Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the Americans, and the Secret Wars for Laos, 1942-1992

A sometimes overly sympathetic look at the Hmong people of Laos and what happened to them during and immediately after the "Secret War" in Laos. (Vang Pao, for instance, while being a remarkable guerrilla leader did have his faults and did often succumb to his vanity.) The Hmong story, I hasten to add, is actually a sympathetic story overall. So it is acceptable that their side of things is given a primacy here, whereas in other histories of the conflict, the Hmong are often underappreciated, at best, or unappreciated, at worst. The fact is that they were tenacious fighters and committed to the land, Laos, when other Lao peoples did not have the will to fight the North Vietnamese. It should be mentioned, however, that not all Hmong show more fought against the Communists and with covert American forces. Some served on the other side and have reaped great honors in contemporary Laos for their commitment to the communist cause.

An important part of the story that also is much neglected is how the Hmong fled Laos after the end of the war in 1975. Many ended up in refugee camps in Thailand, where life was far from easy and almost all faced the threat of death while trying to cross the Mekong to get to Thailand. That the Hmong survived their ordeal is admirable. And their later success, when they came to the United States, is still a story in progress. show less