The Bamboo Chest: An Adventure in Healing the Trauma of War [Paperback]

Frederick K. Graham (Author), Cork Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2004

Finally, the whole, uplifting and extraordinary story can be be told: $20 Million in Captain Kidd's treasure on an island off the coast of Vietnam; an eighteen-year-old photojournalist from California, haunted by the Vietnam War. Travel with Frederick "Cork" Graham in The Bamboo Chest from San Francisco to Thailand and a Socialist Republic of Vietnam political prison on an amazingly healing adventure that will capture the world's imagination for years!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"--a wise and intelligent writer whose story is sure to please any reader interested in memoir and adventure." -- Maxine Chernoff, author of A Boy In Winter

"I'll look for it on the best seller list." -- Charlton Heston

"Make way Indiana Jones, here comes Freddie Graham Jr." -- The Mercury News

About the Author

Frederick "Cork" Graham has lived and traveled extensively throughout Asia, and Latin America, first as a Third Culture Kid (TCK), and then as an awardwinning journalist. A negotiation specialist and guest speaker on Vietnam, interrogation techniques, political prisons, guerrilla warfare, post-traumatic stress, and conservation issues,on NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, BBC and Good Morning America, he is also the second American trained by the US Navy SEALs at the Salvadoran Naval Special Forces School.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dragon Press Publishing, Inc.; 1st edition (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970358016
• ISBN-13: 978-0970358011
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,472,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cork Graham is a San Francisco-based former CIA paramilitary officer, and combat photojournalist, who has appeared as a guest on Good Morning America, CBS Morning Show, NBC News, ABC News, BBC, and many others. He has reported, edited and photographed for the Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, ABC News, The Times, Paris Match and Vogue. Graham is the second American to complete the Naval Special Forces course created at La Union, El Salvador by the US Navy SEALs. He served in the Latin America theater of the Cold War. His Vietnam prison/treasure hunting memoir, THE BAMBOO CHEST, became a #1 NYT and Amazon bestseller, staying for 3 weeks at #2 on Amazon.com. To learn more, please visit www.corkgraham.com. Or Facebook and Twitter @corkgraham

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Coming of Age Memoir, February 17, 2005

By 

T_Chang "Tommy" (Sausalito, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bamboo Chest: An Adventure in Healing the Trauma of War (Paperback)

I had ordered this book after hearing the author interviewed last month on the KFOG "Morning Show" with Dave Morey here in the SF Bay Area, hearing him talk deeply and thoughtfully about his childhood living in Vietnam and post-traumatic stress that he was only able to heal through a year of solitary confinement in a Vietnamese reeducation camp. When I read the book, I felt as as though he were telling me his story in his own voice: he delivers an excellent narration and does write as he talks.

From a very self-effacing point of view, the author is remarkable in how he is at once delivering his personal life experience from the very naive, and immature attitude of a teenager making the break from home in 1983, who as it would happen has a number of lucky events occur meeting a journalism mentor and invited on the treasure hunt, much in the spirit of what Joseph Campbell called "following your bliss". At the same time speaking from the point of view of the adult author he is now, looking back at the young and impetuous person he was. A rich mix!

The author's manner in which he delivers the historical background of each place (part one is Thailand, and part two is Vietnam) as the young teenager he was grows from naive idealist to mature and responsible adult is in no way intrusive and makes "The Bamboo Chest" a solid piece of work.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has wondered "what if?": "What if I took that life path, and not this one?" If you are interested in the history and culture of Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam from a very non-politically correct, honest, and accurate depiction of Southeast Asia, then this book and "Shadows and Wind" by Rober Templar are for you.

If you prefer to get a more politically correct and inaccurate depiction of modern Vietnam, benefiting only American coporations and those benefitting from cheap labor, then get David Lamb's book. For a round eye, Mr. Graham spins a very lucid rendition of Southeast Asia.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good View from a non-Viet, February 17, 2005

By 

D.Tran (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bamboo Chest: An Adventure in Healing the Trauma of War (Paperback)

"The Bamboo Chest" is a worthwhile read from the point of a American. For another great read, get "Catfish and Mandala" by a Viet-American, the story of a young man who went back to Vietnam, while on cycling trip around the world and has an opportunity to see his history in a new, more modern light.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars layer upon layer, February 25, 2005

By 

enthusiastic reader (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bamboo Chest: An Adventure in Healing the Trauma of War (Paperback)

I wish they had 1/2 stars, because this is more than a 3 and I can be very critical in my reading. This is a very deep book! I have read it three times since I received it for Christmas. There are so may layers of information: conscious, subconscious, political, socialogical, historical. The author has put a great deal of thought into his words and how they affect the reader in an inspiring tale of overcoming challenges that has made me look only at how I approach the dilemmas that have littered my world, but also the simple little things in this world that in contrast have that much more an impact, like our everday interactions with family, friends, and employees. As said, I received The Bamboo Chest as a gift. It has become my 'go to' book to buy for friends and family who love to read dramatic books/memoirs that leave the heart uplifted.