Surviving Twice

Surviving Twice is the story of five Vietnamese Amerasians born during the Vietnam War to American soldiers and Vietnamese mothers. Unfortunately, they were not among the few thousand Amerasian children who came to the United States before the war’s end and grew up as Americans, speaking English and attending American schools. Instead, this group of Amerasians faced much more formidable obstacles, both in Vietnam and in their new home. Surviving Twice raises significant questions about how mixed-race children born of wars and occupations are treated and the ways in which the shifting laws, policies, social attitudes, and bureaucratic red tape of two nations affect them their entire lives.

A riveting work of contemporary history on the aftermath of modern war. Not only a major contribution to Vietnam studies, it makes us realize that the pain and damage from armed conflict go on virtually forever. Like the Amerasian children conceived by warriors and victims in Vietnam, we all carry the burden of past hate and violence in our very bones and through the people Yarborough brings to life in her book, we are able to realize what a price we all pay for continuing to wage war., No other book gives us so many important insights and information, and such a deep understanding, of the almost unknown story of the Vietnamese Amerasian children born of the Vietnam War and what they suffered to survive both in Vietnam and later in America. Trin Yarborough s brave account of their moving, fascinating stories also offers unique glimpses into seldom-recorded aspects of Vietnamese culture. . . . This is a wonderful book., Trin Yarborough s intriguing and compelling account of the survival struggles of five Amerasians born during the Vietnam War, and of their painful search for their American fathers, will tug at your heart. It will also arouse disgust for the Vietnamese and American governments that turned their backs on them and the 100,000 others like them., Trin Yarborough s remarkable book reminds us that no matter how great our effort, we Americans cannot simply put Vietnam behind us. Of all the victims of that misbegotten war, the Vietnamese Amerasians may be the most deserving of our attention. I d ask that as you read their fascinating stories, you remember national debts that remain unpaid., "Trin Yarborough's intriguing and compelling account of the survival struggles of five Amerasians born during the Vietnam War, and of their painful search for their American fathers, will tug at your heart. It will also arouse disgust for the Vietnamese and American governments that turned their backs on them and the 100,000 others like them." --Gil Dorland, author of LEGACY OF DISCORD: VOICES OF THE VIETNAM WAR ERA

Trin Yarborough works on the news desk of The Daily Journal, which serves the California legal community. First involved in Southeast Asian issues as communications director and editor for the Institute for Policy Studies, she later served as director of communications for Oxfam America, one of the few agencies then sending humanitarian aid to Vietnam. Living in Los Angeles, thirty miles from the largest Vietnamese community outside Vietnam, Yarborough remains active in Southeast Asian issues.