Page 14 - Program 2018

Wednesday 1–1:45 pm

Rancho Mirage Library & Observatory Fall of Saigon and the Aftermath
Viet Thanh Nguyen
Wednesday 1–1:45 pm
Bush 41 Jack London Room
Jon Meacham Viet Thanh Ngyuyen’s writings, both fiction and
Wednesday 1–1:45 pm scholarly, have won him numerous distinctions
John Steinbeck Room including a MacArthur Genius Award. Nguyen and
his family fled to America from South Vietnam when
What are the legacies of George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st President of the United States? Was it his popular
foreign policy, the disparity between his campaign promises versus the reality of “no new taxes” or his civility he was four years old. The refugee and immigrant
and presidential demeanor? Please join Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, presidential historian experience is central to Nguyen’s fiction, and he weaves
and acclaimed author of Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, as he answers that pieces of his own story into his short story collection
question and others about Bush 41’s legacy. The Refugees. Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer won the
Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2016. Nguyen and Dr.
Khoi Le, a noted cardiologist at Eisenhower Medical
Center and Vietnamese immigrant, will explore the
concepts of “otherness” and “duplicity” from the
immigrant perspective and share their experiences of
life after the Fall of Saigon.

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