*Finalist for the California Book Award*
The thirteen stories in "Birds of Paradise Lost" shimmer with humor and pathos as they chronicle the anguish and joy and bravery of America's newest Americans, the troubled lives of those who fled Vietnam and remade themselves in the San Francisco Bay Area. The past--memories of war and its aftermath, of murder, arrest, re-education camps and new economic zones, of escape and shipwreck and atrocity--is ever present in these wise and compassionate stories. It plays itself out in surprising ways in the lives of people who thought they had moved beyond the nightmares of war and exodus. It comes back on TV in the form of a confession from a cannibal; it enters the Vietnamese restaurant as a Vietnam Vet with a shameful secret; it articulates itself in the peculiar tics of a man with Tourette's Syndrome who struggles to deal with a profound tragedy. "Birds of Paradise Lost" is an emotional tour de force, intricately rendering the false starts and revelations in the struggle for integration, and in so doing, the human heart.

Cultural Writing. Asian American Studies. In his long-overdue first collection of essays, noted journalist and NPR commentator Andrew Lam explores his life-long struggle for identity as a Viet Kieu, or a Vietnamese national living abroad. At age eleven, Lam, the son of a South Vietnamese general, came to California on the eve of the fall of Saigon to communist forces. He traded his Vietnamese name for a more American one and immersed himself in the allure of the American Dream: something not clearly defined for him or his family. Reflecting on the meanings of the Vietnam War to the Vietnamese people themselves--particularly to those in exile--Lam picks with searing honesty at the roots of his doubleness and his parents' longing for a homeland that no longer exists.

In Saving Sight, Dr. Andrew Lam explains the intricacies of human sight and shines a light on the heroes who fought to save it, while also revealing the personal side of life as an eye surgeon - the stress and joy of a man who, on his best days, can turn darkness into light. Many remarkable life stories illuminate this autobiographical/biographical/historical work. Included are Louis Braille, Judah Folkman, Harold Ridley and many others who have enabled us to see in all kinds of unimaginable ways.

A turning point in twentieth-century American history, the war in Vietnam raised profound questions that affected every aspect of life in the United States. A dramatic case study of the political passions, spiritual pain, and cultural divisions produced by the war, "What's Going On? California and the Vietnam Era" provides for the first time a balanced and personal look at the Vietnam years in California, revealing their impact on American life and culture. Wallace Stegner believed that California 'is like the rest of the United States, only more so', and in this book we discover the truth behind that sentiment. Conceived in tandem with the Oakland Museum of California's innovative national touring exhibition of the same title, this absorbing collection of essays captures the essence of a unique time and place. The exhibition itself centers on events between 1965 and 1975 and examines the legacy of those years on the state today through some 500 historical artifacts - documents, news accounts, photographs, film clips, musical excerpts, and personal stories presented in multiple formats. These accompanying essays delve deeper into the themes raised by the exhibit, looking into such topics as the relationship between Cold War politics, the Vietnam War, and California's economy; social activism from the Right and the Left; the rise of the feminist, African American, Chicano, and veterans' movements; Vietnamese refugees; media images of the war; and the legacy of those years on the entire nation.