Harvesting Pa Chay's Wheat: The Hmong and America's Secret War in Laos - Softcover

Quincy, Keith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0910055602 ISBN 13: 9780910055604

Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr, 2000

Synopsis

America's secret war in Laos from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s sounds like the stuff of conspiracy theories, but it actually happened. Keith Quincy uncovers the secret war America denied for over 30 years. From the Hmong's war of independence with France to America's use of Laos as a military staging point during the Vietnam War, the Hmong were exploited because of their geographic location and passive culture. "Harvesting Pa Chay's Wheat" traces the history that led to the mass exodus of the Hmong people and their immigration into neighbouring Thailand and the United States in the early 1980s. Keith Quincy is professor of government at Eastern Washington University. He is the author of "Hmong: History of a People" and other books.

About this title

From the Author:

The 13-year covert, American-run war against North Vietnam and the Communist Pathet Lao in Laos ended in 1973. Quincy's dense but rewarding study--which takes its title from a messianic Hmong farmer who led an armed rebellion against the French in the early 1920s--gives a detailed history of political upheavals and wars in the region, beginning in the 14th century, but the focus is on the upland Hmong tribespeople who were U.S. allies for the Laotian campaign. Several other well-researched books have covered much of the same territory in depth. Quincy, chair of the department of government at Eastern Washington University, adds more voices to that research, using hundreds of interviews he conducted with the Hmong (many of whom now live in the U.S.) in the 1980s and 1990s to bring the corruption and brutality among the group's leadership further to light. (One researcher involved with the project has received death threats.)

By 1977, more than 100,000 Laotian refugees, not all of whom were Hmong, had crowded into camps on the Thai border. Some remained for 15 years, Quincy argues, because agents of the exiled Hmong leadership "were able to persuade, cajole, and intimidate most refugees to forego resettlement... to provide guerrillas for the Neo Hom resistance, the magnet for financial contributions." This well-written narrative clearly shows that the secret war's biggest losers were the Hmong, who did most of the fighting--and dying--against the North Vietnamese.

About the Author:

Keith Quincy received his BA in philosophy and MA in political science at UCLA, and his doctorate in philosophy at the Claremont Graduate University. His research and published work include classical economics, welfare economics, and the economics of Henry George. Formerly a fellow at the Institute in Higher Education at the Claremont Graduate University, he taught philosophy at the University of California (Riverside) and the California Polytechnic Institute (Pomona). He also taught political philosophy and political economy at Eastern Washington University (EWU). He is the author of nine books, including a history of the Hmong, an account of the CIA's secret war in Laos, and a new translation of Plato's dialogues. Nationally recognized for his outstanding teaching, he is the former chairman of the Government Program at EWU.

About this edition

• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0910055602
• ISBN 13: 9780910055604
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 597