Books about the Vietnam War

Jack Flowers, 2018

Perhaps the worst job in Vietnam. Only a few men could handle the terrors of fighting the Viet Cong in their tunnels, and we are forced to appreciate the exceptional courage and steadiness a ‘tunnel rat’ needed.

Dale Dye, 2008

When the American POWs were released in Hanoi after the war, his son and many other confirmed prisoners from Laos were not a part of that contingent of freed soldiers. It was reported that 213 POWs were collected from various prison camps in Laos and were en route to Hanoi. The prisoners and guards, over three hundred men in total, were following the Ho Chi Minh trail northward. However, just prior to reaching the gateway into North Vietnam, the entire group vanished. One man’s search for the truth.

Gregg Jones, 2014

A vivid, fast-paced account of the dramatic 1968 confrontation, when 6,000 US Marines held off 30,000 North Vietnamese Army regulars at a remote mountain stronghold.

Keith M. Nightingale, 2015

The Vietnamese Ranger Battalion and American advisors were outnumbered 10-1 and would have been annihilated had it not been for the overhead forward observer who worked overtime to guide in the many jets and gunships that responded to the Rangers' call for help. The Rangers managed to hold off the NVA for almost two days before help actually arrived on the ground. However, it was at a great cost of their own. In the end, thirty-two remained of the original 450 soldiers.

Karl Marlantes, 2010

The story of a young Marine lieutenant and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Readers will learn about life, loss, and the horrors of war. Jungle rot, leeches dropping from tree branches, malnourishment, drenching monsoons, mudslides, exposure to Agent Orange, and wild animals wreak havoc as brigade members face punishing combat and grapple with bitterness, rage, disease, alcoholism, and hubris.

Linda Jenkin Costanzo, 2013

Take a journey with the author and step inside the homes of 16 mothers who candidly talk about losing their sons nearly 50 years ago.

Ralph Christopher, 2005

Get an education and see the tremendous price paid by those who served to ensure freedom. Ordinary men who, by fate, were thrown together in a strange land and who fulfilled a part of their destiny and their Nations on the brown water.

Mark Berent, 1989

Rolling Thunder is a historical novel about the CRIPPLING role politics played during the Vietnam War. Its characters range from men in the field to the Pentagon and the White House. Fighter pilots and Special Forces warriors try to do their best but are hampered by President Johnson, Secretary of Defense McNamara, and their staff members who despise the military.

Raymond Hunter Pyle, 2017

In this particular story, an understaffed platoon of Marines is charged with building and protecting a temporary firebase in one of the most dangerous areas during the Vietnam War. The monsoons in the northern part of the country make life miserable for these soldiers - not only are the living conditions horrendous but supplies and replacements aren't able to arrive due to the low cloud ceiling and constant fog. This small group is led by a gunnery sergeant tasked with completing the mission with what he has available. They face insurmountable odds when defending this small outpost.

Joe Campolo, 2014

In the later stages of the Vietnam War, an Air Force senior NCO (non-commissioned officer) runs what is possibly the largest black market operation of the war. Several of his underlings become entangled in a drug operation and end up outside the wire for several weeks, fighting for their very lives.

Barbara Kautz, 2018

This is a first-hand account of the author's time served as a nurse in the 24th Evac Hospital unit in Long Binh during 1970/71. Half of her tour was spent in ward 5, which attended to soldiers with brain or spinal injuries; many were in comas and those awake required constant attention. Her shifts were 12-hour days and six days a week...rotating shifts between days and nights after a "catch-up" day. The stories within the book tend to rotate between her care of specific patients (American, VC, and civilians), her coworkers, and her off-time, where she sometimes breaks the rules. After six months, she transfers to a different part of the hospital where the work is less stressful.

John M. Del Vecchio, 1999

Very detailed novel about the operations and horrors of the ground troops in Vietnam. Fully illustrates the difficulties and the determination of the soldier slogging through the jungle during that unfortunate war.