Voices from the Plain of Jars
Subtitle: life under an air war
By: edited by Fred Branfman ; with essays and drawings by Laotian Villagers
Edition: 2nd ed.
Series: New perspectives in Southeast Asian studies
Publisher: The University of Wisconsin Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Madison, Wis
Language: eng
Number of pages: 176
ISBN-13: 9780299292249; 9780299292232
Subjects: Vietnam War, 1961-1975; American Aerial operations; Laotian Personal narratives
Description: During the Vietnam War the United States government waged a massive, secret air war in neighboring Laos. Two million tons of bombs were dropped on one million people. Fred Branfman, an educational advisor living in Laos at the time, interviewed over 1,000 Laotian survivors. Shocked by what he heard and saw, he urged them to record their experiences in essays, poems, and pictures. Voices from the Plain of Jars was the result of that effort. When first published in 1972, this book was instrumental in exposing the bombing. In this expanded edition, Branfman follows the story forward in time, describing the hardships that Laotians faced after the war when they returned to find their farm fields littered with cluster munitions—explosives that continue to maim and kill today.
Notes: Previous ed.: New York : Harper & Row, 1972.

Includes bibliographical references.