Thirteen-year-old Mai and her family embark on a dangerous sea voyage from Vietnam to Hong Kong to escape the unpredictable and often brutal Vietnamese government.

This collection of fictional remembrances of a Marine during the Vietnam conflict is told in a series of short pieces that describe the particular horrors of this war through one man's eyes. From 'The Gift', a story about boot camp and his love-hate for the drill sergeant, to 'Zelda Waiting', which finds him leaving Vietnam 'packed in the back of a truck with all our paraphernalia and our travel brochures', these vignettes take the reader into the dark world of this war. The absurdity of this time is profiled in 'Today's Spectators', in which an argument between two South Vietnamese factions plays out like a football game while the Americans eat peanuts and popcorn and watch a fighter plane strafe a convoy of trucks and tanks: This is a movie. I knew it, I knew it all along. Reminiscent of 'Apocalypse Now' in its treatment of meaninglessness and truthfulness, this book puts the reader square in the middle of a time and a place that even now remains controversial.

"When Mai's family discovers that Vietnam government soldiers will soon apprehend her father and grandmother, the family slips away in the night. They trudge through the swamps of the Mekong Delta toward the sea. The gut-wrenching trip to Hong Kong is just another step toward a new life, which the family eventually finds. Whelan's characters are distinctive, and her story is riveting, haunting, and memorable, reflecting the human virtues of determination, hope, love, and courage in the face of the most devastating of circumstances and injustices."--Booklist.

In this “essential” memoir, a former marine returns to Vietnam years later to try to make sense of the war (Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead). When William Broyles Jr. was drafted, he was a twenty-four-year-old student at Oxford University in England, hoping to avoid military service. During his physical exam, however, he realized that he couldn’t let social class or education give him special privileges. He joined the marines, and soon commanded an infantry platoon in the foothills near Da Nang. More than a decade later, Broyles found himself flooded with emotion during the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. He decided to return to Vietnam and confront what he’d been through. Broyles was one of the very first combat veterans to return to the battlefields. No American before or since has gone so deeply into the other side of the war: the enemy side. Broyles interviews dozens of Vietnamese, from the generals who ran the war to the men and women who fought it. He moves from the corridors of power in Hanoi—so low-tech that the plumbing didn’t work—to the jungles and rice paddies where he’d fought. He meets survivors of American B-52 strikes and My Lai, and grieves with a woman whose son was killed by his own platoon. Along the way, Broyles also explores the deep bonds he shared with his own comrades, and the mystery of why men love war even as they hate it. Amidst the landscape of death, his formerly faceless enemies come to life. They had once tried to kill each other, but they are all brothers now. Previously published as Brothers in Arms, this edition includes a new preface by the author.

The classic account of the abandonment of American POWs in Vietnam by the US government. For many Americans, the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan bring back painful memories of one issue in particular: American policy on the rescue of and negotiation for American prisoners. One current American POW of the Taliban, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, stands as their symbol. Thousands of Vietnam veteran POW activists worry that Bergdahl will suffer the fate of so many of their POW/MIA comrades—abandonment once the US leaves that theater of war. Kiss the Boys Goodbye convincingly shows that a legacy of shame remains from America’s ill-fated involvement in Vietnam. Until US government policy on POW/MIAs changes, it remains one of the most crucial issues for any American soldier who fights for home and country, particularly when we are engaged with an enemy that doesn’t adhere to the international standards for the treatment of prisoners—or any American hostage—as the graphic video of Daniel Pearl’s decapitation on various Jihad websites bears out. In this explosive book, Monika Jensen-Stevenson and William Stevenson provide startling evidence that American troops were left in captivity in Indochina, victims of their government’s abuse of secrecy and power. The book not only delves into the world of official obstruction, missing files, censored testimony, and the pressures brought to bear on witnesses ready to tell the truth, but also reveals the trauma on patriotic families torn apart by a policy that, at first, seemed unbelievable to them. First published in 1990, Kiss the Boys Goodbye has become a classic on the subject. This new edition features an afterword, which fills in the news on the latest verifiable scandal produced by the Senate Select Committee on POWs. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

It's a November day and a visit to the grave site of Anthony Rutigliano, one of countless fallen American young men from the Vietnam war triggers memories of years past for John Fratangelo. This true story tells of the life John and Tony, two inseparable cousins had during their young years as kids in the Bronx and their adventures together through their teen years and their time in Vietnam. It tells of John's young marriage while in the army and his trials and tribulations that he endures during his two years in military service. The book has some humorous moments but sadly they are overwhelmed by the heartaches and losses that occur during the military. The story is highlighted by the apparition that John has of Tony on the night that John finds out about Tony being killed in Vietnam. This scene was what inspired the writing of this book. However, the story does not end there. It goes on to tell of the tragic events that continue in the life of John, nicknamed "Pizza" by his Recon buddies. It shows and informs all who read it that combat is no joke. It's real and horrific and all those who have endured it can attest to its atrocities. "The Last Goodbye" is a read that is sure to bring both a smile on your face and a tear to your eyes and will have a lasting impact on the way people who read it come to feel about the combat veteran and have a new found respect for every man and woman who proudly serve their country so that you, the reader and future generations will be able to live free and safe forever.

Winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist for First Fiction "A quietly brilliant disquisition . . . told in prose that is so startling in its spare beauty that I found myself thinking about Khong's turns of phrase for days after I finished reading."—Doree Shafrir, The New York Times Book Review Her life at a crossroads, a young woman goes home again in this funny and inescapably moving debut from a wonderfully original new literary voice. Freshly disengaged from her fiancé and feeling that life has not turned out quite the way she planned, thirty-year-old Ruth quits her job, leaves town and arrives at her parents’ home to find that situation more complicated than she'd realized. Her father, a prominent history professor, is losing his memory and is only erratically lucid. Ruth’s mother, meanwhile, is lucidly erratic. But as Ruth's father’s condition intensifies, the comedy in her situation takes hold, gently transforming her all her grief. Told in captivating glimpses and drawn from a deep well of insight, humor, and unexpected tenderness, Goodbye, Vitamin pilots through the loss, love, and absurdity of finding one’s footing in this life.