Open Doors: Vietnam POWs Thirty Years Later, by Taylor Baldwin Kiland and Jamie Howren. Potomac Books, 2005. $19.95, 172 pp. ISBN 1-57488-969-9

Open Doors is a tribute to Vietnam prisoners of war and their individual determination in seeking personal and professional happiness upon their release. A testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of human will, it is also a celebration of freedom.

While their experience in captivity has been well documented, historians have largely overlooked the current lives of former Vietnam POWs. Combining photo portraits and insightful profiles of thirty Vietnam-era POWs, Taylor Baldwin Kiland and Jamie Howren offer an intimate look at these men—the longest-held group of returned POWs in our nation’s history—as husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, and grandfathers. Subjects include the famous (Sen. John McCain and former vice presidential candidate Vice Adm. James Stockdale) and the not-so-famous. None received celebrity treatment on their liberation; all resumed their lives as private citizens. Most of them have flourished in the face of great challenges, proud of their accomplishments.

The book is based on a traveling photographic exhibit that has been touring the United States since October 2003. Rather than dwelling on the torture and suffering of their years in the notorious prison complex known to its inhabitants as the “Hanoi Hilton,” the authors focused on commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the POWs’ return to the United States and on celebrating the years of freedom and personal achievement that followed.

TAYLOR BALDWIN KILAND holds a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University. A third-generation naval officer, she has served as a director at the global communications firm Burson-Marsteller and as a volunteer for Sen. John McCain. She lives in Arlington, Virginia.

JAMIE HOWREN is a professional landscape and portrait photographer living in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.

Read an excerpt from Open Doors: Vietnam POWs Thirty Years Later.