Prisoner of the Word a memoir by Le Hu'u Tri ISBN 978-0930773-601

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Prisoner of the Word is a memoir of the author's six years in a Vietnamese re-education camp.  A young lieutenant in the South Vietnamese army at the end of the war, he turned himself in to the new authorities when he was convinced that no harm would come to him or his family.  He spent the next six years in a forced labor camp -- what was euphemistically called a "re-education camp" -- where prisoners were routinely starved and deprived of medical care, where some were shot and where they were worked to exhaustion and beyond.  The title comes from the author's observations of the techniques of communication -- rumors and misleading official pronouncements -- the authorities used to control the prisoners and to give them false hopes of freedom.   Eventually, after terrible tribulation, the author and his family escaped to the United States.

"Prisoner of the Word not only describes a part of Vietnam's modern history; it is a cautionary tale of the dangers of "spin control" in any and every government of the world.  Highly recommended reading."

            -- Bookwatch

"His writing is exact . . . .  His recall of facts is remarkable."

              -- Michael Harris, Los Angeles Times

"An appalling . . . account of five years in Vietnamese reeducation camps from former South Vietnamese army office Tri."

            -- Kirkus Reviews