I didn’t learn anything about Vietnam in school, and I’m reading a book referencing all the protests against the war. I feel like it’s important to learn about this time, since it shaped so many people a little older than me. Any recs?
by MeanSecurity
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I will say, don’t be shy on moving into the fiction hemisphere of literature with respect to war/military memoir, especially with Vietnam. At least for me, human experiences are easier to comprehend than some of the more tactical or political machinations, but I recognize that’s personal preference.
For nonfiction:
– Vietnam, an Epic Tragedy, by Max Hastings (it’s large but organized chronologically and easy to reference as needed, or read chapter by chapter)
– Dispatches, by Michael Herr (boots on the ground retelling by a war correspondent)
– Vietnam, by Larry Burrows (war photographer)
For fiction:
– Matterhorn, by Karl Marlantes (he served in Vietnam as a first Lt. 1/4 Marines and is a Rhodes Scholar. You follow a platoon and it’s an amazing blend of narrative, tactics, and first-hand experience)
– The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien (he is also a Vietnam vet and this book is a mixing of memoir and fiction. This gives a really great “feel” for what it could have been like to serve. Poignant and devastating