Wild Mustard, an anthology of prizewinning short fiction by contemporary Vietnamese writers, throws into relief the transformations of self and place that followed Vietnam’s turn toward a market economy. In just three decades, since the 1986 policy known as doi moi (renovation) ended collectivization and integrated Vietnam into world markets, the country has transformed from one of the poorest and most isolated on earth into a dynamic global economy. The nineteen stories in this volume capture the kaleidoscopic experiences of Vietnam's young people, navigating between home and newly expanded horizons, as they seek new opportunities through migration, education, and integration not only into their nation but into the world.

Featuring stories by Di Li, Đinh Ngọc Hùng, Đỗ Bích Thúy, Đỗ Tiến Thuỵ, Dương Bình Nguyên, Kiều Bích Hậu, Hồ Thị Ngọc Hoài, Lê Hoài Lương, Niê Thanh Mai, Nguyễn Anh Vũ, Nguyễn Danh Lam, Nguyễn Đình Tú, Nguyễn Ngọc Tú, Nguyễn Thế Hùng, Nguyễn Van Toàn, Nguyễn Vinh Nguyễn, Phạm Duy Nghĩa, Phan Triều Hải, and Phong Điệp,

with translations by Nguyễn Hùng, Lê Thế Quế, Di Li, Lê Thế Quý, Thúy Tranviet, Peter Ross, Vù Thì Tuyết Mà, Nguyễn Lien, and Charles Waugh.

We will celebrate the book launch next week, February 9, with a reading in Washington, DC at Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St NW, at 6pm. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the reading (and by pre-order through the Curbstone/Northwestern UP site and Amazon).

One way to regard the refugees in the news these frenzied past few days is as potential Americans, individuals and families escaping bad situations who imagine themselves building new lives here. What these particular refugees could become in this country, and how they could contribute to our society and culture, is a question stuck in suspended animation. But we do have the power to look to the past. And in the literary realm it’s unquestionable that refugees, once here, often make major contributions.

Kurlantzick, an expert on Southeast Asia now at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues persuasively that the so-called secret war in Laos — which eventually was discovered by the press — set a pattern for future conflicts and especially for the Central Intelligence Agency’s paramilitary role. “Laos would prove so successful — for presidents and for the C.I.A., that is — that it would become a template for a new type of large, secret war for decades to come,” he writes.

Those familiar with Thuy’s work will recognize the title as a translation of one of his most controversial works, Ha Noi Trong Mat Ai. It delves into the creation of that work, as well as The Story of Kindness (Chuyen Tu Te)… as well as the work of filming during the war.

This should be a great resource for classroom teachers looking for first person accounts in English from northerners, for students of film, for those interested in the interplay of state control and artistic creativity, and for those interested in reconciliation.

“I have never seen myself as a spokesman,” James Baldwin once said in an interview. “I am a witness. In the church in which I was raised, you were supposed to bear witness to the truth. Now, later on, you wonder what in the world the truth is, but you do know what a lie is.”

Phụ huynh Việt nuôi con cũng ở nhiều… thang bậc, nhà nghèo nuôi kiểu nhà nghèo, đại gia sẵn sàng cho con sống trong nhung lụa.

Một báo cáo mới đây của Bộ Nông nghiệp Mỹ cho biết, một gia đình có thu nhập trung bình ở nước này tiêu tốn khoảng 233.610 USD để nuôi một đứa trẻ từ lúc sinh ra đến năm 17 tuổi, chưa bao gồm học phí đại học.

Women and minorities continued to make small, slow gains in their numbers at major American law firms last year, according to the National Association for Law Placement, a legal employment tracker.

The abortion rate in the United States fell to its lowest level since the historic Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalized abortion nationwide, a new report finds.
The report by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports legalized abortion, puts the rate at 14.6 abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age (ages 15-44) in 2014. That's the lowest recorded rate since the Roe decision in 1973. The abortion rate has been declining for decades — down from a peak of 29.3 in 1980 and 1981.

How behavioral economics is opening a creative new front in the fight against inequality.