The Dust of Life: America's Children Abandoned in Vietnam (Paperback)

by Robert S. McKelvey (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
While television accounts of war and civil strife tend to devote substantial time to the plight of the helpless civilian, published accounts largely concentrate on the military and political aspects of the fighting, relegating the civil sector to token treatment. McKelvey, a former Marine Corps officer who served in Vietnam, offers an account of one largely forgotten aspect of the non-military side of that warAthe children born out of liaisons between American servicemen and Vietnamese women. Now adults, they have spent their lives caught between two societies whose racial and cultural practices have left many of them emotionally shattered. McKelvey, a child psychiatrist at the Oregon Health Sciences University, provides a psychological overview as he narrates the extraordinary problems these folks faced as children and adults. He covers the Amerasian experience in both Vietnam and the United States and concludes with an emotional chapter on a few attempts to locate American fathers. A useful introduction to a neglected subject. Recommended for academic and public libraries.AJohn R. Vallely, Siena Coll. Lib., Loudonville, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Of all the mistakes made during the U.S. experience in Vietnam, one of the most shameful was the treatment after the war of the Amerasian children who were products of soldiers' liaisons with Vietnamese women. Already abandoned by their American fathers, most were also abandoned by their mothers at the end of the war. McKelvey eloquently profiles many of those now grown children and their battles to survive in a country that didn't want them. Many Amerasians and their families were banished to "economic development zones" to eke out an existence by farming. Most were teased and tormented so much that few finished school, locking them even further in poverty. Their stories are mostly of heartbreak and loss, toiling hard in an impoverished country, and discrimination. McKelvey sees the Amerasian Homecoming Act of 1987 as too little, too late. Nonetheless, he profiles those who did make it to the U.S. By contrast, they seem luckier than those who were not granted sanctuary here. For all history collections. Marlene Chamberlain --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 135 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295978368
• ISBN-13: 978-0295978369
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #243,005 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Book Review, March 29, 2008

By	M. Lyman "MEL" (Alexandria, MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A very heart wrenching story. More people should read this and understand the difficulties associated with war, even many years after.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great work from a dedicated author, December 14, 2002

By	R. ARANT "toun" (Lanesville, Indiana USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Few seem to understand the aftermath of the US involvement in Southeast Asia better than Robert McKelvey. The stories of abandoned Amerasian children told in "The Dust of Life" ring true. The author's later work, "A Gift of Barbed Wire," tells the equally painful stories of our abandoned "allies." Having once worked with the 4,000 Amerasian children living throughout Thailand, I would love to see the author examine the fates of the Amerasian children left behind in Thailand. An examination of the Lao "seminar" (reeducation) camps is long overdue as well, and is certainly well within McKelvey's reach.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars shameful heartbraking stories !, August 6, 2002

By A Customer

this was a very informative book about what took place during the war. These stories were really sad. I would like the author to write another book about this, and expand more on their lives after coming to America, and detailed accounts on meeting their american fathers...This story which is non fiction, has opened my eyes even larger to the horrors of love affairs during war, and the tragedy it brings to the innocent children involved.