The Dream Shattered: Vietnamese Gangs in America [Paperback]

Patrick Du Phuoc Long (Author), Laura Ricard (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1555533140 | ISBN-13: 978-1555533144 | Publication Date: February 27, 1997

In this eloquent account, Patrick Du Phuoc Long discusses why so many children of Indochinese refugees who fled to the U.S. after the Vietnam War are turning to gang life. Du Phuoc Long interweaves the true stories of Indochinese youths with his personal experiences as a trusted counselor to Vietnamese children.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Not a comprehensive study, this anecdotal book, based on the author's experience as a juvenile counselor in California, provides some valuable news about the factors contributing to the unfortunate growth of Vietnamese gangs and crime in the U.S. Many of his counselees are children of uneducated refugees, and they have materialistic American cravings their parents cannot fathom. Vietnamese parenting values run counter to American individualism and self-expression, according to Du Phuoc Long, leading parents to feel powerless when their newly emboldened children challenge them. When schools do not welcome them and society views them as alien, such youths turn to gangs for acceptance. Many of these gangs prey on the Vietnamese community itself, even on its members' own relatives. The author warns against a reliance on prisons as the solution; instead, he proposes more counseling and intervention programs to provide better options for gang-bound youth. Co-author Ricard is a freelance writer.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

A penetrating insight into an increasingly serious social problem. -- Stanley Karnow, author of Vietnam

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Northeastern (February 27, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555533140
• ISBN-13: 978-1555533144
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,743,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbingly Real, May 16, 2000

By 

Tim Peeler "tpeeler" (Hickory, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dream Shattered: Vietnamese Gangs in America (Paperback)

Long, a counselor at a juvenile detention center in California, discusses the rise of Viet Namese gangs across the US. The book is essentially a lengthy illustration essay that employs narrative accounts of numerous adolescents and their families. Long provides through his firsthand experience, a frightening but sympathetic glimpse at one of the untold results of the war that turned a generation upside down. It is a story filled with cruelty and abandonment on both an individual and a national level. Perhaps the most valuable component of this study is the actual dialogue between Long and his wards. Long is engaging and wise, and the words of his "clients" are often terrifying and explicit.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most insighful books I've ever read., September 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dream Shattered: Vietnamese Gangs in America (Hardcover)

The author not only addressed the problem, but also showed how he helps solve it. He shows the pain these youth go through so poignantly. I work with vietnamese refugee youth and this book taught me so much in how the vietnamese family works and how to adress certain problems. this is probably the most down to earth book i've ever read. It's definatly easy to read too.

5.0 out of 5 stars the untold stories of a generation of Vietnamese refugee youth, September 21, 2010

By 

Unknown (San Jose) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Dream Shattered: Vietnamese Gangs in America (Paperback)

One of the few books out there that capture the stories of Vietnamese refugee youth that turned to a life of gangs. The author covers the plight of the Vietnamese boat refugee population, Amerasians, and the general struggle to find themselves growing up in poverty. A great read for anyone; especially those that grew up with friends and family that were impacted by gang violence. The author focuses on San Jose because he was a counselor at one of the Ranches.