"With subtlety and insight, with precision and passion, Paisley Rekdal explores the consequences of the Vietnam War for Vietnamese, Americans, and herself. The result is The Broken Country, a moving and often gripping meditation on the fallout of war, from violence and racism to melancholy and trauma."--Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of The Regugees

"The Broken Country is an audacious and extraordinary story of war’s endless effects. Paisley Rekdal unearths from the forgotten wreckage of one life a sweeping and necessary account of America, Vietnam, and the lives lived in their shadow. Assembling a remarkable range of materials and testimonies, she shows us both the persistence of war’s trauma and how we might more ethically imagine those it harms. She is the boundlessly sympathetic witness and clear-eyed investigator we need."--Beth Loffreda, author of Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder

"Paisley Rekdal depicts and examines the far-reaching human effects of  the Vietnam War in this deeply affecting, disquieting book. She also  interrogates and interprets, from many different perspectives and points  of view, the war’s damaging, long-lasting legacy. In beautifully rendered though unsparingly descriptive prose, Rekdal  examines the larger scope of this war, most especially, the sheer number  of people—refugees, immigrants, and natives alike—who were, as a  result, permanently wounded and/or psychologically maimed. In order to  piece together this most compelling narrative/meditation, Rekdal  becomes, by turns, a fully realized investigative journalist and  interviewer; witness and researcher; commentator and cultural critic. I  also appreciate that, in her role as the reader’s narrator and guide,  she’s always a deeply concerned, passionately engaged, human being."--Michael Steinberg