Ghosts of War in Vietnam

Heonik Kwon is Lecturer at the School of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh. He is the author of After the Massacre: Commemoration and Consolation in Ha My and My Lai (2006).

• Introduction; 1. Ghosts of war; 2. Mass excavation; 3. Missing in action; 4. The phantom leg; 5. Death in the street; 6. Transforming ghosts; 7. Money for ghosts; Conclusion.

Review of the hardback: 'The voices of Americans lost, dead, maimed physically or psychologically, fill the bookshelves. For the most part the voices of Vietnamese, living or dead, are unavailable. In his powerfully moving and beautifully written book, The Ghosts of War in Vietnam, Heonik Kwon enables those voices to be heard. The ghosts of Vietnam's wars are not metaphorical but vital presences through which Vietnamese understand their recent history, reflect on all that has happened since and attempt to resolve the contradictions of the present. These are ghost stories that will haunt you. No other book I have read about contemporary Vietnam so thoroughly, painfully, and intelligently illuminates both the country's past and present. Ghost of War in Vietnam is an indispensable book.' Marilyn Young, New York University