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by The Vinh Lam (Translator), Binh Vinh Lam (Author)
Forty years have passed, many people leaving Vietnam in 1975 have left this world forever; the generation of children and grandchildren of the refugees are in need of a document that records the traces of the past, informing them of the reasons of the exodus, the hardships and pains suffered by their forefathers in their escapes-by-sea, as well as the days of load-carrying-hard works in factories or not-easy return to night schools after a full day of heavy workload, all burden taken just for one purpose and that is to provide them, at all cost, opportunities to go to schools in order for them to have a bright future. Professionally trained as a historian and a librarian, I just can't help getting angry when I read false historical documents written by the Communists and repeated, sometimes deluded with biased arguments by western authors that the generations 2 or 3 are being forced fed since they cannot read the Vietnamese. This book was written with all these concerns in mind. Urged by the needs of the general public, and worried by the limited capability facing a subject of such magnitude, I finally shrugged off all passive thoughts and decided to take on this project that I have been thinking of since my first day as a librarian. Alone, like a deaf person having no fear of gun shots.
