Undesirable by Laura Kalpakian - ISBN: 9780826369796
Paperback
A father’s fight for his son, a veteran denied honor.
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Undesirable

The Vietnam War and a Father's Battle for Justice

$49.90

  • Paperback

    264 pages

  • Release Date

    11 August 2026

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Summary

The powerful true story of a parent’s unflagging battle on behalf of a beloved son struggling with PTSD, mental illness, and addiction and a family who bore the burdens of war for decades.

In January 1969, angry after a fight with his father, nineteen-year-old Doug Johnson—in what will be a fateful choice—decides to enlist in the Army. Once in Vietnam as a point man, Doug becomes addicted to speed and heroin, goes AWOL multiple times, and is court martialed and impris…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9780826369796
ISBN-10:0826369790
Author:Laura Kalpakian
Publisher:University of New Mexico Press
Imprint:University of New Mexico Press
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:264
Release Date:11 August 2026
Weight:250g
Dimensions:229mm x 152mm x 22mm
What They're Saying

Critics Review

“Beneath the gripping narrative of a single man battling the opaque impenetrable military bureaucracy during wartime is testimony of a father’s pure devotion and unrelenting love for his child.” – Maureen Stanton, author of The Murmur of Everything Moving: A Memoir“Undesirable is a poignant examination of duty: the author’s father’s to his son, her brother’s to his country, society’s to those who serve, and her own obligation to her father’s memory. This book reminds a new generation that wars fought far away still exact bitter collateral damage from everyone they touch back home.” – Paula Becker, author of A House on Stilts: Mothering in the Age of Opioid Addiction“A moving tale of a father’s love, the haze of war, and the grip of addiction. Kalpakian has written a testament to her family’s determination and a searing condemnation of the system that fails our veterans again and again. Her discovered cache of documents is a treasure map to a lost period in her family’s—and America’s—history. You won’t be able to look away.” – Jessica Pearce Rotondi, author of What We Inherit: A Secret War and a Family’s Search for Answers“As heartbreaking as it is infuriating, Undesirable is further proof that for some soldiers—and those soldiers’ families—the war is never over.” – Stewart O’Nan, author of The Names of the Dead and The Vietnam Reader

About The Author

Laura Kalpakian

Laura Kalpakian is the author of Memory into Memoir: A Writer’s Handbook (UNM Press), a memoir, sixteen novels, and five prize-winning collections of short fiction. She lives in the Pacific Northwest.

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