Rupture and Reunion: New Translations About the End of the War in Vietnam

Journal of Vietnamese Studies, A special issue commemorating the 50 th anniversary of the Vietnam War. Edited by Trinh M. Luu and Nu-Anh Tran

April 30, 2025, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. To commemorate the fall of Saigon, I worked with historian Nu-Anh Tran and other scholars to edit a special issue dedicated to that moment—as seen, written, and reported by Vietnamese from across the conflict.

We translated thirteen Vietnamese-language texts—spanning poetry, song, fiction, memoir, and reportage—into English for the first time. Our goal was to make these voices accessible to scholars, students, and the broader public, and to offer a more nuanced understanding of how the Vietnamese experienced the war and its aftermath.

The selections were chosen to reflect a range of perspectives. In one piece, for instance, a North Vietnamese embedded journalist describes how North Vietnamese soldiers pillaged Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport as they swept into Saigon. Another piece takes readers to Hanoi, recounting the homecoming of a North Vietnamese soldier, who must reckon with the fact that he is the sole survivor of his unit. And another—a ballad written by a prisoner held in communist labor camps—captures the quiet longing for home. Other selections describe how families, reuniting at long last or suddenly being pulled apart, bore the full cost of war and socialism.

By bringing together voices from different sides of this deeply polarizing conflict, we intended the issue to serve as a teaching resource—one that helps future generations understand not only the historical events, but also the human experiences behind them. These literary works also speak to something enduring: the emotional and psychological toll of war, and the possibility for reflection and understanding.

The University of California Press has made the issue freely available to the public. You can read the introduction I co-authored with Nu-Anh Tran for an overview, or explore the translated texts in full here.

Let me know which texts changed your views on the Vietnam War.