Living with Agent Orange

Conversations in Postwar Viet Nam

By Diane Niblack Fox

SERIES: Culture and Politics in the Cold War and Beyond

University of Massachusetts Press

For over half a century, the Vietnamese people have endured the harmful legacies of Agent Orange, the toxic herbicide used by the American military as a type of chemical warfare. While scientists and politicians continue to debate how to best address its human and environmental consequences, the nearly three million Vietnamese whose lives have been shaped by its lingering effects have been largely left out of the conversation.

To understand how Agent Orange has impacted the lives and livelihoods of everyday Vietnamese people, Diane Niblack Fox interviewed families and individuals living with its aftereffects across the northern, central, and southern regions of the country. In powerfully written prose, Fox shares the personal accounts of villagers, as they describe caring for loved ones with chronic illnesses and disabilities and their attempts to secure medical and financial assistance. Living with Agent Orange also chronicles the moving stories of rebuilt lives, of family and community support, and of the overriding power of the human spirit.

‘Living with Agent Orange is beautifully written. I particularly appreciate its compassionate tone and the way in which Fox stays close to people’s own accounts of their lives.’—Tine M. Gammeltoft, author of Haunting Images: A Cultural Account of Selective Reproduction in Vietnam
‘A profoundly moving portrait of humanity, Living with Agent Orange is the first book that brings readers to the villages where those impacted by Agent Orange reside, off the radar and often forgotten. Few researchers have the linguistic and cultural skills or social connections to engage with Vietnamese people and sources on such a deeply sensitive topic like Fox.’—Christina Schwenkel, author of The American War in Contemporary Vietnam: Transnational Remembrance and Representation

DIANE NIBLACK FOX (PhD, anthropology) is an independent scholar. She lived in Viet Nam from 1991 to 2001, working as a teacher, writer, and researcher.

Prologue: “I am still here”—A Family in Thái Bình
Acknowledgments
Note on Methodology, Language, and Measures

Introduction: Agent Orange as Chemical and Metaphor

Part One: Stories from the North—Hà Nam Province and Phủ Lý Town

Chapter 1
Phủ Lý
Two Times at War, Three Times Razed

Chapter 2
Kim Bảng District

Chapter 3
Duy Tiên District

Part Two: Stories from the Center—Thừa Thiên Huế Province

Chapter 4
Quảng Thọ
No-Man’s-Land (vành dai trắng)

Part Three: Stories from the South—Đồng Nai Province and Biên Hoà City

Chapter 5
Introduction to the Đồng Nai Red Cross

Chapter 6
Xuân Lộc District
“Twelve days and nights”

Chapter 7
Biên Hoà

Conclusion
Mrs. Hồng Story