If I Die in a Combat Zone - Softcover

O'Brien, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007204973 ISBN 13: 9780007204977

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2006

Synopsis

Hailed as one of the finest books to emerge from the Vietnam War, If I Die in a Combat Zone is a fascinating insight into the lives of the soldiers caught in the conflict.

First published in 1973, this intensely personal novel about one foot soldier’s tour of duty in Vietnam established Tim O’Brien’s reputation as the outstanding chronicler of the Vietnam experience for a generation of Americans.

From basic training to the front line and back again, he takes the reader on an unforgettable journey – walking the minefields of My Lai, fighting the heat and the snipers in an alien land, crawling into the ghostly tunnels – as he explores the ambiguities of manhood and morality in a war no one believes in.

About this title

Review:

‘No one has written about the Vietnam War with the eloquence of Tim O’Brien. If I Die in a Combat Zone may be the single greatest piece of work to come out of Vietnam – on a level with World War II’s The Naked and the Dead and From Here to Eternity.’ Washington Star

‘A work of passion and protest ... one of the few good things to come out of that desolating struggle.’ Guardian

‘A personal document of aching clarity ... O’Brien brilliantly and quietly evokes the foot soldier’s daily life in the paddies and foxholes. A beautiful, painful book.’ New York Times Book Review

‘I wish O’Brien did not write so beautifully, for he makes it impossible to forget his book. Years from now it will still have that terrible power to make me remember and to make me weep.’ New York Times

‘O’Brien certainly ranks among the best writers we have.’ Joseph Heller

From the Back Cover:

First published in 1973, this intensely personal account of one foot soldier’s tour of duty in Vietnam established National Book Award-winner Tim O’Brien’s reputation as the outstanding chronicler of the Vietnam experience for a generation of Americans.

With simplicity and power he describes the remarkable events that would later inspire his award-winning novels 'Going After Cacciato' and 'The Things They Carried'. From basic training to the front line and back again, he takes the reader on an unforgettable journey – walking the minefields of My Lai, fighting the heat and the snipers in an alien land, crawling into the ghostly tunnels – as he explores the ambiguities of manhood and morality in a war no one believes in.

“No one has written about the Vietnam War with the eloquence of Tim O’Brien. 'If I Die in a Combat Zone' may be the single greatest piece of work to come out of Vietnam – on a level with World War II’s 'The Naked and the Dead' and 'From Here to Eternity'.”
WASHINGTON STAR

“A personal document of aching clarity ... O’Brien brilliantly and quietly evokes the foot soldier’s daily life in the paddies and foxholes. A beautiful, painful book.”
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

“A work of passion and protest which is strong at every point and must be one of the few good things to come out of that desolating struggle.”
GUARDIAN

“I wish O’Brien did not write so beautifully, for he makes it impossible to forget his book. Years from now it will still have that terrible power to make me remember and to make me weep.”
GLORIA EMERSON, 'New York Times'

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0007204973
• ISBN 13: 9780007204977
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208