Title: The broken country
Description: The Broken Country uses a violent incident that took place in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2012 as a springboard for examining the long-term cultural and psychological effects of the Vietnam War. To make sense of the shocking and baffling incident--in which a young homeless man born in Vietnam stabbed a number of white men purportedly in retribution for the war--Paisley Rekdal draws on a remarkable range of material and fashions it into a compelling account of the dislocations suffered by the Vietnamese and also by American-born veterans over the past decades. She interweaves a narrative about the crime with information collected in interviews, historical examination of the arrival of Vietnamese immigrants in the 1970s, a critique of portrayals of Vietnam in American popular culture, and discussions of the psychological consequences of trauma. This work allows us to better understand transgenerational and cultural trauma and advances our still complicated struggle to comprehend the war.
Subjects: Immigrants, Vietnamese, Violence, Mentally ill homeless persons, Crimes against, Crime, Emigration and immigration, Psychological aspects, War and society, Veterans, War, History, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Vietnamese Americans, Social conditions, Political aspects, Asian americans, Immigrants, united states, Homeless persons, Vietnam war, 1961-1975, veterans, Vietnam war, 1961-1975, united states, War, psychological aspects
Places: United States, Vietnam
People: Kiet Thanh Ly (1975-)
Time periods: 20th century