Apr 8, 2011
This book was suggested to me by a library patron – a nurse. This non-fiction, cultural anthropology book describes an arrival of South East Asian community of Hmongs to a small town called Merced, California in the 1980s. The Hmong people who lived for centuries in isolation, with their history dating back to the 3rd century, were given a refugee status in America for their support of CIA militaristic efforts in Laos. This book is a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions of cultural classes and misunderstanding. A little Hmong girl Lia is diagnosed with epilepsy and is brought to be treated