Delve Deeper into The Betrayal
A film by Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
This multi-media resource list,
compiled by Shaun Briley of the
San Diego Public Library
includes books, films and other
materials related to the issues
presented in the film The
Betrayal.
Filmed over 23 years, The
Betrayal is the Academy Award®nominated directorial debut of
renowned cinematographer Ellen
Kuras in a unique collaboration with
the film's subject and co-director,
Thavisouk ("Thavi") Phrasavath.
After the U.S. government waged a
secret war in Laos during the
Vietnam War, Thavi's father and
thousands of other Laotians who
had fought alongside American
forces were abandoned and left to
face imprisonment or execution.
Hoping to find safety, Thavi's family
made a harrowing escape to
America, where they discovered a
different kind of war. Weaving
ancient prophecy with personal
testimony and stunning imagery,
The Betrayal is a story of survival
and the resilient bonds of family. A
Diverse Voices Project coproduction with support from the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
(CPB); funded in part by the Center
for Asian American Media (CAAM).
An Official Selection of the 2008
Sundance Film Festival.
________________________
ADULT NONFICTION
Chan, Sucheng. Hmong Means
Free: Life in Laos and America.
Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, 1994. A collection of
personal accounts taken from three
different generations, giving a
picture of life in Laos before and
during the Communist rule and as
refugees in America.
Conboy, Kenneth. Shadow War:
the CIA's Secret War in Laos.
Boulder, CO: Paladin Press,
1995. A well researched history of
the CIA's covert paramilitary
operation in Laos.
Dakin, Brett. Another Quiet
American: Stories of Life in
Laos. Bangkok: Asia Books,
2008. Life in contemporary Laos
described by an American who
spent two years working there.
Dommen, Arthur J. Conflict in
Laos: the politics of
Neutralization. New York:
Praeger, 1971. An extremely
detailed account of the political
climate in Laos, mainly after the
1954 Geneva Conference. The
publication incorporates Western
concerns as well as those of North
Vietnamese and Chinese
Communist forces during this era.
Hamilton-Merritt, Jane. Tragic
Mountains: the Hmong, the
Americans, and the Secret Wars
for Laos, 1942-1992.
Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1993. This book tells the
recent history of the Hmong of Laos
and chronicles the terrible price
inflicted on them by the victorious
communists because of their
alliance with the U.S.
English, T.J. Born to Kill:
America's Most Notorious
Vietnamese Gang, and the
Changing Face of Organized
Crime. New York: William
Morrow, 1995. The story of a
youth gang made up of teenage
refugees who targeted other Asian
groups.
Hathorn, Reginald. Here There
are Tigers: the Secret Air War in
Laos, 1968-69. Mechanicsburg,
PA: Stackpole Books, 2008. A
U.S. Air Force pilot who flew
missions with the Lao Army
describes his experiences fighting a
war that was not officially
acknowledged.
Evans, Grant. A Short History of
Laos: The Land in Between.
Crows Nest NSW, Australia:
Allen & Unwin, 2003. An
introduction to the history of Laos
from ancient times up to the
present.
Hein, Jeremy. From Vietnam,
Laos, and Cambodia: A Refugee
Experience in the United States.
New York: Twayne Publishers,
1995. Details the impact of
American life and culture on
refugees from the conflicts in
Southeast Asia.
Evans, Grant. The Politics of
Ritual and Remembrance, Laos
Since 1975. Honolulu, Hawaii:
University of Hawaii Press,
1998. A political and
anthropological study of ritual and
symbolic change in Laos from the
time of the 1975 revolution.
Faderman, Lillian. I Begin My
Life All Over: The Hmong and
the American Immigrant
Experience. Boston, Beacon
Press, 1999. Oral histories of
Hmong refugees from Laos,
shedding light on the impact on
their lives of U.S. involvement in
the region.
Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit
Catches You and You Fall Down:
Hmong Child, Her American
Doctors, and the Collision of
Two Cultures. New York: Farrar,
Straus, and Giroux, 1997. The
clash of cultural and medical
traditions is described in this book
about an epileptic member of the
large Laotian community in Merced,
California.
Langer, Paul F and Zasloff,
Joseph Jermiah. North Vietnam
and the Pathet Lao:
Partners in the Struggle for
Laos. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1970. Discusses
the collaboration between the North
Vietnamese and Laotian
communists.
Leary, William M. Perilous
Missions. Civil Air Transport and
CIA Covert Operations in Asia.
Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian
Institution Press, 2002. Leary
traces the history of the Civil Air
Transports as well as the CAT’s
pivotal role in the CIA secret air war
in Laos during the Vietnam War.
Le Bar, Frank M.; Hickey, Gerald
C.; and Musgrave, John K.
Ethnic Groups of Mainland
Southeast Asia. New Haven, CT:
Human Relations Area Files
Press, 1964. A compendium of
information about 150+ tribes and
minority groups in Southeast Asia,
organized by area and language.
Delve Deeper into The Betrayal
A film by Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
Le Bar, Frank M., and Suddard,
Adrienne (eds.) Laos: Its
People, Its Society, Its Culture.
New Haven, Conn.: Human
Relations Area Files Press,
1950. A survey of Laotian society
and culture, unifying a diverse
range of areas of study.
Ong, Aihwa. Buddha is Hiding:
Refugees, Citizenship, the New
America. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2003. Ong takes
readers on an ethnographic journey
in this book, which details the
experiences and cultural difficulties
of Cambodian refugees in America.
Ling, Huping. Emerging Voices:
Experiences of
Underrepresented Asian
Americans. New Brunswick,
N.J.: Rutgers University Press
2008. This book fills a gap in
scholarly work on the lives of Asian
Americans by focusing on smaller
groups such as those of Laotianm
Burmese and Thai origin.
Osborne, Milton E. The Mekong:
Turbulent Past, Uncertain
Future. New York: Atlantic
Monthly Press, 2000. This book
describes the rich history of the
Mekong River from the fifth century
to the present day.
Littauer, Raphael and Uphoff,
Norman, eds. The Air War in
Indochina. Air Study War
Group, Cornell University.
Boston, MA: Beacon Press,
1971. An analytical study of U.S.
involvement in a secret air war over
Laos during the years of 19651971.
Minh-Ha, Trinh T. Framer
Framed. New York, NY:
Rutledge: 1992. A compilation of
the scripts of three of Vietnamse
filmmaker Minh-Ha’s most
provocative films, as well as
interviews with theorists and critics
discussing, among other topics, the
plights of refugees and exiles that
are addressed in the films.
Morrison, Gayle L. Sky is Falling:
an Oral History of the CIA's
Evacuation of the Hmong from
Laos. Jefferson, NC: Mcfarland,
2007. Firsthand accounts of the
evacuation of more than 2,500
Hmong officers, soldiers and family
members who had cooperated with
the Americans before the country
fell to communism.
Nguyen, Lucy Hong Nhiem. The
Far East Comes Near:
Autobiographical Accounts of
Southeast Asian Students in
America. Amherst: University of
Massachusetts Press, 1989.
Twenty-five students who fled
upheavals in Vietnam, Cambodia
and Laos tell their stories of flight,
camps and the difficulties of settling
in America.
Parker, James E. Covert Ops:
the CIA's Secret War in Laos.
New York: St. Martin's, 1997.
Parker chronicles the CIA’s use of
irregular forces to drive the North
Vietnamese out of Laos.
Proudfoot, Robert. Even the
Birds Don't Sound the Same
Here: the Laotian Refugees'
Search for Heart in American
Culture. New York: P. Lang,
1990. This book highlights the
emotions and cultural conflicts that
make up the Laotian refugee
experience in America.
Pyle, Richard. Lost over Laos: a
True Story of Tragedy, Mystery,
and Friendship. Cambridge, MA:
Da Capo Press, 2003.
The story of a combat journalist
killed during the U.S. intervention in
Laos and of those who went back to
uncover what happened to him.
Quincy, Keith. Harvesting Pa
Chay's Wheat: the Hmong and
America's Secret war in Laos.
Spokane, Wash.: Eastern
Washington University Press,
2000. Life for 100,000 Laotians in
Thai refugee camps is among the
topics covered in this account of
what happened to the Hmong as a
result of helping America fight the
North Vietnamese.
Rantala, Judy Austin. Laos:
Caught in the Web: the Vietnam
War years. Honolulu, Hawaii:
Anoai Press, 2004. In this book,
Rantala follows a Laotian family
from before the war, through a
Communist re-education camp and
finally to their resettlement in
America.
Robbins, Christopher. The
Ravens. New York, NY: Pocket
Books, 1987. A historical account
of the role of U.S. Air Force forward
air-controllers, known as ravens,
during the secret war in Laos and
how their story typified the U.S.
strategy throughout South East Asia
at that time.
Rumbaut, Rubén G. Ethnicities:
Children of Immigrants in
America. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2001. A
collection of essays by leading
scholars on how the children of
immigrants adapt to becoming
American.
Rushdie, Salman. Imaginary
Homelands, Essays and
Criticism 1981-1991. London:
Granta Books, 1991. The 75
essays and reviews included in this
collection deal with a wide range of
political, literary and religious
subject matter, many of which are
centered around the theme of the
migrant experience.
Sage, William W. and Henchy,
Judith A.N. (comp.) Laos, A
Bibliography. Singapore: Library
Bulletin/Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies; no. 16. 1986. This
bibliography provides roughly 2,500
references concerning Laos, thus
providing a well-rounded sample of
Western scholarship on the topic.
Said, Edward. Reflections on
Exile and Other Essays.
Cambridge, Mass: Harvard
University Press, 2000. A
collection of critical essays
showcasing Said’s formative
influence in the field of literary
criticism, including his famous essay
“Reflections of Exile” in which he
considers his own fate as an Exile
as well as that of the Palestinian
people.
Scott, Joanna C. Indochina's
Refugees: Oral Histories from
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co,
1989. Twenty-two memoirs about
flight from the communists, which
were recorded at a refugee
processing center prior to reaching
America.
Simpson, John, ed. The Oxford
Book of Exile. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press, 1995.
This anthology of excerpts and
essays that Simpson compiles
pushes the boundaries of the
meaning of the term “exile.”
Delve Deeper into The Betrayal
A film by Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
Stuart-Fox, Martin. A History of
Laos. Cambridge, UK; New York,
NY, USA: Cambridge University
Press, 2008. A comprehensive
history of Laos by a leading expert
in the subject.
Warner, Roger. Back Fire. The
CIA’s Secret War in Laos and Its
Link to the War in Vietnam. New
York, NY: Simon and Schuster,
1995. Warner provides a history of
CIA involvement in Laos from the
early 1960s through 1973 by
reconstructing a more intimate
narrative of the men directly
responsible for the secret war.
Weiner, Tim. Legacy of Ashes.
The History of the CIA. New
York, NY: Doubleday, 2007. This
is a compilation of archival research
and interviews with CIA and
government insiders that
establishes a solid and credible
indictment of the CIA as well as
American Intelligence policy
throughout history.
Yang, Kao Kalia. The
Latehomecomer: a Hmong
Family Memoir. Minneapolis:
Coffee House Press, 2008. The
author weaves Hmong folklore and
culture into this story of her family’s
refugee status in America and
discovering that few know about
Laos or Laotian/U.S. history.
ADULT FICTION
Cotterill, Colin. The Coroner's
Lunch. New York: Soho Press,
2004. The adventures of a Paristrained doctor who stays behind
when the Communist Pathet Lao
takes over Laos.
Cotterill, Colin. Thirty-three
teeth. New York: Soho Press,
2005. A coroner tries to solve
mysterious deaths after the Pathet
Lao come to power and send the
royal family into secret exile.
Livo, Norma J. and Cha, Dia.
Folk Stories of the Hmong:
Peoples of Laos, Thailand, and
Vietnam. Englewood, CO:
Libraries Unlimited, 1991. A
collection of twenty-seven
traditional Hmong folk tales.
Moua, Mai Neng. Bamboo
Among the Oaks: Contemporary
Writing by Hmong Americans.
St. Paul, MN: Minnesota
Historical Society Press, 2002.
First and second generation
immigrants use fiction to describe
their experiences of being Hmong in
America.
Uthin, Bunnyavong. Mother's
Beloved: Stories from Laos.
Seattle: University of
Washington Press, 1999. A
collection of short stories by one of
the most prominent contemporary
writers in Laos.
____________________________
NONFICTION FOR YOUNG
ADULTS
Caputo, Philip. 10,000 Days of
Thunder: a History of the
Vietnam War. New York:
Atheneum Books for Young
Readers, 2005. A history of the
Vietnam War for younger readers,
written by a Pulitzer Prize winning
journalist.
Cha, Dia et al. Dia's Story Cloth.
New York: Lee & Low Books,
1996. The life of the author and her
family in Laos and then America is
recounted on the story cloth made
for her by her aunt.
Diamond, Judith. Laos. Chicago:
Childrens Press, 1989. A
children’s book that details the
history, culture and geography of
Laos.
Millett, Sandra. The Hmong of
Southeast Asia. Minneapolis,
MN: Lerner Publications Co,
2001. A colorful and detailed look
at the lifestyle and culture of the
Hmong, suitable for either
elementary or junior high school.
FICTION FOR YOUNG ADULTS
Gilmore, Dorina K. Lazo and
Hires, Josh. A Stone in the Soup:
a Hmong Girl's Journey to the
United States. Fresno, CA:
Poppy Lane Pub, 2006. This book
interweaves the story of a young
Laotian immigrant with a traditional
Laotian fable.
Shea, Pegi Deitz. Tangled
Threads: a Hmong girl's story.
New York: Clarion Books, 2003.
A story about a thirteen year old
Laotian who travels with her
grandmother from a refugee camp
in Thailand to America and their
subsequent problems adapting to a
new way of life.
_________________________
FILMS/DOCUMENTARIES
Becoming American. Directed by
Ken Levine and Ivory
Waterworth Levine. New Day
Films, 2005. TRT: 45 min.
Shot in 1983, this documentary
follows a Hmong refugee family
from Laos as they encounter culture
shock and prejudice in America.
www.newday.com
Blue Collar and Buddha.
Directed by Taggart Siegel and
Kati Johnson. Collective Eye,
DVD release 2008. TRT: 57
mins. A film originally released in
1987 about a Buddhist temple built
by Laotian refugees on the outskirts
of a blue collar American town.
www.collectiveeye.org
Kelly Loves Tony. Directed by
Spencer Nakasako. CAAM, 1998.
TRT: 57 min. She's a straight-A
student; he's trying to leave gang
life behind. A camcorder becomes
both witness and confidante for
these markedly singular yet utterly
typical teens as they self-document
the trials of growing up too fast and
too soon in urban America.
http://distribution.asianamericanme
dia.org/
Moving Mountains: the Story of
the Yiu Mien. Directed by Elaine
Velazquez, 1989. TRT: 58 mins.
This film about the Yiu Mien people
of Laos, who settled in the Pacific
Northwest after the Vietnam War,
interweaves their lives in the U.S.
with rare archival footage shot in
their homeland.
Watch the full streaming film
online:
www.folkstreams.net/film,149
Vietnam: A Television History.
WGBH, Boston, 1983. A six-year
project from conception to
completion, the film carefully
analyzes the costs and
consequences of a controversial but
intriguing war. The 13-part series
includes a section on Laos and
Cambodia.
http://shop.wgbh.org/