Customer Reviews

Where Feasts Come Rarely: A Viet Nam Album

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The author served in the United States Navy off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam War and then was part of a program to assist farmers in managing their livestock. Heubeck coordinated CARE relief efforts during the South Vietnamese abandonment of the central highlands and the fall of the South Vietnamese government. Heubeck continued to live in Vietnam for fifteen months after the communists gained control of the entire country. This book is a collection of photos of the Vietnamese land and people.

While the photos are not dated, it would appear that they were taken after the war was over, as the people do not appear to have the intense look of those under fire. Implements of war appear in only four photos, there is one of a Caucasian man seated on the barrel of a self-propelled artillery piece across from another of a little boy playing with a bazooka. The only other photo that is mildly disturbing is one of hundreds of children lying packed in a room sleeping. Given the circumstances it is a logical assumption that they are war orphans.

Unlike so many photos that could have been taken at this time in the history of Vietnam, these are not gut wrenching in content. All are mild and generally show the people simply living out their lives. In many ways it is as if the war never existed.