A toxic chemical sprayed by American forces over much of Việt Nam in a largely successful effort to devastate the country’s agriculture, force peasants to move to cities, and flush out Northern Vietnamese forces hanging out in rural areas. The American use of Agent Orange is widely considered a war crime, and exposure to it severely harmed at least three million Vietnamese and permanently disabled at least one million, as well as leading to a famine in which many hundreds of thousands of civilians perished.
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Agent Orange Term Timeline in The Best We Could Do
The timeline below shows where the term Agent Orange appears in The Best We Could Do. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6: The Chessboard
...is 1965, and the war is already starting. The Americans destroy Việt Nam’s agriculture with Agent Orange and create hyperinflation by introducing cheap military goods into the economy, which makes Má and...
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