Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam And The Memory Of War [Paperback]

Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award
Finalist, National Book Award in Nonfiction
ANew York Times Book ReviewThe Year in Reading Selection

All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory. From the author of the Pulitzer Prizewinning novelThe Sympathizercomes a searching exploration of the conflict Americans call the Vietnam War and Vietnamese call the American Wara conflict that lives on in the collective memory of both nations.

[A] gorgeous, multifaceted examination of the war Americans call the Vietnam Warand which Vietnamese call the American War&As a writer, [Nguyen] brings every conceivable giftwisdom, wit, compassion, curiosityto the impossible yet crucial work of arriving at what he calls a just memory of this war.
Kate Tuttle,Los Angeles Times

InNothing Ever Dies, his unusually thoughtful consideration of war, self-deception and forgiveness, Viet Thanh Nguyen penetrates deeply into memories of the Vietnamese war&[An] important book, which hits hard at self-serving myths.
Jonathan Mirsky,Literary Review

Ultimately, Nguyens lucid, arresting, and richly sourced inquiry, in the mode of Susan Sontag and W. G. Sebald, is a call for true and just stories of war and its perpetual legacy.
Donna Seaman,Booklist(starred review)

[Nguyen] produces close readings of the novels, films, monuments, and prisons that form the identity of war in Vietnam, a face with carefully drawn features, familiar at a glance to the nations people. Nguyen draws insights from Levinas, Ricoeur, and other philosophers, and his approach has affinities with that of hybridists such as W. G. Sebald and Maggie Nelson. The book is also notable for its inclusivity, addressing Cambodian, Laotian, Hmong, and Korean experiences and the competition for narrative dominance in bookstores and box offices.InNothing Ever Dies, Nguyel£Ý