Vietnam War Reading List

Set during the time-frame just prior to the Tet Offensive.  Tony Lazzarini succeeds in communicating his experience in Vietnam as a UH-1D (Huey) door gunner.   He does an outstanding job describing, from one man's tactical perspective, the emerging doctrine of air assault.  Highest Traditions also gives you a perspective of the social and emotional impact of the war on Tony and his fellow soldiers.  More Details.

They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America October 1967 by David Maraniss

Here is the epic story of Vietnam and the sixties told through the events of a few tumultuous days in October 1967. David Maraniss takes the reader on an unforgettable journey to the battlefields of war and peace. With meticulous and captivating detail, They Marched Into Sunlight brings that catastrophic time back to life while examining questions about the meaning of dissent and the official manipulation of truth, issues that are as relevant today as they were decades ago. Amazon.

The Wall by Eve Bunting

A young boy and his father travel to the Vietnam War Memorial to find his grandfather's name.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brian

The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and of course, the character Tim O'Brien who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three. They battle the enemy (or maybe more the idea of the enemy), and occasionally each other. In their relationships we see their isolation and loneliness, their rage and fear. They miss their families, their girlfriends and buddies; they miss the lives they left back home. Yet they find sympathy and kindness for strangers (the old man who leads them unscathed through the mine field, the girl who grieves while she dances), and love for each other, because in Vietnam they are the only family they have. Amazon.

The Movie

We were Soldiers Once...And Young: Ia Drang--The Battle That Changed The War In Vietnam by Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway

In November 1965, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War.
How these men persevered--sacrificed themselves for their comrades and never gave up--makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating. General Moore and Joseph Galloway, the only journalist on the ground throughout the fighting, have interviewed hundreds of men who fought there, including the North Vietnamese commanders. This devastating account rises above the specific ordeal it chronicles to present a picture of men facing the ultimate challenge, dealing with it in ways they would have found unimaginable only a few hours earlier. It reveals to us, as rarely before, man's most heroic and horrendous endeavor. Amazon.

Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills by Charles Henderson

There have been many Marines. There have been many marksmen. But there has only been one Sergeant Carlos Hathcock. A legend in the Marine ranks, Hathcock stalked the Viet Cong behind enemy lines-on their own ground. And each time he emerged from the jungle having done his duty. His record is one of the finest in military history, with 93 confirmed kills.
This is the story of a simple man who endured incredible dangers and hardships for his country and his Corps. These are the missions that have made Carlos Hathcock a legend in the brotherhood of Marines.  Amazon.

When Thunder Rolled: An F-105 Pilot Over North Vietnam by Ed Rasimus

Riveting stories of aerial combat over Vietnam and candid commentary on the doomed Rolling Thunder campaign Ed Rasimus straps the reader into the cockpit of an F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber, hurtling through the MiG-filled skies over North Vietnam, and then fast and low into the teeth of the enemy’s ferocious air defenses—with less than a 50-50 chance of surviving. The most engaging writing ever published about the Rolling Thunder campaign and the war in the North, When Thunder Rolled balances fist-gnawing action with the horror and sorrow of modern aerial combat.  Amazon.

Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow

This monumental narrative clarifies, analyzes, and demystifies the tragic ordeal of the Vietnam war. Free of ideological bias, profound in its understanding, and compassionate in its human portrayals, it is filled with fresh revelations drawn from secret documents and from exclusive interviews with the participants - French, American, Vietnamese, Chinese: diplomats, military commanders, high government officials, journalists, nurses, workers, and soldiers. Vietnam: A History puts events and decisions into such sharp focus that we come to understand - and make peace with - a convulsive epoch of our recent history. Amazon.

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