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  • Published: 15 August 2011
  • ISBN: 9781609801380
  • Imprint: Seven Stories Press
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $49.99

Scorched Earth

Legacies of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam



We see this book as having great academic course adoption in history, 1960s, Vietnam, and environmental studies courses.

Scorched Earth is the first book to chronicle the effects of chemical warfare on the Vietnamese people and their environment, where, even today, more than 3 million people—including 500,000 children—are sick and dying from birth defects, cancer, and other illnesses that can be directly traced to Agent Orange/dioxin exposure. Weaving first-person accounts with original research, Vietnam War scholar Fred A. Wilcox examines long-term consequences for future generations, laying bare the ongoing monumental tragedy in Vietnam, and calls for the United States government to finally admit its role in chemical warfare in Vietnam. Wilcox also warns readers that unless we stop poisoning our air, food, and water supplies, the cancer epidemic in the United States and other countries will only worsen, and he urgently demands the chemical manufacturers of Agent Orange to compensate the victims of their greed and to stop using the Earth’s rivers, lakes, and oceans as toxic waste dumps. Vietnam has chosen August 10—the day that the US began spraying Agent Orange on Vietnam—as Agent Orange Day, to commemorate all its citizens who were affected by the deadly chemical. Scorched Earth will be released upon the third anniversary of this day, in honor of all those whose families have suffered, and continue to suffer, from this tragedy.

  • Published: 15 August 2011
  • ISBN: 9781609801380
  • Imprint: Seven Stories Press
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $49.99

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Praise for Scorched Earth

"I consider Scorched Earth to be the Silent Spring of chemical warfare in Vietnam, a powerful clarion call [that brings together] scientific evidence, passionate argument, Vietnamese interviews and documentation, review of the class action suits . . . and new and little known evidence gathered by Vietnamese scholars . . . to form one coherent argument." --Dr. John Marciano, Vietnam scholar, and professor emeritus, SUNY-Cortland
"A fascinating and compelling book on the effects on the Vietnamese people of the Agent Orange defoliation campaign during the Vietnam War, a personal, impassioned account on the part of the victims, a fascinating and at times shocking tale of an important and unresolved episode in American history." --Dr. Michael Viola, director, Medicine for Peace, and retired chair, oncology department, SUNY-Stonybrook