The University of Tennessee Press notes:
“Fifty years on from the Vietnam War, it can be easy to overlook the civilian lives that were forever changed by this endlessly debated global conflict. In Land of Dreams: An Immigrant’s Journey from War-Torn Vietnam to America, author C. L. Hoang recalls memories of how the war dramatically affected his own life and the lives of his family.
Spanning two continents and more than ten years, Hoang’s journey begins with his childhood in Saigon, South Vietnam, in the 1960s and continues as he crosses the Pacific Ocean to study in the US in 1974. When Saigon fell to the Communists of North Vietnam just six months later, he found himself cut off from his family in a new and vastly different country. Struggling to adapt and survive while hanging on to his college dreams, Hoang embarked on a quest to reunite with his family as they risked life and limb to escape from the communist regime.
Having lived through the Vietnam War and come to America young enough to absorb its culture as his own, Hoang offers a unique, human-scale perspective on the aftermath of one of the most significant conflicts in living memory. Land of Dreams is a meditation on what it means to lose one’s home and find another, and on how the echoes of war continue to shape the lives of those who survive such conflicts. By sharing his own story, Hoang also bears witness to the struggle and resilience of his fellow Vietnamese immigrants as well as countless other immigrants and refugees.” Read More

In the Shadow of Green Bamboos is a series of snapshots in the lives of a cross-section of people, Vietnamese and American, whose worlds were torn asunder by the Vietnam War:
A fortuitous encounter at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; a father-and-son outing that echoes a childhood trauma; a harrowing haunting finally laid to rest; two young brothers at their innocent play; the recovery of a lost family keepsake; Grandma sharing a fairy tale with her granddaughter.
These captured moments, ordinary though they may seem, reveal the blessings of love and hope in the course of everyday life. The stories they tell also stand as testaments to the resilience and courage of survivors struggling to rebuild from the ashes of war. Read More

Have you ever wondered what Vietnam is like some forty years after the war has ended? Then come along with the author as he returns to visit his ancestral homeland for the first time after a decades-long absence.
Retrace his steps with him around his former hometown of Saigon in the south, and then follow him along on an itinerary of discovery to other unique destinations throughout the country: Hoi-An, the best-preserved medieval seaport in Southeast Asia; Hue, the ancient capital of imperial Vietnam, on the central coast; Halong Bay, a world-renowned natural wonder; and Hanoi, the country’s thousand-year-old capital, in the north.
Filled with historical and cultural tidbits and personal reminiscences, and illustrated with over forty photographs, Rain Falling on Tamarind Trees offers the reader an insightful and fascinating glimpse of this tropical land. Read More

As Roger Connors, a widower with no children, ponders whether to pursue aggressive treatment for his cancer, a cryptic note arrives from a long-lost USAF buddy announcing the visit of an acquaintance from Vietnam. The startling news resurrects ghosts of fallen comrades and haunting memories of the great love he once knew.
Shocking revelations from his visitor uncover a missing part of Roger’s life he never dreamed possible. Peeling back one layer at a time, he delves into a decades-old secret in search of answers and traces of a passion unfulfilled.
From the jungles of Vietnam through the minefields of the heart, Once upon a Mulberry Field follows one man’s journey to self-discovery, fraught with disillusionment and despair but ultimately redeemed by the power of love. Read More