New America Media editor Andrew Lam is the author of "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora" (Heyday Books, 2005), which recently won a Pen American "Beyond the Margins" award and "East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres," from which the piece above was excerpted. His next book, "Birds of Paradise Lost" is due out in March 01, 2013. He has lectured and read his workwidely at many universities. 
