About the Book:Wars in Southeast Asia drove unprecedented numbers of Cambodian refugees to settle in the United States. From southern California to New England, Cambodian communities took root amidst struggles of assimilation and triumphs of adaptation.InNot Just Victims, Sucheng Chan offers oral histories based on conversations with Cambodian community leaders in eight American cities: Long Beach, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Portland, Tacoma, and the Massachusetts towns of Fall River and Lowell. Eschewing victimization narratives, these accounts provide vividly detailed descriptions of Cambodian refugees building new lives in the United States. Chan’s introduction places their stories against the backdrop of recent Cambodian history, from the civil war through the bloody Khmer Rouge revolution to the Vietnamese occupation. In addition, Chan includes an essay on oral history.Table of Contents: Long Beach California – the capital of Cambodian America; on Buddhism and psychotherapy; law enforcement issues; how Massachusetts became a refugee-friendly state; Lowell Massachusetts – the “Long Beach of the east coast”; getting established in Fall River Massachusetts; Cambodians in Philadelphia; the Cambodian network council; Cambodians in Portland Oregon; Cambodians in Tacoma Washington; a holistic approach to mental health; The Khmer Krom.