Hmong Refugees in the New World

Christopher Thao Vang writes the long view, opening in southern China where Hmong origins lie and following the migrations south into Laos, the alliance with the United States, and the resettlement into Western countries after 1975. The book is built as a reference, working steadily through social structure, religion, kinship, and the institutions the community rebuilt abroad. That makes it less of a narrative than the memoirs and more useful as the book you check something in. It also gives more weight to the Chinese chapter of Hmong history than most American accounts, which typically begin in Laos. For students, teachers, and readers who want the background a memoir assumes you already have.