ON SOLID GROUND: The California Vietnam Veterans Memorial A quarter century ago California’s Vietnam veterans completed a quest: to build a memorial to those who died and to those who survived the Vietnam War. Paul Rogers describes the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a quiet place of contemplation on the grounds of the State Capitol in Sacramento. It’s a memorial elaborate in design but elemental in effect. Plus: The California Memorial Guard and Zack Earp Stadium. [on the cover]

UNTETHERED: Traveling in Vietnam Mary Bruzzese writes about traveling in northern Vietnam on one’s own. Free of arranged itineraries, she describes the delights of touring Hanoi and the territory of the former enemy. She highlights the region’s natural and architectural wonders, and the vitality of a nation where most people are under 25.

Plus: For many years, the Vietnam Veterans Restoration Project has arranged for groups of veterans to return to Vietnam to build schools and libraries. They made their final trip in April.

SKYWARD: New Mexico’s Angel Fire When his eldest son died in Vietnam, Victor Westphall channeled that grief into Angel Fire, a sweeping memorial in the mountains of New Mexico that is both monument and refuge. Loana Hoylman describes the nation’s first Vietnam veterans memorial, a solitary place of peace.