Thu Le-Tormala is adjunct instructor, Indigenous and American Indian Studies Department, Haskell Indian Nations University.
Postwar Journeys fills a significant gap in the literature
regarding post-Vietnam War efforts at creating peace and normal
relations between the United States and the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam by examining nonstate groups and people and demonstrating
how they influenced their governments' policies. Employing a
framework of transnationalism, Le-Tormala skillfully weaves
together powerful stories with international politics to
demonstrate how 'hidden historical actors' were able to make two
hostile governments in Washington, DC, and Hanoi engage with each
other to solve problems that were being ignored. There is no
comparable study that has the breadth and depth in examining the
efforts of veterans, peace groups, and individuals that ultimately
helped forge peace between the United States and Vietnam." - David
F. Schmitz, Robert Allen Skotheim Chair of History, Whitman
College, and author of Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War: The
End of the American Century
"Much has been written about the normalization of US-Vietnamese
relations in the 1990s. Far less attention has been given to the
decades of grassroots peace efforts that led to and followed that
normalization. Hang Thi Thu Le-Tormala has now beautifully
excavated this history. Through poignant stories and incisive
analysis, Postwar Journeys provides a much-needed
examination of the ongoing importance of people-to-people
diplomacy." - Scott Laderman, author of Tours of Vietnam: War,
Travel Guides, and Memory and The 'Silent Majority' Speech:
Richard Nixon, the Vietnam War, and the Origins of the New
Right
"Postwar Journeys is an impressive study that details the
transnational interactions between ordinary Vietnamese and American
citizens who helped reshape the struggle for peace and
reconciliation after the end of what the Vietnamese call the
'American War.' Addressing the efforts of Vietnamese refugees,
Amerasian children of American GIs, American and Vietnamese
veterans and their families, relatives of fallen soldiers on both
sides, and other citizens who experienced the war in one way or the
other, the author examines the journeys of individuals from varied
political, cultural, and social backgrounds. In doing so, this book
bridges a gap in the scholarship that often overlooks the role of
individual citizens on both sides in the postwar effort that led to
reconciliation between the former foes. Far-ranging in scope and
impressively researched, this book is a valuable addition to the
ever-growing historiography of the war." - James H. Willbanks,
professor emeritus of military history, US Command and General
Staff College, and author of Abandoning Vietnam: How America
Left and South Vietnam Lost Its War
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