NOTHING EVER DIES

Brothers In Arms

Garden Grove, Little Saigon, USA, Tết 2015 - Leica M7, Summilux 35, Kodak Portra 160 * This solemn scene shot on a lunar New Year morning optimally illustrates the impossibility of both reconciliation and trauma recovering once the abominable Vietnam War that proved irresponsible was over. As Nguyễn Thanh Việt wrote in his remarkable book "Nothing Ever Dies" (2016) "All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory". From this author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Sympathizer" (2015) comes a searching exploration of the conflict Americans call the Vietnam War and Vietnamese call the American War - a conflict that lives on in the collective memory of both nations. This candid photograph could optimally illustrate the cover of "Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War".