Duong Van Mai Elliott

Duong Van Mai Elliott is a Vietnamese author, writer and translator. Her memoir, The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family (Oxford University Press),^[1] tells the story of the Vietnam War from the perspective of a Vietnamese family. She was also featured in The Vietnam War, PBS's 18-hour documentary series on the conflict.^[2]

Biography

Early life

Duong Van Mai Elliott was born in 1941 into a

Mai Elliott's family lived in the official residences of Hanoi until the outbreak of World War II.^[4]

In the aftermath of WWII, the growing influence of the

In 2010, the RAND Corporation published her second book "RAND in Southeast Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era".^[8]

From 2014 to 2017, Mai Elliott served as one of the advisers for the PBS documentary series "The Vietnam War", directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. She was also frequently featured on the show.^[9]

Inspiration for The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family

Mai Elliott's inspiration to write her family's memoir stemmed from a desire to return to her origins after having travelled the world.

• Documents of an Elite Viet Cong Delta Unit: The Demolition Platoon of the 514th Battalion (1969): Mai Elliott and her husband David W. P. Elliott translated documents of captured Viet Cong members which had detailed accounts of the personnel and the composition of the 514th battalion.^[12] They reviewed 17 dossiers that had information on the daily training activities of Viet Cong members from 1966 to 1967.^[12]
• The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family (1999): This memoir published by
  post-war period.^[10] Critics found it important to mention how this memoir is taken from a middle/upper-class perspective of the volatile political climate in Vietnam during the 19th to 20th century.^[13]
• RAND in Southeast Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era (2010): Mai Elliott delves into the inner workings of the RAND Corporation during the Vietnam War period by analyzing three countries: Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.^[8] She discusses the influence of the findings in RAND on US foreign policy during the Vietnam War.^[8]

Television

• docuseries aims to approach the topic of the Vietnam War with a balanced perspective. It consists of 10 episodes, and incorporates 100 war witnesses from both sides of the conflict.^[15]