"There have been a succession of books on the Vietnam conflict, though
there have been few that have told it from the South Vietnam point of view,
from the aspect of the true losers, those who fought for a and believed in
the nascent Southern Republic. Ngo The Vinh brings us essays illuminating
his experience as doctor with the crack rangers, here in dealing with the
dichotomies of combat. He then moves to the disconcerting life of a refugee
rebuilding a life in the strangeness of Southern California and the struggle
to reestablish in his profession amongst the politically riven ex-pat
community of the 1/2 million boat people. A perspective totally neglected in
prose so far. You will find yourself slipping in the mindset of the soldier
doctor, prisoner in the gulag and liberated uprooted refugees through to
nascent middle class American. The whole time you hear the plaintive
tones of a man attached still to the spiritual roots of that haunting country
Viet Nam."
TIM PAGE, Time - Life, UPI free lance reporter