The Dust of Life: America’s Children Abandoned in Vietnam

by Robert S. McKelvey

The Dust of Life is a collection of vivid and devastating oral histories of Vietnamese Amerasians. Abandoned during the war by their American fathers, discriminated against by the victorious Communists, and ignored for many years by the American government, they endured life in impoverished Vietnam. Their stories are sad, sometimes tragic, but they are also testimonials to the strength of human resiliency.

Robert S. McKelvey is a former marine who served in Vietnam in the late 1960s. Now a child psychiatrist, he returned to Vietnam in 1990 to begin the long series of interviews that resulted in this book. While allowing his subjects to speak for themselves, McKelvey has organized their narratives around themes common to their lives: early maternal loss, the experience of prejudice and discrimination, coping with adversity, dealing with shattered hopes for the future, and, for some, adapting to the alien environment of the United States.

While unique in many respects, the Vietnamese Amerasian story also illustrates themes that are tragically universal: neglect of the human by-products of war, the destructiveness of prejudice and racism, the pain of abandonment, and the horrors of life amidst extreme poverty, hostility, and neglect.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Bienho238 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would say this book is interesting even for a Vietnamese who did see or talk at least once in their life with such an Amerasan. There are not many works like this in general, and I rate 4* for the consequence of the book, probably leads to a lot more in-depth works in the same topic.
At some point the book is so touched, somehow is bitter and elicit lots of thinking in me.

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the book does what it wanted to do, engender sympathy for Vietnamese Amerasians. However as a book on the topic of Vietnamese Amerasians in general, an introduction, overview, analysis etc. I think it fails. I would regard it more as a supplemental book on the topic.
Sure, what you read in it, is interesting for the most part, however it does have pretty strong anecdotal element. The general information on Amerasians is very short (btw. I wish that one woman who told me Vietnamese knew no racism back then was here now), but the personal stories give some good insights. And I think what the author seems to ignore with this stories of more successful Amerasians is that all of them became like that due to a criminal enterprise. Sometimes smuggling, sometimes breaking the law in general, but all criminal.
There are some more problems regarding the word usage of the author and the way he structure his book, but for the most part, this is a fine book.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not meant to be an in depth overview of the Amerasian experience but a study from personal accounts of Amerasians who applied for immigration to the US through the program authorized by the Amerasian Homecoming Act. Like many government programs it began with good intentions, fell victim to accusations of fraudulence and then restricted the acceptance rate to the point of being nearly useless.

However, the real story is the children themselves and their struggles growing up in prejudice and poverty. The accounts of those rejected by the program because they had no proof of identity beyond their clearly non-Asian facial features was heartbreaking. Many of them had no family and no where to go.

All those interviewed were all resilient and determined to create better lives for themselves. Many had hopes of meeting their fathers although the final interview highlighted the inherent difficulties between children and the fathers who knowingly or unknowingly abandoned them when they are reunited after 20 years, each having had an entire lifetime of completely different experiences.

I do have one problem with the ethnocentrism I perceived in calling the US “home” for these now young adults. The US government and their fathers owe a debt to these children that should be paid. And bringing them to the US for a chance at a better life is one way we can begin to repay that debt. And many of them never felt truly “at home” in Vietnam do to their rejection by their communities. But it seems rather arrogant to believe that we can call this their “home” because they were fathered by men who were non existent in their lives and disappeared back to this country at the end of their tour. The idea that we can give them 6 months of training in English, some welfare for a short time and turn them loose to “succeed” because America is a land of golden opportunity if you just work hard enough is a painfully ignorant and demeaning one.

I wish these children, the ones who were brought to this country and the ones who were left behind yet again, the life they deserve. Free of poverty and support in their struggle to find a home.

[Tony Tran · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly heart wrenching and generous book dedicated to the lesser known stories of the children America left behind.

[Kevin McAvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting. Helpful to understand Vietnamese culture. The different child-raising style is a vital clue, independant vs interdependant. Makes a big difference.

[Karen (Living Unabridged)]

Moving and complicated look at the children America abandoned in Vietnam.