Inheriting the War: Poetry and Prose by Descendants of Vietnam Veterans and Refugees

by Yusef Komunyakaa (Foreword), Laren McClung (Editor)

Descendants of Vietnam veterans and refugees confront the aftermath of war and, in verse and prose, deliver another kind of war story. Fifty years after the Vietnam War, this anthology by descendants of Vietnam veterans and refugees―American, Vietnamese, Vietnamese Diaspora, Hmong, Australian, and others―confronts war and its aftermath. What emerges is an affecting portrait of the effects of war and family―an intercultural, generational dialogue on silence, memory, landscape, imagination, Agent Orange, displacement, postwar trauma, and the severe realities that are carried home. Including such acclaimed voices as Viet Thanh Nguyen, Karen Russell, Terrance Hayes, Suzan-Lori Parks, Nick Flynn, and Ocean Vuong, Inheriting the War enriches the discourse of the Vietnam War and provides a collective conversation that attempts to transcend the recursion of history. “Each unique work in Inheriting the War embraces a collective that aims to engage through some daring and passionate truths calibrated by bravery.” ―Yusef Komunyakaa, from the foreword

Genres: Poetry, War, Nonfiction, Asia, Memoir, History, Essays

432 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2017

About the author

Yusef Komunyakaa (born April 29, 1947) is an American poet who teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Komunyakaa received the 2007 Louisiana Writer Award for his enduring contribution to the poetry world.

His subject matter ranges from the black general experience through rural Southern life before the Civil Rights time period and his experience as a soldier during the Vietnam War.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Erika Schoeps · Rating 4 out of 5]

A diverse collection of authors-- some better known, all with different backgrounds (2nd generation Vietnamese immigrant, 1st generation, sons and daughters of still-living Vietnam veterans, sons and daughters of tragically perished Vietnam veterans, and more) tackle Vietnam's direct, sometimes indirect effects on their own lives, their families lives, and the lives of their communities.

My favorite thing about this anthology was the tremendous scope and diversity of viewpoints. I've never read an anthology with stories from so many different people and possibly set within such a long time period. When switching from story to story, you could always be surprised by something radically different. For me, anthologies cause fatigue and boredom when they limit their scope and try to stay too thematically similar. Inheriting the War diverges wildly and celebrates the loose adherence to a theme. I finished this feeling as though I had explored every nook and cranny of the Vietnam War. I felt connected and embraced and affected by all the possible situations that had resulted from this awful, imposing (ultimately global) conflict.

[BMR, LCSW · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway earlier this year.

This book is a compelling collection of essays, poetry, and prose in reaction to Vietnam (incl. US involvement in Cambodia and Laos), and its ongoing fallout. I learned quite a bit, including that Australians were also fighting and dying in Vietnam.

I preferred the essays to the prose, but that's simply my literary preference. The same reason why I am not a fan of short stories: I always want to know more.

Recommended for anyone whose life was touched by the wars in SE Asia caused by US interference, and history geeks.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting, but disappointing book. I had read many of the stories and poems before and was looking forward to a wider range of stories and poems. The title is a bit misleading, the Vietnam Veterans are actually USA veterans of the Vietnam war and not Vietnam Veterans, the book also lacks a rounding of the story by omitting, I can only believe for reasons that the editor can explain, any stories and poems by actual Vietnam Veterans or the Vietnamese, north and south, that remain in Vietnam....The descendants in the book are not the only descendants of this war....

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed many essays and poems in this collection. It helps that some of my favorite poets writing today are Vietnamese American (Hieu Minh Nguyen, Paul Tran, & Ocean Vuong). That being said, the personal essays included in this anthology really blew me away. It contains many thoughtful reflections about the legacies of war in a family. It is definitely worth picking up and skimming through!

[Faith 09 · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enthralling read.

[Pat Magee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for veterans of that conflict itself. Good review, healing words by two-or-more-degrees of separation. Nonfiction & poetry worthwhile reading from famous names.

[Ryan Kooy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry is at its best when it expresses something universal and profound. And no experience is more universal or profound than one's relationship with their parents. From childhood to adulthood, be it presence or absence; parents are a massive part of how our identity is defined. And this collection is all that intensity magnified a thousandfold! Vietnam was such an unimaginably intense experience, hearing firsthand how a war trickled down a full generation is insane. And the thousands of ways it could push a person's life.

I'd recommend reading this by keeping it on the nightstand or reading table and reading through in pieces, it has phenomenal variety in the style. And the relationships presented are so complex and raw, it's like how you shouldn't chug whiskey. Not fun for you, not a good use of whiskey.