The Green Belt

"The Green Belt" presents the narration of a Vietnamese newspaper reporter who journeyed into the central highlands of Vietnam during the war in the late 1960s and witnessed the traditional antagonism between tribal highlanders and lowland Vietnamese. Of interest and current significance is the narrator’s account of the highlanders’ side of the conflict, and his evaluation of alternative solutions that could have advanced the welfare of ethnic minorities. These perspectives remain relevant today, as the conflict, in the words of Human Rights Watch is, "still going on." Conflict over land and religion in Vietnam’s central highlands is a human rights issue frequently making the news. Several thousand Montagnards, many of whom fought alongside the U.S. Special Forces during the Vietnam War, resettled in North Carolina in the period after 1975. This large community never stops growing as a result of the endless exodus for freedom. The compelling story of this novel, blended of fact and fiction, reveals the roots of unrest and is a unique voice advocating survival of indigenous peoples in mainland Southeast Asia.